••• “In 1978, Jon Alpert was out walking a colleague’s dog across from his loft at the intersection of Lafayette and White Streets. He stopped for the dog to do his business in front of a firehouse that had been abandoned eight years earlier, and noticed an auction sign on the door. There was a name and a number to call. Entirely by accident, Alpert had found the future home of what in time would become the Downtown Community Television Center at 87 Lafayette.” There’s a lot more about the history of the building. —Bedford + Bowery

••• City Hall‘s Henry Meer told the New York Times last week that the restaurant is closing in part because of the increase in operating costs, so the New York Post ran a typically foaming-at-the-mouth editorial about it. Commenters on this site thought other issues might be a factor.

••• Mangez Avec Moi owner Nikone Ongkeo says he’ll try looking for another space in the area. —Tribeca Trib

••• “On View, the Jacob Riis Photos That Exposed Downtown Slums.” The show, at the Museum of the City of New York (why isn’t it just the New York City Museum?), was curated by Tribeca resident Bonnie Yochelson. —Tribeca Trib

••• “The city’s plan to shut down an office dedicated to coordinating nearly a hundred ongoing construction projects in Lower Manhattan could do serious harm to residents’ quality of life, say Downtown leaders.” —Downtown Express

••• At a FiDi Duane Reade, “a woman put 133 bottles of nail polish valued at $1,128 into a Duane Reade shopping bag and left the store without paying.” Also on the Tribeca Trib‘s police blotter: Someone stole a drill from the Saks Fifth Avenue under construction.

••• There’s a new espresso bar in the subway concourse under 110 Willian. —DNAinfo

••• “Grandma’s House, a South Street Seaport restaurant that was destroyed in Sandy, has now reopened in [Boerum Hill] with its hearty American food and old-timey decor.” —Eater