Fans of hot dogs, Canadians and Japanese food will want to head down to St. Mark's Place pronto: Japadog has landed. The hyped Vancouver transplant opened its doors last night to hungry folks looking to indulge in the kind of hot dogs you just won't get at Gray's Papaya. Like the Terimayo, a hot dog topped with teriyaki sauce, mayo and seaweed. more ›

A fire at the Flea Market Cafe yesterday afternoon has been deemed "incendiary" by a police spokesman, although the incident is still under investigation. According to the Local East Village, an employee at nearby Nino's Pizzeria was telling a reporter that he saw the owner of the restaurant "trying to put out a stack of burning napkins" shortly before the fire escalated, but his recounting of what he saw was "abruptly cut off by a woman who he said was the wife of the owner." Authorities were reportedly concentrating on three containers containing "flammable liquids." more ›

We've contacted police for more information on this crash from last night, but here's what we know so far. EV Grieve reports that a car crashed into the Sushi Lounge on the southwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Avenue A last night, and police on the scene told Bob Arihood that the driver began suffering from a stroke as he made a U-turn. more ›

The man behind the mosaics on St. Mark's Place, Jim Powers (recently profiled in this documentary), took to his blog on May 20th to say: "bad day......MOSAICS to be covered and REMOVED after 26 years." Now EV Grieve has photos of them covered up with tape that reads: "Mosiac Work To Be Removed." We're attempting to get in touch with Powers to see if we can get some answers (it's possible he no longer has funds to keep up with the upkeep of the pieces), and will update if we reach him. In the meantime: save the mosaics! more ›

Even criminal street performers in the East Village ain't what they used to be. This weekend 21-year-old Dominic Lapsley used a metal walking stick to pretend that he was blind and bump into a group of strangers at the corner of St. Marks Place and 2nd Avenue around 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. The five twenty-something victims were then confronted by 40-year-old Benjamin Pleasant, who yelled at them, "Don't run into a blind man! Give me your wallets," as he began going through a victim's pockets. At that point, two more accomplices came out of the woodwork and began beating on the rest of the group. Being on St. Marks on a Saturday night, the scene wasn't exactly off the beaten path and cops were able to quickly sweep the gang up. Just last week a group of transvestite teenagers in the West Village were arrested for robbing locals and spending the loot on wigs. more ›

The vast video and DVD collection at the multi-level Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's Place has found a new home in the old country! The eagle-eyed Vanishing New York reports that the entire catalog of 55,000 films has been acquired by the town of Salemi in South Western Sicily. Tomorrow is the last day for rentals at the lovably seedy megastore; according to a detailed sign on the door, the town plans to use the titles to launch the "Neverending Festival," a non-stop public projection of Kim's Video Collection DVDs. As a sweetener, traveling Kim's members in good standing have been guaranteed access to the collection free of charge, and the town promises to provide cheap accommodations to visitors interested in watching old Sinatra movies in the company of knife-wielding garlic eaters. more ›