The New York Post offers this brief history of Union Square. It’s interesting to note that before the subway was built, the park was at street level. When the subway came through, the whole park was torn up and elevated several feet, which why you enter it via stairs today.
For all your cigar-smoking needs, Cigarville, on the north side of 14th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
A Dept. of Health closure for La Maison de Croque Monsieur, but they claim they will reopen within a couple of days.
Prolific New York condo developer Victor Sigoura’s Legion Investment Group got busy this week with a new project on a site it just acquired near Union Square.
Legion and real estate investment firm EJS Group bought the vacant six-story office building at 5 West 13th Street/8 West 14th Street for $57.5 million, according to property records made public Tuesday. The ink barely had time to dry before Sigoura’s firm filed permits on Friday to tear down the 130,000-square-foot building. The developer likely has plans for more of what it does best: a condo building up to 30 stories tall, according to Crain’s New York Business. 
UPDATE: JAN 14: Trader John’s has covered up their sign. Apparently the idea didn’t fly past the lawyers.
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) — Trader Joe’s Co., the operator of specialty grocery stores, sued Gristede’s Foods Inc., alleging the supermarket chain committed trademark infringement by opening a food market in New York called Trader John’s.
Gristede’s is opening the Trader John’s “knock-off food market” three blocks from a Trader Joe’s store in Manhattan, according to a complaint filed Jan. 8 in federal court in New York. The Trader John’s name misleads consumers and diminishes the Trader Joe’s brand, according to the complaint.
“We take seriously any attempt to infringe on our trademark and we are taking the necessary action to stop this particular attempt,” Trader Joe’s spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said in an e-mailed message.
The lawsuit has no merit, said John Catsimatidis, Gristede’s chief executive officer.
“My name is John and I am a trader so I don’t know what their problem is,” he said in a telephone interview. Gristede’s lawyers haven’t seen the complaint yet, Catsimatidis said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The Trader John’s store at 5 West 14th St. in Manhattan will open Jan. 15, Catsimatidis said.
The Trader Joe’s store is three blocks away at 142 East 14th St. The company has 300 locations in 25 states and Washington. Gristede’s has about 35 shops in the New York area, Catsimatidis said.
Trader Joe’s sent a “cease and desist” letter Jan. 6 to Gristede’s, asking it to “immediately change the name and decor of the infringing store,” according to the company’s complaint.
