If you haven’t ventured over to Alphabet City lately (I hadn’t in a while myself), some longstanding neighborhood staples have been disappearing from Avenue B.
Gone are: the terrifying sculpture of faded wet stuffed animals and scrap wood that was the East Village’s own version of the Close Encounters mound, the 30-plus year old eatery Life Cafe (inspiration to and a setting for the play Rent), and as of the end of this month, the Lakeside Lounge (great explanation of why that place mattered here ). The only one of my old haunts left on that strip is 7B, and now that can’t be certain either.
However, the biggest news to me was the imminent closing of the 16-year-old veggie dive Kate’s Joint, which owed $30 grand in back rent. Although I hadn’t frequented the place in years, it was a major setting of my life in New York.