And now the space is on the market. Here's the Streeteasy listing via No Fee Rentals:
BRAND NEW TRIPLEX APARTMENT located on a tree lined street in the heart of the East Village, steps to TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK. This gut renovated 3 bedroom convertible 5 apartment features a large kitchen with breakfast bar, dishwasher and microwave, two spacious bedrooms and a full bath on the main level, a large bedroom and full bath on the upper level, and a large living room and/or bedrooms with an additional half bath on the lower level.
We're noting all this for a few reasons. For starters, the space used to be Cafe Gigi, which closed in, what, the summer of 2008?
It was a pleasant enough place. We don't recall liking the food. But I was always a sucker for thrift-store interiors that are really out of fashion these days (apparently).
Also, we can't recall too many recent examples of a bar-cafe that became residential ... rather than the other way around... can you think of any from just the last few years?
[Cafe Gigi photos by Photo by Youngna Park via New York magazine]
8k for a dungeon???
ReplyDeleteLove that stripper pole! Heh heh.
ReplyDeletewhatever happened to the old devil moon space?
ReplyDeleteA "breakfast bar"? Guess they know how to appeal to their target audience. And the inmates at Riker's would protest if they hadda live in such a hideous interior.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a 3D Viz rendering of a prison.
ReplyDeletePS What's that hovering in the last interior shot, a specter? Better call that douchey guy with the hair gel who yells at ghosts post haste!
ReplyDeleteThat's next to Randy's house. Cafe Gigi used to be my frame of reference.
ReplyDeleteAt 8K a month, P.T. Barnum had it right:
ReplyDelete"Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American Public".
Sure it seems like a lot of money, but come on people, it comes with a microwave oven!
ReplyDeleteWow ! a closet with two windows. what luxury
ReplyDeleteI thought zoning prohibited people from living in commercial space. The ghost was the most interesting part of the interior shots.
ReplyDeleteTruly astounding. We lived in this building for 15 years. Sewer stench would regularly waft up after rainfalls and and that "lower level" was a rat infested basement. It was also pretty common to have heat and hot water interrupted every couple months. This is a Jakobson Properties building to boot! What's even more astounding is they will probably find some sucker to sign a lease. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I went to Cafe Gigi once and swore to never ever, ever go again. Now I don't even remember why, but it was obviously a horrible experience. Also, it wasn't so long ago that "steps to Tompkins Square Park" was anything but a selling point.
ReplyDeleteI rather like that it being steps away from Tompkins Square Park is a selling point.
ReplyDelete"I went to Cafe Gigi once and swore to never ever, ever go again. Now I don't even remember why, but it was obviously a horrible experience."
ReplyDeleteFunny, but we had exactly the same experience....and I also can't remember why!
- East Villager
Your right Swawn, there does seem to be a strippe's pole in the middle of the room. WOW! Back in the day, when ( Baby Dolls & Billys were open this would have been a good rental,or way back when Diamond Lils was around on Canal.
ReplyDeleteBut as you I am sure have been told as me before, the city is always changing and you have to change with it.So lets not think of the potential that this place may have had before, or the employment and endless enjoyment it could have provided merely a little over a decade ago. Let us embrace and be thankful that we can now enjoy a snooty wine bar were (Baby Dolls)used to be,or grab a coffee at the dime a thousand Corner Cafe at the old(Billys Topless)that was a major part time employment agency for dancers, or just grab a burger at McDonald's on Canal that was(Diamond Lil's)a griddy stinky working mans place. You will be challanged to find such a place that caters to the working today. No flip flops, posers ,poped collars or trust funds there or any places that I just mentioned. Just real people.Sad indeed,but glad I enjoyed while it was here.
@Lamont - Do you remember, when Giuliani started cracking down on the XXX business, Billy's Topless put an "S" on their sign and became "Billy's STopless"? Always made me smile.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the perfect space for 15 or 16 NYU kids to cram themselves into- hunkering down like a bunch of rats in a basement.....
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to like Cafe Gigi, but I went there twice, and both times were hands down the worst dining experiences I've ever had in my entire history of dining.
Looks my general disdain for this space will continue.