Wednesday, February 7, 2018

1st sign of activity at the former Cafe Orlin space on St. Mark's Place



People have been asking about the former Cafe Orlin space on St. Mark's Place. There hasn't been much activity — outside the "no trespassing" notices since the Cafe closed last fall.

One item to note: The recent arrival of a work permit (note the helpful arrow above).

Per the ALL-CAP stylings of the DOB: APPLICATION FILED FOR MINOR INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION WORK AND INSTALLATION OF BANQUETTES WITH PLUMBING WORK AS PER PLAN. The estimated work cost is nearly $40,000.

Emporium Design is listed as the applicant of record. Their East Village interior-design résumé includes Boulton & Watt, Drexler's, the Blind Barber and Pourt.

Anyway, no word just yet on what's to come here between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Grub Street reported in September that the Cafe Orlin owner is also the building's landlord, "and a new restaurant will open in its place."

Cafe Orlin closed on Oct. 15 after 36 years at the address.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Banquettes with plumbing? That sounds exciting.

Anonymous said...

Their buildouts ARE nice, but when the bar/restaurants on that CV are attended by millennial wannabe’s it takes away from enjoying the design, and perhaps even highlights what is; a bit of everything thrown on the canvas to appease everyone.. urban-victorian-slightly bobo-rustic.

Anonymous said...

If a "restaurant" sells sliders that not make it a sports bar? I dread when any commercial space becomes available the EV.

Anonymous said...

It does not seem like it is Orlin's owner who's opening this new restaurant. Even if it was the original owner, I'm not interested. Still too sore about Orlin closing, and highly doubtful the new one could take its place.

Giovanni said...

These guys design dive bars that look like theme park eateries straight oit of Westworld. Boulton & Watt would actually be cool if was in Cincinnatti, in 1990. Whatever this place is will attract the wrong crowd; Millennials crying about how much money they lost on Bitcoin.

Anonymous said...

Good one Giovanni. I had the same suspicion, a sports bar or theme bar/restaurant aimed at who else, millennials. There must be another business model that would work in this neighborhood but those with the cash have no imagination to do anything else. Glad I don't live nearby.

Abfus said...

The stock millennial bashing on this site went from misguided, to comical to just plain depressing.

I guess it's comforting to have a scapegoat, just look to history for all the positives that have come from identifying one

Anonymous said...

i agree with Giovanni too.
first problem i have is using a design company . second is using one that already has 5 places that arent creative interesting or unique.

Anonymous said...

Millennials are always getting a bad wrap. I'm 45. If millennilas were born between 1985 +/- and 1995 +/- that puts then at between 23 and 33. Isn't that always the demographic that has gone out the most, anywhere?
To be fair, who else do we think these business owners, paying distgusting rents and getting raked over the coals by NYC just to run a business, should be aiming their bars and restaurants at? Because I'm pretty sure there aren't enough people my age going out on a regular basis to pay the bills.

Anonymous said...

Finally, a couple of rational thinkers here. You're exactly right 1:48pm. I'm older too and if I were taking a risk and trying to make a go of it in this city that's who I would market to, no doubt.

Anonymous said...

@1:48 PM well as long as they sign leases at these inflated prices then the rents will continue to sky rocket. A landlord can't resist the easy cash these new bars are willing to pay them to advance the sale of alcohol.

Yes we bitch about millennials often because often its is deserving. I don't recall anything like Santa Con when I was in my 20's nor would I have thought dressing up like Santa and getting shit face the least bit cool even when I was young and dumb. The balance of our neighborhood is off kilter the way most college towns are, a constant refresh of 20 somethings tearing the place and contributing nothing unless you can make money catering to them. There will be a time in the near future when more luxury housing takes over the EV and people paying 1-3 million for condo won't put up with this shit and perhaps the city will then move to limit liquor licenses. Please don't ask me to move to Ohio because I'm not from there but it appears most of the young ones are.

Jack said...

The East Village: spiritual home of free thinking, anti authoritarian radicals. Oops, my mistake. Bigotry and narrow mindedness are fully ascendent in the scapegoating of millennials.

Anonymous said...

To those with the strong views on the millennials, thank you for taking the time to post. It couldn’t have been easy climbing down from the balcony where you snicker at the Muppets.

Hold My Beer said...

In addition to participating in destructive mass chaos events like SantaCon and acting out in public in antisocial ways on a scale we have never seen before, the big difference between Millennials and the generations before them is their incredibly thin-skinned brand of narcissism. They can't take criticism or laugh it off because they were all raised thinking they were the best, that they were special, like a snowflake, of like the plastic trophy they got in 7th grade in bowling class. Now a whole generation of Kidults crys whenever they are called out for their rude and crude behavior. They don't ever listen or learn when they are criticized, they just lash out, which is why they don’t seem to understand that all we are talking about is their destructive behavior, which they feel entitled to engage in. When it comes to interacting in public or with thier neighbors, Millennials don't have empathy or care about other people’s feelings, and so they lash out when their own feelings are hurt. That’s the double standard of entitlement that too many Millennials engage in, and it’s the same double standard their parents raised them to believe in. So don't take all of this criticism personally Millennials, it’s your parents fault that you turned out this way.