However, the door to the space Village Yokocho shares with Angel's Share, the speakeasy-style bar, upstairs was locked, and the second level was dark ...
There was word of a "rent dispute." According to a previous statement by landlord Cooper Union to EVG: "Unfortunately, the tenant informed us of their decision to vacate the property. They were not asked to move out, despite the fact that they haven't paid any rent since 2020."
The timing for the end of service was murky, as the Yoshida Restaurant Group had not publically commented on potential closures or relocations for any of these businesses. Information to date in articles had come from bartenders/waitstaff/counter help. (New York Times correspondent Alex Vadukul was first to report on the pending closures in a series of tweets last month.)
Over the weekend, signage arrived confirming three of the closures (h/t Eden) ...
Panya, the bakery-cafe, remains open. Yesterday, a worker said they hoped to be here for the rest of the month.
Meanwhile, there's speculation that Angel's Share may turn up elsewhere; Village Yokocho would likely not. Sunrise Mart will not reopen elsewhere in the neighborhood — its three other NYC locations remain in service in Soho, Midtown and Brooklyn.
Early this past Thursday evening, a line formed for a last dinner and drinks at Village Yokocho and Angel's Share (following two photos by Steven) ...
I was lucky enough to go to the last night of Angel's Share. Such an iconic bar. Always such incredible service and fantastic cocktails. It's the end of an era. 😢 pic.twitter.com/2MQq7nl8H3
— Paula Lukas (@penguinbar67) April 1, 2022
No word on what might be next for these spaces. A Cooper Union rep told us previously that there wasn't any truth to a rumored new building here.
This corridor has been called a micro-center of Japanese culture. Angel's Share opened here in 1994, with Panya arriving next door in the same year. Sunrise Mart debuted in 1995.
End of an era indeed. I still miss St.Mark's Bookshop dearly. That corner carries so many great memories of first years in NYC.
ReplyDeleteYes! Still miss the bookshop also!
DeleteAnd I'll dearly miss Sunrise Mart. Of course I can trek up to Midtown. But it'll be a planned (and less frequent) trip and not just picking up tofu on my way home.
ReplyDeleteI remembered I once went through the yokocho and through a 'secret passage' into sunrise market because the elevator wasn't working. I will miss that wonderful little market
ReplyDeleteAmen on still missing St.Mark's Books, St.Mark's Comics, and other neighborhood icons. A cultural fade to black.
ReplyDeleteCooper Union cares more about their "expansion" plans than about the neighborhood in which they exist--or indeed about the many decades of free tuition that was once central to their mission. This is especially ironic for a design school where the value of diverse and lively small businesses must be acknowledged as vital to community quality of life.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite first New York memories is looking for the bathroom at Village Yokocho and somehow walking into Sunrise, coming out from behind a fridge... Very Narnia 😂
ReplyDelete@9:35 - I agree with you. The real irony was when they built that monstrosity on 7th Street and didn't even use graduates of their architecture school.
ReplyDeleteIf the Broome Street location of Sunrise Mart is still there, I recommend it. It's a lot more spacious than the one in Midtown.
This sucks. Nothing else to say.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure whatever replaces them will be full of charm and culture, and absolutely not another soulless cash grab /s
ReplyDeletescreaming internally
ReplyDeleteThe end of an era RIP. I'm glad at least Panya is still there.
ReplyDeleteEnd of an era.
ReplyDeleteThis is terrible and I and everyone I know are boycotting the replacements, Shame on you cooper Union for continuing to gentrify this area. It will not be forgotten by the community this time, yokocho and sunrise were important places.
ReplyDeleteDon't particularly care for this new direction the EV seems to be taking.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know how long you have lived in NYC? I say this because the EV has been going in a direction that pushed out hundreds of thousands of lifelong residents for 25yrs. No soul is left through all the gentrification! I've disliked the direction for 40yrs but that's NYC. New York is not like other cities that may not have any new developments for eons and everything stays the same. If you were looking for that in New York you are in the wrong city!
DeleteTwenty-two years and yes, it is the wrong city for me.
DeleteIt's amazing that some people will routinely make excuses for NYC's changes even in the face of decades of loss without any positives.
DeleteOdd how everyone gets down on Cooper Union in this case… all of these departing businesses are owned by the same company and are reported to not have paid any rent since 2020. It’s a bigger disservice to Cooper Union students if this were to continue much longer.
ReplyDeleteYes! Cooper is working hard to get back to “free” and can’t afford to lose money on retail rent
DeleteWhat?!!? Angel Share?! No! That was my favorite somewhat hidden gem. They made excellent drinks and was a great date spot. Not too rowdy and creative cocktails. Please come back somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteI loved Sunrise Mart especially. But I'll confess that since the H Mart opened on 3rd Ave between 9th and 10th, I shopped there a little more often and at Sunrise a little less. I'm part of the problem, I guess, that contributed to the loss of that quirky Japanese market...
ReplyDeleteI dearly loved Village Yokocho and Sunrise Mart. Village Yokocho will be missed especially. It's so sad that everything cool in the village was destroyed or dismantled and now even the precious cultural things are going away.
ReplyDeleteThree huge losses, but for me Village Yokocho gets the top spot. I know there are other izakayas, but this one was far and away my favorite. VY, you will be forever missed.
ReplyDeleteThey said they haven’t been paying rent since 2020? Are you serious? I don’t feel bad for them. Sorry
ReplyDeleteI miss St. Mark's sounds and even that Mongolian BBQ around the corner.
ReplyDelete