Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Time passages: Check out the interior of the long-empty Mom's Liquor Store on Avenue B

Photos by Stacie Joy

Last month, we had the scoop about the new owner of 6 Avenue B, the long empty/abandoned building on the NW corner of Houston. The owner is an LLC linked to Penn Capital South, whose portfolio includes multiple EV properties. 

A gut renovation is in the works — as is asbestos abatement. There has been some mystery and intrigue about the whole building, especially the storefront that housed the liquor store — aka Mom's. 

The retail space has been closed since the owner passed away in the fall of 2009 at age 89. (Chico created the tribute to her on the gate in February 2010.)

How have nearly 14 years of vacancy treated the space? What does the interior event look like these days?

EVG contributor Stacie Joy found out the other day... with a look inside Mom's, a frozen-in-time space where bottles of Riunite still go for $5.25. The bullet-proof register area remains intact as well.

Come, let's look inside...
Also discovered... this EVG post about the store's owner from 2010:
I enjoy watching her reaction to some fancypants asking her if they have any, say, really buttery California chardonnays whose grapes were harvested on hillsides composed of Kimmeridgian marl, limestone and chalk. Her reaction is usually either, "WHAT?" or "WHY WOULD WE HAVE THAT."
Previously on EVG
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19 comments:

  1. Looks like a scene from The last of us.

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  2. they should have a stoop sale for all the booze. I’ll drink to that!

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  3. THUNDERBIRD!


    Yes!

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  4. That Thunderbird should have "aged" very nicely by now.
    Wine Spectator gave it a .05 out of 10 and states that it's ready to drink right now.

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  5. Thanks Stacie, very cool you had the opportunity to venture in and take some pics - Yea that Thunderbird, classic. Right up there with good ole Night Train!

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  6. I do remember the interior of Mom’s and that bulletproof glass. She was kinda cranky and I think I remember her husband was usually there too. It was definitely a different experience than Discovery Wines now down the street, indeed a very different neighborhood back then (I kinda miss it)

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  7. Too bad the NYPD doesn't post that graffiti sign anymore. We need it in the East Village more than ever!

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    Replies
    1. Graffiti's the least of our problems here.

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    2. Disagree, it's one of a long list of problems. Mr. Adams has launched the new 'We love N Y 'campaign. What a joke with graffiti and all the rest eroding our quality of life!

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  8. Had the exact same thought as 11:28am. Funny to think how 15 years ago graffiti was less of a problem than it is today when we actually tried to prevent it...

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  9. Sad to see perfectly good bulletproof glass go unused like that. It was made to repel explosive projectiles, not sit around collecting dust.

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  10. No Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor! I'm disappointed.

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  11. hot take: an abandoned building for 13+ years in virtually any neighborhood in nyc is a policy failure. allowing landlords to let buildings go vacant rather than rent for market value hurts everyone who lives in the neighborhood for the benefit of someone who can afford to own unused buildings in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.

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  12. I cut her hair for years, she was a lovely women.

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    Replies
    1. Didn't know her. But I have loved that Chico since the day it went up. Was that your 'do on her?!

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  13. Okay...trolls.....

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  14. 2:27pm spot on - one of the sadder things that is permitted.

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  15. RIP MOM. Now that was a real east villager.

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