Baker Falls set to debut this week on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

A new era in East Village day- and nightlife gets underway this week with the soft opening of Baker Falls at 101 Avenue A.

As previously reported, the venue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street will feature an all-day cafe with coffee service and non-alcoholic drinks, as well as a bar and performance space with live music, DJs and readings. 

This performance space is also home to what will be called Knitting Factory New York at Baker Falls. (The Knitting Factory Brooklyn in Williamsburg closed last August.) The first gig under the Knitting Factory brand is July 20, featuring Sunflower Bean with GIFT and Slow Fiction. 

East Village resident Nick Bodor, who has owned and operated several local businesses in the past 25-plus years, including the Library and alt.coffee, is behind Baker Falls, scheduled to debut with a soft opening on Thursday evening. (Details on the first few gigs are below.)

Leading up to the opening, Bodor provided EVG's Stacie Joy with a work-in-progress sneak preview of the former Pyramid Club, which closed last October after a decades-long run. 

On the main floor, beyond the original bar, you'll find the stage area — now painted black and with upgraded audio-visual production and soundproofing — for the live music, DJ sets, and readings. The lower level will feature seating for coffee and drinks in a setting that Bodor has called a "fever-dream" or manor house in terms of décor with vintage lamps and other odds-n-ends. 

Helping him realize this vision downstairs is Deb Parker (seen below with Bodor), a thrift aficionado who is/was behind EV spaces like Beauty Bar, Barmacy and No-Tell Motel...

The inaugural event here Thursday evening, which Bodor said is inspired by the very first flyer for the Pyramid Club stating: "DOWNTOWN FOR DOWNTOWN," is a release party for Jesse Rifkin's book "This Must Be the Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City."

The evening features special guest DJ Dany Johnson of Club 57, Pyramid, Mudd Club and Wah Wah Hut fame. Cover is $5. Doors open at 7 p.m.

The rest of the soft opening weekend includes what Bodor describes as "Nick's fuzzed out, drone-y, noodle-y, psych-rock guitar freak-out... just setting up a bunch of guitar amps and starting a reverb-ed out guitar strum and then have other invited guitar players come in and out as they see fit to play leads and make shit up in real-time as the night goes on... could be 20 minutes or could be 8 hours...who knows, we are just jamming out on a Spacemen 3 vibe."

Saturday features Lach and Friends Anti-Folk/Anti-Hoot, a nod to the now-closed Sidewalk Bar and Restaurant across the street... and Sunday will see stand-up comedy featuring Erik Bergstrom and friends.

You can find the Baker Falls calendar with info on these and more shows here.

Opening hours for coffee service is 10 a.m. Visit the Baker Falls website for more details on programming. And if you're on Instagram.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Generation next: Baker Falls will bring together a cafe, bar and the Knitting Factory at the former Pyramid Club on Avenue A (Nov. 28, 2022)

• The next iteration of the Knitting Factory coming to the East Village (Aug. 24, 2022)