(Sweet??) 16

Above: A joke from Sophie's a few years back

The first post arrived on this platform on Dec. 21, 2007, at 5:48 p.m., which research later showed is one of the worst times of the day to post items on platforms like this. 

ICYMI (and 99.999999999% of people did), the item was a cut-n-paste from Page Six about the possible sale of Sophie's (Fifth Street!) and Mona's (Avenue B) ... and before Josie's (Sixth Street) was part of the family. 

I'd spent some time at Sophie's and couldn't imagine an EV world without it. So, like any once-a-week bar regular would do, I created a Blogger site called Sophie's Bar Blog blog (honest, that's what the name was)... as a way to chronicle the sale of Sophie's (sorry, Mona's) and the possible end of its several-decades existence. 

After a few weeks of under-the-radar chronicling on a site that no one was reading, we learned that Bob, the owner of the bars, was selling them to his brother Richard and another friend (hi, Kirk!). 

That was that, or so I thought. Now I've told this story a few times, so if you've already read it, I'll make some shit up to make it seem more interesting than it actually was. 

I announced the end of Sophie's Bar Blog blog. [Crickets] Vanishing New York author/blogger Jeremiah Moss somehow had seen the site (thanks, Google!), and he encouraged me, just because Sophie's and Mona's were going to be OK, to keep the site going, covering other comings and goings. 

So Sophie's Bar Blog blog was rebranded to EVG (I give this site six months!). And here we are 16 years after the first post. 

Two people recently told me they started reading the site in high school and were in their late 20s/early 30s. Which is really cool and obviously terrifying.

A sincere thank you to everyone who has read the site and continues to read it, sharing comments and tips and creating a sense of community. 

A BIG thank you to everyone who contributes to the site, particularly Derek Berg and Steven, for their ongoing daily dispatches... and to Stacie Joy for her intrepid reporting from bell towers, abandoned schools or former motorcycle clubs. 

May your holidays be filled with warmth, peace, and joy ... and had we created an Etsy account 16 years ago, Sophie's Bar Blog blog T-shirts, hoodies, and customizable tabletop beer pong games.