First sign of the Mayfly on East Houston Street

Updated: The Mayfly opened on Sept. 28.

Signage went up over the weekend for the next bar for 269 E. Houston St. — the Mayfly.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these shots of the in-progress interior ...

The Mayfly is from the team behind Gael Pub, Trinity Pub and Juke Bar, among others. This place has been in the works dating back to the fall of 2019. (There was previously an April 2020 opening date, though the pandemic put all that on hold.)

You can follow them on Instagram for opening updates.

The space on the southeast corner of Houston and Suffolk has seen its share of bars come and go through the years. It has sat empty since Suffolk Arms shuttered in 2018 after two-plus years. 

Before Suffolk Arms, we had the Local 269, which never reopened after a flood wiped out the live music venue's equipment in the fall of 2012. Other recent tenants included Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge.

Pub in the works for longtime corner bar space on Houston and Suffolk

[Photo from Saturday]

Gene Lennon, the proprietor behind Juke Bar on Second Avenue and 12th Street as well as Trinity Pub on the Upper East Side, is applying for a new liquor license for 269 E. Houston St.

Lennon will appear before CB3's SLA committee on Monday evening for the currently vacant space on the corner of Suffolk Street.



According to the questionnaire on file at the CB3 website (PDF here), the still-unnamed venture has proposed hours of 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. Monday through Friday, with a noon start time on Saturday and Sunday.

The bar will feature a menu of standard pub fare as well as a jazz brunch.

Lennon has operated a variety of pubs in the city dating to 1995.

He would be taking over a space that been a variety of concepts through the years, most recently as Suffolk Arms, a high-end cocktail lounge from celebrated bartender Giuseppe Gonzalez. That well-appointed bar opened in February 2016 to much acclaim. It went dark in the spring of 2018.

Before Suffolk Arms, this prime corner spot sat empty for several years. The Local 269 never reopened after a flood wiped out the live music venue's equipment in the fall of 2012. Other recent bar tenants included Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge.

One note about the space: The old neon Bar sign is currently MIA from above the front door.


[Photo from 2016]

Monday's CB3-SLA committee meeting is at the Perseverance House Community Room, 535 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plywood wraps itself around the incoming Suffolk Arms

Suffolks Arms opens tonight on East Houston

[EVG photo from Jan. 28]

We first heard about Suffolk Arms back in September 2014 via The New York Times ... in a "bars opening soon" feature...

After some delays, the cocktail bar via Giuseppe Gonzalez, whose bartending credits include Golden Cadillac, PKNY and Dutch Kills, officially opens tonight at 269 E. Houston St. and Suffolk Street.

Here's part of a preview via Gothamist:

Like its roundtable approach to the drinking, which celebrates González's inspirations, the food and decor follow suit with a who's who and what's what of New York City and Lower East Side lore. Sixty hand-drawn portraits of Keith Haring, Jam Master Jay and other notable New Yorkers like the New York Public Library lions line the wood-paneled walls and windows.

And from Time Out:

An annotated menu touts 11 original cocktails ($14) like the Tough Room, which fuses a Guinness with a whiskey sour stout, as well as a selection of 13 "Something Like Classics" quaffs ($13), which play on time-honored libations from the likes of PDT's Jeff Bell and Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Pepe Le Moko in Portland, Oregon. A third section of the menu gives spirited proof to vodka's bonafides with drinks crafted by New York bar pioneers, like a Flatiron Martini from Julie Reiner and a Grapefruit Cooler from Audrey Saunders.

The 63-seat space features a food menu, including a Russ & Daughters Smoked Fish Platter ($22) and a matzo ball soup ($8).

As previously noted, nearly three and a half years have passed since there was a tenant here. The Local 269 never reopened after a flood wiped out the live music venue's equipment in the fall of 2012. The Local 269 space was previously home to Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plywood wraps itself around the incoming Suffolk Arms

[Updated] Suffolk Arms finally reveals its exterior on East Houston

After more than a year, workers removed the plywood surrounding the long-vacant 269 E. Houston St. storefront at Suffolk ... where a new cocktail bar called Suffolk Arms has been in the works.

As The New York Times first reported in September 2014, Giuseppe Gonzalez, whose bartending credits include Golden Cadillac, PKNY and Dutch Kills, is behind the new venture. According to the Times, "Expect an English pub exterior but a New York feel inside."

In an update a few weeks back, BoweryBoogie heard that the opening is expected sometime next month. The bar has a website, though most of it appears to be TK at the moment.

Been years since there was a tenant here. The Local 269 never reopened after a flood KO'd much of the live music venue's equipment in the fall of 2012. The Local 269 space was previously home to Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge. The Local opened in February 2009.

Updated 1/30

Here's a better plywood-free view...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Plywood wraps itself around the incoming Suffolk Arms

Plywood wraps itself around the incoming Suffolk Arms

Just noting the recent arrival of the plywood around the long-vacant 269 E. Houston St. storefront at Suffolk.

As The New York Times first noted back in September, the new venture is Suffolk Arms, a cocktail bar from Giuseppe Gonzalez, "whose bartending credits include Golden Cadillac, PKNY and Dutch Kills."

According to the Times, "Expect an English pub exterior but a New York feel inside."

Several other suitors kicked the tires on the space to no avail.

The last tenant here was The Local 269, which never reopened in the fall of 2012 after a flood apparently KO'd much of the live music venue's equipment. The Local 269 space was previously home to Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge. The Local opened in February 2009.

New mural for East Houston Street building that no one seems to want to buy or rent

[Photo Tuesday by @joncheese]

Worked started on a new mural for 269 E. Houston St. at Suffolk on Tuesday... and as of late yesterday afternoon...



BoweryBoogie ID'd the artist as Queen Andrea, who created a mural advertisement for Converse.

The Local 269 closed here in September 2012. There have been a few potential suitors, though nothing ever came of the various proposals for the bar space. We spotted nine different for rent/sale signs on the business last summer ... The whole building remains on the market for $12 million.

A new suitor for 269 E. Houston St.

There's a potential bar/restaurant in the works for 269 E. Houston St., the building at Suffolk with nine different for rent/sale signs.

This applicant is on the August CB3/SLA committee docket:

• Lower East Side NY Bistro Corp, 269 E Houston St (op)

Dunno anything about it just yet... though the word "bistro" makes it seem as if it will be a more upscale tenant than in past years.

As for recent history here... The Local 269 never reopened last fall after a flood apparently KO'd much of the live music venue's equipment. The space was previously home to Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge. The Local opened in February 2009.

Applicants who were previously involved with the Apocalypse Lounge (2004-2007) on East Third Street apparently had designs on a new bar here. However, the applicants apparently never appeared before the CB3/SLA committee back in March, according to the CB3 meeting record.

We'll have more on the August CB3/SLA meeting later... the meeting is set for Aug. 19 at 6:30 pm.

Someone really wants to rent 269 E. Houston St.

The Local 269 on East Houston at Suffolk never reopened last fall after a flood apparently KO'd much of the live music venue's equipment.

Applicants who were previously involved with the Apocalypse Lounge (2004-2007) on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B apparently had designs on a new bar here. However, the applicants apparently never appeared before the CB3/SLA committee back in March, according to the CB3 meeting record.

Anyway, walking by the other day, we counted nine different for rent/sale signs on the building... (one sign looks to be for an adjacent space...)





Meanwhile, the whole building remains on the market for $12 million.

The Local 269 space was previously home to Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge. The Local opened in February 2009.