When Loves Save[d] the Day

Photo by Steven

On Second Avenue at Seventh Street, there's tile art showing a former tenant of the corner space ... the one-time home of the vintage shop Love Saves the Day ... made famous, in part, by its appearance in the 1985 film “Desperately Seeking Susan.”

The East Village Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009. Word was their rent tripled. 

Their location remains open in New Hope, Pa.

The deadly Second Avenue gas explosion in March 2015 destroyed three buildings here, including the space (119 Second Ave.) that housed the shop for 43 years.

We've seen other tile art for some longtime businesses that are no longer with us, such as outside the former Stage across Second Avenue.

A memory of Love Saves the Day

If you haven't seen this at the base of the new retail space on the NW corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street... the onetime home of the vintage shop Love Saves the Day.

Per the street art here...

"This used to be Love Saves the Day. I used to come in as a kid and get sparklers and sneak peaks at the vintage Playboys." 

The East Village Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009. Word was their rent tripled. 

Their location remains open in New Hope, Pa.

The deadly Second Avenue gas explosion in March 2015 destroyed three buildings here, including the space (119 Second Ave.) that housed the shop for 43 years.

A visit to former East Village mainstay Love Saves the Day in New Hope, Pa.

Photos and text by Shawn Chittle

Tucked neatly away along the Delaware River not far from where Washington made his famous crossing lies a lovely little town called New Hope, Pa. I took a two-hour car ride (it goes by fast) here and found an old friend: Love Saves The Day, the former vintage store on Second Avenue and Seventh Street made famous, in part, by its appearance in the 1985 film “Desperately Seeking Susan.”

I introduced myself to the the manager, Stasia Kauriga. “We love our East Village fans,” she told me.


[From left: Stasia Kauriga, manager; Adam, music associate; Jill Edge, asst. manager]

She told me about the day when her phone wouldn’t stop ringing with people worried about the store after the deadly Second Avenue explosion in March 2015, which destroyed three buildings including the original Love Saves the Day location at No. 119.

“I had to tell them we actually weren’t at that location anymore.” she said.

The East Village Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009, after 43 years in business. Word was their rent tripled.

However, Love Saves the Day already had a presence in New Hope. "We just moved the Second Avenue inventory here when we couldn’t maintain that location,” Kauriga said.

That news was a surprise to me. I had always thought that the store closing in 2009 was for a move to New Hope. But the New Hope storefront has been around a long time, and it looks at home on the town's Main Street.

As I look around the store, it looks all so familiar, but so much larger.





Then I spot something familiar in the corner: the original Love Saves the Day awning from Second Avenue. It’s peeking out from behind a corner, looking worn and forgotten, but a welcome sight nonetheless.



All my "Star Wars" toys from the 1970s are here, along with Beatles records and collectables, everything KISS, Pee Wee Herman, lunch boxes, and kitsch galore. Frankly, the prices are affordable and I left with a few treasures.



The sense of humor and adventure, all the charm and pure East Village that was the store on Second Avenue is here in abundance, and I do mean abundant. The store has both an upstairs and downstairs.





Love Saves The Day is located at 1 S Main St, New Hope, Pa., and is open Mon-Fri: 11 am - 6 pm, Sat 11 am - 7 pm and Sun 11 am - 6 pm.

-----


[119 2nd Ave. from early 2009]

[Updated] Love saved the day

The other day I noticed that someone added a heart and sign on the corner of Second Avenue and East 7th Street, where the three buildings came down following the March 26 gas explosion.

I thought it might be in memory of the two victims, Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Ismael Locón Yac.

But it's actually for the former business at 119 Second Ave. — Love Saves the Day...



...someone misses the store...



Updated 2/15

EVG reader Daniel shared these photos he took earlier in the month ... when Nicholas Figueroa's father Nixon and brother Neal placed Valentine's Day messages on the fence...

Former Love Saves the Day space on the market

East Noodle & Izakaya closed here at 119 Second Ave. at East Seventh Street last August … after sitting empty these past nine months, two small for rent signs have arrived on the front window … we didn't spot the listing online anywhere … we're curious about the asking rents here.



This was, we think, the second ramen place to try this high-profile space since Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009, after 42 years in business. Word was their rent tripled.


Jeremiah Moss had a post on this corner just last week. Check that out here.

P.S.
Since the phone number on the for rent sign got cut off … it's 347-608-4058 in case you are interested…

East Noodle & Izakaya has apparently closed on Second Avenue

Well, yeah... it hasn't looked open lately... The phone is temporarily disconnected... and there are piles of trash bags inside the restaurant, as you might be able to see from this photo...



If memory serves (usually not), this was the second ramen place to try the location of the former Love Saves the Day... a renovation that brought out some anti-ramen graffiti and tiresome daily blog updates by one local blogger.

Love Saves the Day closed on Jan. 18, 2009, after 42 years in business.


Previously.

The ramenators continue the branding process

The folks at May Chan Ramen & Robatayaki on Second Avenue and Seventh Street (the former Love Saves the Day location) have introduced a new logo for its charmless brown storefront and bricked-up windows...




Flashback to this spot last year...



Previously.

The ramenators are ready to ramenate next week

The new ramen place on Second Avenue at Seventh Street is nearly complete. No trace of LSD remains. (Not that I expected a tribute...) The paper is off the windows...and at least 30 restaurant workers in uniform were inside prepping food, etc. I asked someone when they'd be open, and he replied, "Next week." Looks like it will be open in 10 minutes. Perhaps they'll be serving "family and friends" this weekend.

The ramenators are getting brown with it

And the last patches of Love Saves the Day have been painted over...

Previously.

The ramenators prove to be useful

To help showcase a sidewalk sale yesterday...



Previously.

The Ramenators show their letters

Previously.

Anti-ramen graffiti remains at former Love Saves the Day spot

Back in May, we noted some graffiti left behind by someone who, perhaps, didn't care much for the new ramen place coming to the former Love Saves the Day location at Second Avenue and Seventh Street.



Since then, we've continued to keep tabs on the progress of the renovation. On Thursday, we noted the removal of the plywood.



Oddly enough, though... most of the graffiti was left up...

The ramenators remove the wood

What it looked like Tuesday evening.

The ramenating continues

At the former Love Saves the Day store on Second Avenue and Seventh Street. There's still a bit of the old shop's color there inside...

Previously.

Dog day afternoon

And this "Con-Vick" art is on the plywood out front of Love Saves the Day.



The artist is from Union City, N.J. I'm not familiar with his work.

Your daily update on what the ramenators are doing at the former Love Saves the Day space

Second Avenue and Seventh Street. Previously.

Ramenification of Love Saves the Day continues

Yesterday morning, we noted the new plywood surrounding the former Love Saves the Day store on Second Avenue at Seventh Street... Now one of the last remaining bits of the former shop was removed -- the tiled Love Saves the Day sign above the storefront...



Here's how it looks now...




Also, as the Graffiti Friend of EV Grieve (GFOEVG) noted, the plywood covered two tags by longtime NYC graffiti artists, SEN4 and KAY2... their fate will soon be sealed under several coats of paint along with the rest of the colorful LSD façade...



[LSD tile photo via Racked]

Now they're getting serious

Friday evening, the rameners put up plywood around the former Loves Saves the Day space on Second Avenue at Seventh Street. Perhaps to keep snoopy bloggers from seeing what's going on inside...or perhaps to curtail the warm neighborhood greetings...




And here's how it looked early Saturday morning,






P.S.
"Drag Me to Hell."