Poetica Coffee debuts on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Poetica Coffee opened its doors yesterday on the SW corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue. 

This week, the shop will be in soft-open mode with a limited food menu and hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eventually, Poetica will open daily at 7 a.m. ... with an early evening close. 

Our previous post has more about what to expect here.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Exclusive: This is the new tenant for the former Gem Spa space

A look at Poetica Coffee, opening soon on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Poetica Coffee is set to officially open next Monday, April 24, on the SW corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place (don't be surprised if the doors open a few days earlier for a sneak preview).

Owner Parviz Mukhamadkulov and his two-and-a-half-year-old son Noor invited me inside to look at the latest location for the Brooklyn-based coffee shop... 

Parviz was quick to credit Kegeyan Interior Designs for the look and feel...

There's a free lending library with books to browse and read. You can also drop a book off or take a book home with you...

All the artwork and books were picked up at thrifts except for this mosaic that Parviz brought back from a trip to his native Uzbekistan ...

The storefront was the longtime home of Gem Spa, the iconic newsstand-candy shop that closed in May 2020. Despite her best efforts, Parul Patel, who had been running the store that her father Ray has owned since 1986, could not withstand the mounting financial challenges coupled with the pandemic.

As previously reported, Parviz said he was unaware of the previous tenant (there wasn't any mention of the last tenant in the marketing materials) when he signed the lease. Since then, he has studied up on Gem Spa and seemed to be in awe of its long history.

Parviz said he's contacted Parul several times and will try again when they open. His offer to sell Gem Spa merchandise for the family remains open. And he's currently working on selling a Gem Spa-inspired egg cream, which he admitted is a challenge to perfect. He said that he wanted to honor the location's legacy.

Poetica currently has a few photos of Gem Spa on display...

Poetica Coffee will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to start. The café will serve housemade pastries, including croissants and several varieties of baked pierogies, which are more prevalent in central Asia than boiled or fried dumplings. 

Follow Poetica Coffee on Instagram for updates. 

Let's go to the Stuyvesant Casino!

Renovations continue at 131 Second Ave. at the SW corner of St. Mark's Place where an outpost of Poetica Coffee is opening early this year. (Top photo by Steven)

For decades, this storefront was home to Gem Spa (RIP May 2020). Workers have uncovered some local ephemera on the front pillars (as we noted here). 

The latest reveal ... a flyer for Stuyvesant Casino, a nightclub located in what is now the Ukrainian National Home at 140-142 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street from 1910 to the 1950s... (thanks to Kevin Goodman for this shot...)

Per this NYSMusic site: "The Stuyvesant Casino offered sumptuous food, dazzling decor, and a first-class house band. High rollers and hitmen were among the clientele, particularly Big Jack Zelig, head of the Eastman Gang after the death of 'Kid Twist' Max Zwerbach, in 1908."

A look inside the under-renovation Poetica Coffee on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

We've been noting the changes of happening on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place with the departure of the long-running "Stomp" and the closure of the decades-spanning survivor Dallas BBQ. 

Meanwhile, work continues on the SW corner ... where an outpost of Brooklyn-based Poetica Coffee is opening in the first quarter of 2023. 

Owner Parviz Mukhamadkulov invited EVG contributor Stacie Joy in for a look at the in-progress conversion of the space...

... including a tour of the under-renovation lower level ...

... where Mukhamadkulov plans to have a barista training area as well as an employee lounge and the restrooms...

The café will serve housemade pastries, including croissants and several varieties of baked pierogies, which are more popular in central Asia as opposed to boiled or fried dumplings... and with coffee beans from a roaster in Brooklyn. 

Mukhamadkulov has said he'd like to honor the longtime former tenant, Gem Spa... so perhaps they'll be an egg cream on the menu too.

Storefront renovations and reveals on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Many readers pointed out the storefront renovations underway now at 132 Second Ave. at the SW corner of St. Mark's Place (top photo via Steven; shot below by Derek Berg from Friday)...

As EVG contributor Stacie Joy first reported on Oct. 3, an outpost of the Brooklyn-based Poetica Coffee will be opening here in the months ahead. This will be the second Manhattan location for the brand, which has seven spots in Brooklyn.

And on Friday, owner Parviz Mukhamadkulov sent us this photo of some local music ephemera that was uncovered on one of the storefront pillars... a band flyer for a show on May 7, 1974, at the long-defunct Brandy's II on the Upper East Side. (Brandy's Piano Bar is still there.)

Not sure who these lads are at the moment... the band's name is MIA here...

The retail space was the longtime home of Gem Spa, the iconic newsstand-candy shop. Gem Spa officially closed in May 2020 amid ongoing financial challenges worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mukhamadkulov previously told us that he would honor the memory of the decades-spanning former occupant in this renovated space. 

Exclusive: This is the new tenant for the former Gem Spa space

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

An outpost of the Brooklyn-based Poetica Coffee will be opening at the SW corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, the longtime former home of Gem Spa, the iconic newsstand-candy shop. 

Owner Parviz Mukhamadkulov (pictured below) received the keys to the space — officially 36 St. Mark's Place — on Friday. This will be the second Manhattan location for the brand, which has seven spots in Brooklyn.

Mukhamadkulov, from Uzbekistan, has said that he has wanted to own his own café since he was a kid and watched his father work as a coffee wholesaler.

The café will serve housemade pastries, including croissants and several varieties of baked pierogies, which are more popular in central Asia as opposed to boiled or fried dumplings... and with coffee beans from a roaster in Brooklyn. With the landlord's permission, Mukhamadkulov would like to add an enclosed sidewalk cafe on the St. Mark's Place side.

Mukhamadkulov said he didn't know about the history of the space when he first rented the storefront (there wasn't any mention of the previous tenant in the marketing materials) ... and he has since explored the history of the address... and reached out to Parul Patel, who ran Gem Spa in recent years, with an offer to sell their merchandise free of charge. 

He said he wants to honor the location's legacy and has "big shoes to step into."

Here's how the interior looked as of Saturday...

Gem Spa, home of the egg cream according to some sources, officially closed in May 2020 amid ongoing financial challenges worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parul Patel, who had been running the store that her father Ray owned since 1986, made a gallant effort to save the iconic corner shop that dates to the 1920s. This post has more background on Gem Spa's last few years.

And more history, via a Vanity Fair piece from May 2020:

The tributes that followed Patel's closure announcement ... teemed with references to the art in which the store had served as a backdrop: Madonna's turn in "Desperately Seeking Susan"; Patti Smith writing about going for an egg cream with Robert Mapplethorpe in her memoir "Just Kids"; a pair of lines from an Allen Ginsberg poem ("Back from the Gem Spa, into the hallway, a glance behind / and sudden farewell to the bedbug-ridden mattresses piled soggy in dark rain"); the back cover of the New York Dolls' first album; the title of a 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting; Lou Reed's song "Egg Cream.: The works traced a timeline of the East Village that both belonged firmly to the 20th century and remained top of mind.