Feb. 29 is the last day on St. Mark's Place for Trash and Vaudeville ahead of move to East 7th Street

[EVG photo from last July]

As we exclusively reported last July 28, Trash and Vaudeville is leaving its home of 40 years at 4 St. Mark's Place ... to new space at 96 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The store has taken to social media to announce that their last day on St. Mark's Place is Feb. 29. They will reopen in their new home in early March.

Hey Ho Lets Go... to 96 East 7th street! After over 40 years at 4 saint marks place, Trash & Vaudeville will be relocating to 96 East 7th street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A (just a few blocks away!) We'll be on Saint Marks till Feb 29th. We would love to see you here before we move and we look forward to seeing you on 7th street in early March! We'll keep you updated with confirmed dates. Any questions please email or give us a call, customerservice@trashandvaudeville.com / 212-777-1727 ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏

A photo posted by Trash and Vaudeville (@trashandvaudeville) on Feb 19, 2016 at 8:35am PST

Here's some of our conversation with store owner Ray Goodman from July:

"I love St. Mark's Place. There's no doubt it. There's something magical about it. This just isn't any block," Goodman told us on the phone. "The decision wasn't something that I took lightly. From a business perspective, we saw a shift in the clientele. The block is not as conducive for fashion shopping as it once was. Now it seems as if it's all food — fast food — and bongs. Even stores that aren't bong stores sell bongs."

He said that the changing business environment on the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was just one of many factors that played into the decision to relocate.

"The retail world is so different today," he said. "So much of it is done online."

And increasing rents are always a culprit.

"The rent is creeping up," said Goodman, who is a minority partner in the ownership of the historic Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Mark's Place. "Rent was a factor, but it wasn't the sole reason."

Last November, 4 St. Mark's Place, the landmarked building whose first owner in 1833 was Alexander Hamilton’s son, arrived on the market. Asking price for the building that includes Trash and Vaudeville: $11.9 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place

4 St. Mark's Place is for sale

News arrived yesterday that 4 St. Mark's Place, the landmarked building whose first owner in 1833 was Alexander Hamilton’s son, is for sale.

Here's the news release that we received:

One of the rare surviving and significantly intact large Manhattan townhouses of the Federal period, 4 St. Mark’s Place is over 10,000 square feet and offers four, free market apartments and 5,668 square feet of retail space on the first floor and lower level. Since 1975, the retail space has been occupied by the legendary vintage clothing retailer Trash & Vaudeville, which is relocating to a new site.

“The vacant retail space on the first floor and lower level will offer a new owner significant future upside on a vibrant East Village street that attracts a tremendous amount of foot traffic,” said Ron Solarz, executive managing director and principal of Eastern Consolidated. “Over 53,600 students attend major colleges and universities in the area including Cooper Union and the Manhattan Campus of St. John’s University, which are half a block from the property, and New York University, which is a few blocks away, making the area highly desirable for use as student housing.”

The St. John’s University campus is located in a newly constructed 400,000-square-foot mixed-use office and retail development at 51 Astor Place, which is anchored by TAMI and financial services tenants including IBM. In addition, Cooper Union has completed construction on its state-of-the art engineering building, which includes a prominent retail space at the northeast corner of East 6th Street, and a new 17-story dormitory built on the east side of Third Avenue between St. Mark’s Place and Stuyvesant Street.

The neighborhood also includes a wide array of hip restaurants and retail shops, and is conveniently located within blocks of the 6 train at Astor Place, the R and N trains at 8th Street, and the L at 3rd Avenue and 14th Street.

Also known as the Hamilton-Holly House, 4 St. Mark’s Place was built in 1831 and designated a New York City landmark in 2004. Col. Alexander Hamilton bought the townhouse in 1833 and shared it with his wife, Eliza, his widowed mother, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, her daughter Eliza Hamilton Holly, and son-in-law Sidney.

In the 1950s and 1960s, a number of cutting-edge performance art venues were located in the building including the Bridge Theater, which hosted the likes of Yoko Ono, The Fugs, and the Bread and Puppet Theater.

The asking price is $11.9 million. (You can find the listing here.)

As we first reported in July, Trash and Vaudeville is moving to 96 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. (They have yet to announce an official move date.)

No. 4 is likely not the last historic building on the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue to change hands. Multiple sources have told us that No. 20 — the landmarked Daniel LeRoy House — is in the process of being sold. (There's nothing yet on the transaction in public records.) The circa-1832 building was home until October to Sounds. The Grassroots Tavern still anchors the subterranean space.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place

Exclusive: After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place

Late last week we started hearing rumors that Trash and Vaudeville was leaving its home of 40 years at 4 St. Mark's Place.

Store owner Ray Goodman confirmed the move yesterday, telling us that if all goes well, Trash and Vaudeville will be selling its rock 'n' roll fashions and accessories from its new space at 96 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue early this fall.


[96 E. 7th St., site of the new Trash & Vaudeville]

"I love St. Mark's Place. There's no doubt it. There's something magical about it. This just isn't any block," Goodman told us on the phone. "The decision wasn't something that I took lightly. From a business perspective, we saw a shift in the clientele. The block is not as conducive for fashion shopping as it once was. Now it seems as if it's all food — fast food — and bongs. Even stores that aren't bong stores sell bongs."

He said that the changing business environment on the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was just one of many factors that played into the decision to relocate.

"The retail world is so different today," he said. "So much of it is done online."

And increasing rents are always a culprit.

"The rent is creeping up," said Goodman, who is a minority partner in the ownership of the historic Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Mark's Place. "Rent was a factor, but it wasn't the sole reason."

It also didn't help that the block will likely see protracted construction in the years ahead. For starters, the owners of the St. Marks Hotel directly next door filed plans late last fall to add six additional floors to the existing structure at 2 St. Mark’s Place and Third Avenue.

"I'll be in the middle of a construction zone for the next five years," said Goodman, who figures the Trash and Vaudeville storefront would be covered by a sidewalk bridge throughout the duration of the project. "Business is tough enough."

In addition, directly across the street, The Real Deal reported that real-estate investor Arthur Shapolsky is in contract to buy three properties at the corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place: 23 Third Ave., 27 Third Ave. and 3 St. Mark's Place for some unspecified new development.

And there's just the history. "It has been 40 years. Maybe it is time to do a little facelift. Just try it," he said. "I wanted to make it to the 40th year. We made that."

During the heyday of punk, everyone from the Ramones to the Dead Boys did their shopping at Trash and Vaudeville.

"Me and Dee Dee would go there and try out the display clothing," Marky Ramone told The New York Times in 2013. "Joey had a problem finding pants to fit him and would always buy them there. He was 6-foot-5 ½ with a 36-inch waist."


[Photo from 1980 by Michael Sean Edwards]

Goodman believes that the block housing the new Trash and Vaudeville has a better retail variety. He cited the array of restaurants, as well as Big Gay Ice Cream, and shops such as Turntable Lab and Village Style, the vintage and consignment shop.

The new Trash & Vaudeville will incorporate three spaces at No. 96. (The address was previously home to Salon V and Angelo Lambrou's custom bridal gown boutique, both of which relocated to other parts of the city.) Overall the new storefront will have less space than on St. Mark's Place.

As for the business future of St. Mark's, he recalls opening the shop in 1975. "There were a ton of stores for rent," he said. "St. Mark's Place has always been a bit of a roller-coaster. I think it could come back with the right mix of retail."

Despite the relocation, Goodman, who lives on St. Mark's Place, hasn't given up on the neighborhood. He said that he looked into other areas to move the store, but nothing felt right.

"We're still in our natural environment. We're just a little further east," Goodman said of the new location, adding, "I love the East Village."

Trash & Vaudeville & Jimmy Webb

EVG contributor James Maher took this shot of longtime Trash & Vaudeville manager/buyer Jimmy Webb on Wednesday afternoon on St. Mark's Place ... which reminds me that I never linked to the article on T&V from the Times last week titled "The Shop That Punk Built."

An excerpt!

As the eras shifted, the store never lost its punk base but also incorporated the fans of whatever strain of rock was of the moment, surviving as the block was remade.

“We are true mom-and-pop, the bodega of rock ’n’ roll clothing,” Mr. Webb said. “It’s here because of truth and spirit, just like Iggy Pop giving it his best every night and going all the way until everything in your body is broken except your soul and rock ’n’ roll. We can move it to Mars and still live.”

Why people are talking about Trash and Vaudeville these days in Italy, Denver

Thanks to Neighborhoodr, we learned that Italian Maxim features the venerable Trash and Vaudeville in its current issue...

Also, the Denver Post featured the store recently as well... find that clip here.

Get your $3 Trash and Vaudeville T-shirts

Speaking of Trash and Vaudeville.... here's a store ad from March 1980...



Via Ephemeral New York.

Trash and Vaudeville pays its respects

On St. Mark's Place Friday.