The Ukrainian Sports Club of New York moved away earlier this week from the East Village after 46 years at 122 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.
Ulana Pryjmak, the Club's communications director, provided this background on the organization that hosted everything from banquets to book readings here...
For the last several months the location of the Ukrainian Sports Club of New York (YCK) has experienced extraordinary changes due to gentrification of our neighborhood thereby having very little interaction with its members.
Moreover, our New York Ukrainians soccer team players find it difficult traveling into Manhattan. Our home base for our adult soccer games is in McCarren Park in Brooklyn, which is an area that would be a more appropriate and exciting new home for YCK.
In the past few years, we have taken several remarkable steps to remain here in Manhattan as this has been our home for the last 46 years. The YCK purchased the building at 122 Second Ave. in late 1974 upon selling our soccer field in Flushing, Queens. At that time, this building was a commercial one, fully rented, except for the ground and second floors with commercial and residential tenants on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors.
The club has meant the world to thousands of people over the last five decades. It always welcomed members and their guests with a smile. It is a unique location in the heart of the East Village.
Upon entering the building, you would walk down a long hallway with blue and yellow stripes (symbolizing the colors of the Ukrainian flag), to a lobby that has an amazing mural of printed articles and photographs of the NY Ukrainians soccer teams over the years.
On the other side is an impressive wall of outstanding trophies that their athletic teams have earned and show off with pride. Climbing up a few steps would be a classic and timeless no-frills bar, playing sports on any or all of their 3 TV monitors.
Although we sold the building back in 2016, but remained in the back of the ground floor, the decision to move out of our Manhattan home has been a very difficult one. Our rental lease has expired and we are ready to find a new permanent location. We have many unforgettable memories here that we will hold on to forever.
Rest assured, we have exciting changes ahead. We will continue to function with our respective adult and youth athletic programs during this transition and will wholeheartedly support you, our community, along the way.
Here are some photos from the move this week...We will dearly miss our 122 Second Ave. home but look forward to finding another remarkable location for our organization to continue thriving for generations to come.
You can keep tabs on the Club via Instagram.
