The very first post arrived on this site on Dec. 21, 2007. It was an item from Page Six (!!!???) about the possible sale of Sophie's and Mona's, two longtime favorite East Village bars.
The site went by — not joking! — Sophie's Bar Blog for a brief period. (And why not Mona's Bar Blog?) After a few weeks of handwringing, it turned out that the bars would stay in the family and remain pretty much the same to this day 15 years later. (I explain the site's evolution from Sophie's Bar Blog to EVG here.)
Anyway, taking this moment to thank you for reading the site for however long it has been these past 15 years and 38,546 posts, and for sharing in the adventures of living in this neighborhood — for better or worse. And thank you for sharing tips, photos, anecdotes, observations, complaints, and perspectives on day-to-day life here, past and present.
Couldn't do any of this without all of you.
I'm incredibly grateful to Derek Berg and Steven for their daily contributions... and to Stacie Joy for lending her photography and reporting talents in covering happenings around the neighborhood.
And now, a happy and healthy holiday season to you. (If you have a Christmas tree and need to discard it before leaving town, please place it where we can get a good photo of it!)
Photoshopped photo from the archives courtesy of EVPinhead. And I give that business six weeks!