This project will renovate and expand the Café, with a new main lobby and performance space on the first floor, an additional dedicated performance space on the fourth floor, and a “flex” space on the second floor, which can be used as a classroom or rehearsal space.
The project will also add a new elevator to the four-story building and office space for staff. These improvements will allow the organization to reach a wider audience by hosting multiple performances concurrently and providing local students with masterclasses and workshop opportunities.The project will also entail exterior work, including a new roof, extensive building envelope rehabilitation and waterproofing, a new ADA ramp for public access from the sidewalk level into the facility, new fire exit stairs as well as renovations to the plumbing, HVAC and electrical systems.
Upon arrival, you'll find you've shifted back in time and a few degrees closer to the equator — the long room is decked in light green and antique pink, none of the chairs match, there are candle stains on the walls, and all the tables show faint reminders of drinks past.
It's a place that makes the most sense on breezy, sunny afternoons where you'll sit in front of open second-floor windows, sip exotic rum cocktails (like the El Cobre), nosh on Cuban small plates and listen to vintage Cuban tunes while making eyes with raven-haired neighborhood rum enthusiasts.
Ravi Derossi, an owner, said construction on the building so completely gutted the interior of the bar that he decided to start over with a “tiki-influenced” bar called Mother of Pearl.
Mr. Derossi and [co-beverage director Thomas] Chadwick said they didn’t want Mother of Pearl to be pigeonholed as a tiki bar. “Postmodern Polynesian,” they called it.
Some of New York’s most well-known and innovative cocktail specialists are temporarily stepping away from their spices and strainers to serve up shots and drafts as guest bartenders at the East Village’s Sidewalk Cafe, at 94 Avenue A (at East 6th Street). Starting March 28, such master mixologists as Scott James Teague (veteran of Pegu Club); Michael Klein and Nick Brown (PDT); and Frank Cisneros (Dram, Bourgeois Pig, Cienfuegos) and Jane Danger, formerly of PDT; are taking a break from the stylish concoctions they create elsewhere to lend their hand serving more typical bar fare — beer, shots, and a handful of popular mixed drinks, at Sidewalk Cafe. Guest bartenders will be on hand at Sidewalk the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 8 p.m. to midnight.
In his Lower East Side apartment, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born as an outspoken and passionate collective of poets, musicians, theater artists and activists.
Miguel was a brilliant poet, an influential professor and leader, and a supportive mentor who inspired and guided generations of artists.
He edited popular anthologies of poetry and theater, including "Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe" and "Action"; he helped launch the Nuyorican Literary movement; and he played an instrumental role in popularizing spoken word and performance poetry across the United States and around the world.
Miguel and the Cafe's co-founders amplified the voices and championed the work of Latinx, Black, LGBTQ+ and immigrant artists who were not accepted by the academic, entertainment or publishing industries.
Thanks to their pioneering work, and thanks to our community of friends and supporters, the Cafe has remained a vibrant home for creative expression since 1973.
The literary world owes Miguel a debt of gratitude. He will be greatly missed.
In the early 1970s, Algarín ... began inviting other Nuyorican poets to his apartment on East Sixth Street for readings and performances. Algarín and his contemporaries, including Miguel Piñero, Pedro Pietri and Lucky CienFuegos, were part of a growing artistic scene in what was then a primarily Puerto Rican neighborhood, drawing on their identities and daily struggles for their work.The salon quickly outgrew Algarín’s living room, so he and a few other artists began renting an Irish bar down the street to fit more people. In 1981, they bought their current building on East Third Street and, after a lengthy renovation process, formally opened it to the public in 1990 as a space for Nuyorican poets to experiment and hone their craft.
Miguel Algarin has died and I’m heartbroken. Long live The Nuyorican Poets. QEPD. 😢😢😢😢
— Maria Hinojosa (@Maria_Hinojosa) December 1, 2020
We offer our deepest love, thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Miguel Algarin. Founder of Nuyorican Poets Cafe, his work continues to influence and inspire poets, and artists alike, across the diaspora. pic.twitter.com/xsifZXj9eX
— CantoMundo (@CantoMundo) December 1, 2020
Since the start, our monthly poetry slam has been inspired by the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Miguel Algarín imbued the Nuyorican Poets Cafe with joy, soul and a deep sense of community that reverberated for generations. May our work be a small honoring of his legacy.
— The Philly Pigeon (@ThePhillyPigeon) December 1, 2020
Cienfuegos restaurant (95 Ave. A) was the rare case of a new app within a resolution area receiving unanimous approval from the board. The restaurant’s team, which consists of Luis Gonzalez (ex-Mercer Kitchen) and Death & Co. and Bourgeois Pig operatives, knew exactly what they had to do to sway the board: they presented petitions with over 1,000 signatures, demonstrated the public benefit from having a straight-up Cuban restaurant in a city that doesn't have many of them, and stressed their nearly immaculate records.
As Ray is already paying a peak rent for his small store, and as the neighborhood is already full of empty storefronts, it is doubtful whether a new tenant would be able or willing to pay as much or more for Ray's store.
