Sidewalk Cafe Closes After 30 Years In The East Village

EAST VILLAGE, NY — East Village open mic and performance venue Sidewalk Cafe shuttered over the weekend after some three decades in the neighborhood.

Sidewalk Cafe celebrated its final days during its Winter Antifolk Festival before closing last weekend, Bedford and Bowery reported.

The East Village bar, restaurant and venue was where many up-and-coming artists got their start, including Regina Spektor, Beck, the Moldy Peaches, among others.

Last December, new owners Laura Saniuk-Heinig and Alyssa Sartor took over the live-music venue on Ave. A and 6th St.

At the time, Saniuk-Heinig told EV Grieve they were "looking forward to keeping the music aspect of the room still alive."

"Exactly what kind of shows, we do not know yet," she said in December.

In its final days, the venue's booker Somer Bingham said "there's a tinge of sadness in the air," according to Bedford and Bowery.

But Sidewalk ended on a "great note," she said, particularly ending its final antifolk festival with performances from some who had played at the venue for the past three decades.

Bedford and Bowery reported Ray Brown, Dan and Rachel, Endless Arrows, The Iceburgs, and Phoebe Novak were among the artists who performed at the festival.

The East Village mainstay's closure comes after a series of longtime businesses in Downtown Manhattan have closed. The bar Continental and Papaya King St. Mark's Place and Third Ave. closed for eventual redevelopment as an office building. St. Mark's Comics is also expected to close at the end of this month after 36 years in the Village.

Some businesses have managed to stay in place, however, including McNally Jackson, which reportedly was being ousted from its Prince St. location but is now expected to stay in SoHo and expand to two more locations.

Webster Hall, another East Village concert venue, closed for renovations nearly two years ago and reopens this spring.

Sidewalk Cafe's owners could not be immediately reached for comment.