I am frequently heard to lament the deterioration of the East Village I used to love -- my favorite seedy bars like Downtown Beirut, Alcatraz, Manitoba’s and Mars Bar, live-music venues like Brownie’s and the Pyramid and record/disc shops like Sounds, Freebeing and Kim’s have mostly all gone the way of the woolly mammoth. Over the last couple of decades, storefronts that were formerly storied haunts or atmospheric dives became bespoke boutiques, exotic noodle parlors, vaping emporiums or brunch destinations. The punkers were largely replaced by brunchers. Cronuts became strangely way more important than Cro-Mags. The edge went missing.
But I read today via my comrade E.V. Grieve that one of those “newer” places is vacating today. Davey’s Ice Cream on First Avenue only opened up 8 years ago. I honestly can’t remember what is was prior to Davey’s, but in the past 8 years, it has been an all-time favorite with my now-no-longer-especially-little kids (below circa 2018). There may have been a whiff of trendy/foodie about the venture, but they served a particular flavor called Speculoos that – while it sounded like an unsavory surgical instrument – truly rivaled unmentionable pleasures. We shall bitterly rue Davey’s departure.
Pour one out.
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