Cake Shop, Ludlow Street, New York - anyone been?

[editor]

Anyone been to this lovely cafe/venue on the Lower East Side?

Feature with archive photos here: Cake Shop NYC

 

[pogofish]

Ex & I had a couple of good nights on Ludlow Street last year and I do remember we fell into a cafe that looked rather like this at one point.

I must admit we were both a bit minced at the time!

 

[twistedAM]

I never imagined it to look quite so smart (much better than the listings page on their website). Would really like to go there as we put on quite a few of the same bands; in fact Jeffrey Lewis is doing a show there on 10th Jan as a warm up for his UK tour with Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders.

 

[editor]

The last time we were there it was in a bit of a state: the record shop at the back had long gone, and there were piles of chairs shoved in its place.

Admittedly it was a Thanksgiving Day afternoon so I guess everything was understocked, but the upstairs did look rather unloved.

The downstairs is every bit as rough and ready as the Windmill though (and this is a Good Thing!) and it's a great little venue.

 

[JimW]

Only heard of it because Henry Rollins loses his rag with some lass there late last year: http://stereogum.com/566652/henry-rollins-scolds-young-elitist-hipters-at-the-cake-shop/video/

 

[editor]

The record shop was most definitely not full of "very hip" and "elitist" music. You can clearly see a Monochrome Set album there FFS!

He comes over as a total div charging into a store with a film crew and slagging everyone off while trying to look good in front of his lady companion.

But when he finds his own fucking album and declares the fact "cool" the word hypocrite springs to mind.

 

[JimW]

He certainly didn't cover himself with glory - and the woman he was with looked mortified.

 

[twistedAM]

Looking at the listings it seems a lot of the good stuff has gone out to Brooklyn, Monster Island specifically but maybe I'm tinted cos i like a lot of the stuff Todd P puts on. And also maybe it's because the west coast is striking back and most of the current wave of supposedly hot bands come from there and not so much NY these days.

 

[D]

I find the place kinda annoying, but as we now know for sure on your last visit, domestic drama aside, we have different NYC haunts!

 

[editor]

I find the place kinda annoying, but as we now know for sure on your last visit, domestic drama aside, we have different NYC haunts!

Well I liked Sycamore very much indeed! http://www.urban75.org/blog/sycamore-flower-shop-bar-flatbush-brooklyn-

 

[editor]

I paid the Cake Shop another visit in December and was pleased to see it still there considering much of the area has turned into lifestyle apartments.

http://www.urban75.org/blog/return-to-the-cake-shop-ludlow-street-new-york/