Say goodbye to another vestige of the old East Village
Say goodbye to yet another East Village icon (albeit a slightly grotty one): Brooklyn Vegan reports that Continental Bar, located on Third Avenue near St. Mark's Place, will close next summer. In an open letter posted on the bar's website, longtime owner Trigger Smith said that the bar will be "knocked down and developed," along with its neighbors on that particular corner of St. Mark's Place.
Last week, The Real Deal reported that a firm called Real Estate Equities Corporation had assumed the lease for the building that holds Continental, along with two others (at 23 Third Avenue and 3 St. Mark's Place, respectively), for $150 million. The plan is to demolish those structures and erect a seven-story "boutique office building" (what else?) in their place. Its owners had previously filed for bankruptcy twice, most recently in 2015.
In his post, Smith noted that "It's truly heartbreaking that we and so many Old Skool places are falling by the wayside but unless you own your building that's how it goes." And indeed, that corner of the East Village has seen many of its longtime tenants either move (as Trash & Vaudeville did in 2016 when its home on St. Mark's Place sold for $10 million) or shutter their doors outright (as St. Mark's Bookshop did, after a long fight and a move to Third Street).
Continental was probably best known for its punk shows—Joey Ramone played his final live show there in 2000—and its shot specials, the latter of which will presumably continue on until the lights are turned off for the last time.
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