Jonathan Larson Bench-East Village

By John Sunderland

Regulars to Life Café Bushwick may notice that there’s an elephant in the room, in the shape, well not of an actual elephant, but a large, wooden well-worn pew.  On it is an inscribed brass plate, which reads, “The Jonathan Larson Bench”.

So what’s the point of mentioning this, after all, we don’t write about bar stools, though several are still warm with amazing stories. No, we mention the arrival of the bench from our original East Village Café because we’re closed there at the moment. The building has to have remedial structural work done and whatever it is they will do and whenever they do it, we want the bench to be safe from harm.

Jonathan Larson Bench

Kath’s first husband, David, brought the bench from their hometown in Michigan to the original café in the East Village in 1982. It sat there in the exact same place until yesterday, October 26, 2011, during which time it was host to God knows how many geniuses and dreamers, lovers and dribblers. Then, awakened from it’s cozy rest, it was jumped on, pulled outside and U-Hauled over the Willy B Bridge and into the sweating, straining arms of our unfortunate staff who, man and woman, handled it into the café, much to the surprise of the customers, who were temporarily moved and piled into a corner, whilst the bench was placed in its new home.

Jonathan Larson's Bench in its new home

So, why the effort? Because the bench to many people is a quasi-sacred object. It was where Jonathan Larson, creator of the Broadway musical hit RENT, sat with his friends whilst crafting the show.

Life Café in the East Village was at the epicenter of the world that he describes in RENT and duly gets its place immortalized in the production as the café where the

characters meet and perform the showstopper, “La Vie Boehme”.

So that’s the story.  Sit on it, move your bum back and forth; there’s just a chance the bench sparks genius!

On this auspicious day of 9/11/11, after 30 years in business, I am closing Life Cafe East Village this evening “until further notice.” I’m doing this due to issues around building repairs the landlords were supposedly going to complete one year ago. Until the landlords complete the repairs, I will remain closed. We anticipate a rebirth of Life Cafe sometime in the near future. Thank you for your loyal patronage over the years.

You are welcome to stop by as my guest today and raise a glass with me to Life!

Because, Life is worth Loving.

Kathy Life

HAPPY HOURS
7 days with complimentary chips and salsa at the bar
4 – 7 pm and 10pm – midnight

WEEKLY DINNER SPECIALS ARE BACK
New every Friday. Come on in and enjoy some of your old favorites.

Dog Walks Man by John Sunderland

So any business is only as good as the people that work for it. That really shows up strong in an emergency situation.

This morning, in preparation before Hurricane Irene is expected to smack New York in the face, the owner and my wife, Kathy Life, had two options; (1) take the news that we may be flooded under feet of water seriously, as the East Village café is in the storm surge Zone A, or (2) stay at home and watch things unfold on the Weather Channel and meditate that all would be ok.

The flood threat meant that the basement of the Life Café premises on the corner of 10th Street and Avenue B would have to be emptied to prevent damage to all the raw materials and office stuff that we have down there. If not, a kitchen hand would have to be in scuba gear to go down to the basement to collect potatoes.

I cycled there as early as my bike (and my disbelief that I was doing this) would take me and at around 7:20 a.m. I arrived. The outside door was open and kitchen staff, in their whites, were wide awake and energized, hoisting up stuff from the basement.

I went down there to locate the cafe manager Mark Trzupek and knocked on and opened the office door. Inside I saw the broad back of a Navy Seal (that’s what it said on his tee shirt). The Navy Seals are here! Crikey, I thought we really are going to be underwater! Then the guy turned round; it was Mark.

Over the next couple of hours, people on the sidewalk looked and wondered what the hell was going on. The oriental bodega on the opposite corner traded busily as usual, always in front of the game (this morning they were selling rubber inflatables and waterproof subs).

Meanwhile Mark and his incredible kitchen team manhandled freezers and fridges, ice making machines and tons and tons of products in cans, boxes and sacks up to the surface to store it above the predicted flood. Sweating and straining, those amazing guys hauled to the surface the raw materials of the café up the steep and brutal stairs from the bowels of the building. The race was on to get it done and the task was completed well in time for all the guys to make it home before Mass Transit, the transport system for the New York City, shut down at noon, which was the first time that has happened in New York City’s history.

In the face of adversity; never mind making fantastic Huevos Rancheros and the greatest Eggs Benedict in the universe. This morning underlined to me again that it’s not just food and drink. Far more than that; it is great people that make a special café.

950 HART GALLERY

Match One: In the left Corner Antoinette Johnson, in the right Mikki Nylund.
What is the Art Battle? It’s an interesting concept, female and male, one each side of our twenty two foot long wall at Life Café, Bushwick, actually not a wall any more but an arena.

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, so said John Gray in his best selling book. So when I watched this show being put up this morning I wondered what would be the difference visualized; you know soft female fluffy sensitive stuff on one side and aggressive hard-on masculine muscle painting on the other?

Judge for yourselves, because that’s what this is about, an artistic battle of the sexes; a different gender based way of seeing the world? Interesting question, through looking at male and female produced art will we better understand each other and our sexuality and how it effects our vision of our world experience?

Personally, I found that the work displayed was the opposite of what might have been stereoscopically expected. Mikki’s work at first look is full of cats and cuddles,even if the cuddlers are a bit odd, even by Bushwick standards; a Chagall-esque dream world; softly disturbing, but not nightmarish; like dream images you would be happy to remember.

Antoinette’s paintings are she as she sees herself (my words), powerful, unique and fantastic, naked and armored; an Amazonian female capable of tearing herself to bits if required. There she is, tall and strong, like an alien princess come to earth, strutting as proudly as a dandy cock!

As I said, go judge for yourselves; the show is a lot of fun and the work is a summer fizz of delight.

The Art Battle between members of 950 Hart Gallery, continues throughout July atLife Café 983, Bushwick.

It’s time, well, past time, to shake the tree of Life. And so we have, as you’ll notice.

We’ve lived with scaffolding surrounding the building that houses Life Café for too many months. Our landlords continue to work out their issues over renovations to the buildings leaving us stuck in the middle of their wrangling.

So to give our old tree a shake, I’ve brought in my good friend Darin Rubell, founder of Mercadito and owner of Gallery Bar and Ella in the Lower East Side. Darin’s brief is to re-vitalize Life Café. He loves the East Village and Life Cafe and sees the Cafe’s 30-year history as an essential part of the fabric of the area. His mission is to bring new life to the old girl! And he’s passionate to see this happen. To that end he’s brought in Chef Consultant Paul Yellin to breathe new life and taste into our menu, creating new twists on old favorites and introducing some exciting new ones. The new menu with its fresh graphic styling makes it easier to choose a menu item and it’s much more easy to handle.

First Readers of Redesigned Life Cafe Menu

It’s still the old Life, but when you come in you’ll feel the buzz and excitement from the staff and the customers alike over what’s going on. You’ll notice the improvements right away when you step through the door. This week saw a fresh coat of paint and a new look: a soft creamy white ceiling with soft grey accents brighten up the room. Out have gone our vintage TV’s and in have come flowers and a more open feel. Our cozy corner is still cozy but without the one-eyed monster looking down on you. A second black chalkboard wall helps announce our new specials. John Sunderland’s off-the-wall artwork of his menu-based picture riddles remain in house to continue our policy of connection with the arts and to spur lively conversation among customers.

Fresh Look for Life Cafe for Spring 2011

Outside in back our freshly planted secret garden became a lush tropical jungle this week with all the rain, whilst out front our new bistro style sidewalk café brings a surprisingly European flavor to the corner of 10th and B.

Spring Bursts open in Life Cafe's Garden

We hope you will enjoy the new life we are breathing into the old, just in time for the next thirty years! Tune in tomorrow for “Who’s that Yellin’ in the Kitchen?” where we’ll give you a look into the exciting flavors Chef Paul Yellin has created for us.