Chinatown Fair Arcade Reopening at 8 Mott Street!
When neighborhood businesses go belly-up, there isn’t always a groundswell of public mourning. Just a quiet passing with a gentle note from the owners. But after the beloved Chinatown Fair abruptly shuttered its home at 8 Mott Street exactly one year ago, gamers left their love for the mecca on the shuttered gates (“I fell in love with Bob here”; “Insert one soul here”) while others gathered on the adjacent stoop to play fantasy card games and handhelds. And they continue to do so. BUT NOW A REVIVAL IS REPORTEDLY AFOOT! The proverbial phoenix is arising from the ashes.
This image has been archived or removed.
Photo Credit: Kurt Vincent
Independent filmmakers Kurt Vincent and Owen Strock, who are wrapping their documentary about the iconic institution (Arcade: The Last Night at Chinatown Fair), spotted workers delivering game cabinets back into the old Mott Street location earlier this week. The rumor on the street was that the gamer paradise was reopening. Former manager Henry Cen, who opened Next Level Arcade in Brooklyn after the closure, confirmed that some dude named Lonnie was behind the relaunch.
A group of men were moving some of the old games back inside. One of the men introduced himself as Lonnie. He told me they were hired to move in the games and empty the trash that remained inside. I spoke with Henry Cen, co-owner of Next Level and integral part of the old Chinatown Fair, and he told me a guy named Lonnie was reopening the arcade at 8 Mott Street.
Neither Cen nor longtime owner Sam have a hand in the reincarnated Chinatown Fair, slated to open as soon as next month. Interestingly enough, however, this Lonnie character once bartended at another city landmark – his uncle’s establishment, Max’s Kansas City.
This image has been archived or removed.
Last Night at Chinatown Fair, Feb. 2011
Needless to say, this great news throws a wrench in the Arcade project. But totally worth it.
[via Gothamist]
Recent Stories
With LES Gentrification at Critical Mass, the Time is Now to Pass Universal Rent Control [OP-ED]
Bob Angles, a resident living in one of the affordable units of Essex Crossing, penned the following editorial. Secondary displacement, better known as gentrification, has been creeping up and down our streets for the past decade. Yet, with the arrival of thousands of new, unregulated apartments between the Extell tower (i.e. One Manhattan Square) and […]
‘The First Time I Saw The Ramones’ at the 72 Gallery on Orchard Street
Photographer Tom Hearn spent the night of July 22, 1976 at the Acadia Ballroom in New Haven, Connecticut. Attending at the behest of friend Legs McNeil, co-founder of Punk Magazine, that was the first time he saw the Ramones play live. And he captured it on film for posterity. Now, those images are on display […]
Epstein’s Bar is Whitewashed and Rebranded as ’82 Stanton’
In other news of nightlife name changes, the rebooted Epstein’s NYC is no longer. The bar is still there, of course, but the newish ownership is now trying on a new identity. Last week, Epstein’s painted its corner facade white. A literal whitewashing of its image, perhaps to shed its skater sports vibe for something more […]
He Said, She Said: A Two-City Concert Review of the Twilight Sad
Hot off the release of their fifth album It Won/t be Like this All the Time earlier this year, Scottish outfit The Twilight Sad have been hitting the stateside tour schedule pretty hard. Maybe a little too hard – their Boston show at Sonia was nixed due to a strain on James Graham’s vocals. We […]
Kushner’s $65M Purchase of Hotel on Rivington is Tripped Up
The Kushner Companies’ multimillion-dollar purchase of the Hotel on Rivington is reportedly on shaky ground. Last November, the firm entered into contract to acquire the twenty-story glass eyesore for $65 million. Fast forward six months. According to documents filed in New York Supreme Court Tuesday morning, uncovered by The Real Deal, Kushner Companies demands that […]
