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Former Amato Opera on Bowery May Become a Bar

The Amato Opera building at 319 Bowery, still with its original signage. An applicant now wants to turn the building into a bar.
The Amato Opera building at 319 Bowery, still with its original signage. An applicant now wants to turn the building into a bar.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

EAST VILLAGE — The former Amato Opera house on the Bowery may be moving from librettos to libations.

A downtown restaurant owner is slated to pitch his plan to bring a nightspot to the four-story building near East Second Street, which hosted the homegrown opera group for nearly 50 years.

An item on Community Board 3’s meeting agenda for next week shows a company listed as Vbar2LLC as the applicant seeking a full liquor license for the historic structure. The community board did not immediately know the name of the individual who filed the application.

However, several venues in the neighborhood, including a wine bar in the West Village and a café in the East Village, are owned by the same owner and share the name V Bar.

V Bar owner Enrico Ciotti did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Amato Opera opened in the all-white building at 319 Bowery in the early ’60s, and became one of the most familiar faces on the strip along with its neighbor, the infamous former rock club CBGB.

A call to the building’s new owner, Steve Croman, was also not returned.