EAST VILLAGE — Longtime neighborhood standby Life Café is closing indefinitely after three decades on Avenue B.
A note posted on the restaurant’s website Sunday said that building repairs the landlord planned to make a year ago never occurred, forcing the eatery at the corner of East 10th Street to shutter until they are completed, EV Grieve reported.
"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,'" the note read.
"We anticipate a rebirth of Life Cafe sometime in the near future. Thank you for your loyal patronage over the years."
Playwright Jonathan Larson famously penned portions of his smash Broadway hit "RENT" at the restaurant, which was also featured in the long-running play.
A message left with restaurant owner Kathy Kirkpatrick at Life Café’s Brooklyn outpost was not immediately returned.
Kirkpatrick and her then-husband opened the café in 1981 after moving to New York City, first planning to sell antiques out of the space before converting it to a coffee shop and eventually a full-scale restaurant and performance space.
“Life Cafe became a space for artists to meet, talk, exchange ideas and perform,” read a passage from the restaurant’s website. “On cold winter days, people came to keep warm because their apartments were freezing cold.”
The eatery expanded to Bushwick, Brooklyn, in 2002.
A representative for the building owner could not be reached.
