GRAMERCY — Gramercy residents are rallying against a new vegan eatery that opened last month in partnership with a comedy club that they say has raised a ruckus in the neighborhood for more than 20 years.
Neighbors of VSpot, which also has branches in Park Slope and the East Village, are asking the state to reject the new cafe's application for a beer and wine license because of its relationship to New York Comedy Club, which they say has drawn noisy crowds to the quiet East 23rd Street block between Second and Third avenues since it opened in 1994.
Community Board 6’s Business and Street Affairs Committee voted unanimously on Jan. 28 to object to the beer and wine license application by VSpot owner Daniel Carabano and his partners — Comedy Club owners Emilio Savone and Scott Lindner — after frustrated neighbors of the club turned out to oppose the new 241 E. 24th St. eatery. It's located next door to the club and will only add to their headache, they said.
The cafe will serve food to club patrons, but Lindner and Savone stressed that Carabano will be the sole operator and manager of the cafe and that it will operate independently of the club.
But to Nicole Paikoff, who lives across from the club and has for years chronicled perceived bad behavior there, the cafe is little more than an annex of the Comedy Club, which she says continues to keep her up at night even after Savone and Linder promised to shape up.
“There’s consistently people shouting outside late at night,” said Paikoff, who showed up to the Jan. 28 meeting with a handful of other neighbors to oppose a liquor license at the new cafe.
“Emilio and Scott swore up and down that they would be different, and whenever I raise issues they ‘yes’ me to death, but it never changes.”
The building currently also has 13 open Department of Buildings violations against it, including one from July 2007, when the city slapped them with a $2,400 fine for cramming 144 people into a space that can only safely hold 72 people, city records show.
Other violations include one from 2010 for sharing an entrance with the residential portion of the building, which violates zoning rules, and from August 2012 for blocking a ladder to a fire escape, records show.
Community Board 6 voted in favor of the new owners’ liquor license application in 2014 on the condition that they change closing time from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m. and hire security to prevent people from congregating outside.
When Savone and Lindner took over the club, they renovated the place in hopes of meeting some of the community's demands, Savone said. They enlarged the front bar area to create extra space for guest overflow, and hired a security to keep people from lingering outside.
By partnering with the cafe, guests waiting for a show or wanting to hang out after one will have another venue to go inside, rather than congregating on the street, Savone said.
“It really feels like an unwinnable situation, no matter what we do,” Savone said. “I mean, what’s more harmless than an organic, vegan cafe?”
But there has been a showing of support for the comedy club from some neighbors in the area. As of Monday afternoon more than 75 people had signed a petition created last week supporting the club as “an active and positive member of Gramercy."
Adam Lessne, who lives in a second-floor apartment across the street from the club and was buying coffee at VSpot on Monday, said that while he sometimes sees a few people hanging around outside the club, the people attending events there have never bothered him.
“I’ve never once had a problem with them,” Lessne said, after signing the petition on Monday. “I think it livens up the neighborhood.”
The New York State Liquor Authority has the final say on whether to approve or reject a beer and wine license for the new VSpot cafe.
