Gem Spa: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox company |
{{Infobox company |
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|name = Gem Spa |
|name = Gem Spa |
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|logo = [[Image: |
|logo = [[Image:Gem Spa in winter.jpg|250px]] |
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|caption = |
|caption = (January 2011) |
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|type = Private |
|type = Private |
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|genre = [[Newsstand]] |
|genre = [[Newsstand]] |
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Revision as of 22:29, 13 January 2011
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Genre | Newsstand |
| Headquarters | 131 2nd Avenue, , United States |
Number of locations | St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue |
| Products | Egg cream, Newspapers, Magazines |
| Owner | Ray Patel (as of 2005) |
Gem Spa is a New York City newspaper stand[1] which originally opened in the 1920s.[citation needed] It is open 24 hours a day.[2] It is known for selling authentic New York City style egg creams, which its awning self-describes as "New York's Best."[3][4] It does not stock pornographic magazines and it gets magazines delivered one or two days before other New York City newsstands.[5] In the 1950s it was a beat hangout and in the 1960s it was a hippie hangout;[6] it was known for selling a wide selection of underground newspapers.[7][8] New York Magazine named it the best newstand in the East Village in 2001,[5] and it has been featured on television programs about food, including Kelly Choi's Secrets of New York.
History
"It had been a Beat mecca in the 1950s, a hippie hangout in the sixties and more recently was the scene of a famous photograph of the Dolls."
—Gary Valentine Lachman of Blondie[6]
The Lower East Side History Project say the site was an outlet for the Chain Shirt Shop in 1922, and that Gem Spa had opened by the 1950s.[9] Sociologist Daniel Bell, who claimed in the 1970s that his uncle Hymie created the egg cream, says that another man called Hymie owned a candy store serving egg creams on the site of Gem Spa in the 1920s.[10] The store was previously known as Gem's Spa. In 1966, The Village Voice called it the "official oasis of the East Village";[11] it was known as a "hippie hangout".[10] Abbie Hoffman gathered people for his 1967 protest at the New York Stock Exchange at Gem Spa,[12], Allen Ginsberg called it a "nerve center" of the city,[13] and the Art Workers' Coalition had their offices above the store.[14] The owner in 1971 was Irving Stein.[15] The store was closed for a time from February 1972, and the storefront caught fire that May.[16] The owner in 2005 was Ray Patel, who was born in the early 1940s in Gujarat, India. He learned making egg creams from the previous Italian owner, who in turn learned it from his Jewish predecessor.[17]
In popular culture
Gem Spa is featured prominently in the book The Mad Man by Samuel R Delany, who lived in the neighborhood.[18] It is also featured on the back cover of the first album by the New York Dolls.[19][8] Allen Ginsberg and Ted Berrigan both mentioned the stand in their works.[11]
References
- ^ Gem Spa, Yelp.com
- ^ "Top 10 rock'n'roll landmarks in the US". The Guardian. 3 August 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ http://nycfoodguy.com/2010/05/05/gem-spa-best-egg-cream/
- ^ Lauckner, Sally (19 October 2010). "A Literary Tour of the East Village". The Local. The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, and The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ a b "Best of New York: Best Newsstands". New York Magazine. 2001. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ a b Valentine, Gary (2006). "2. Village of the Damned". New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation with Blondie, Iggy Pop, and Others, 1974-1981. Da Capo Press. p. 27. ISBN 1560259442.
- ^ Romm, Ethel (14 October 1968). "Blueprint for Revolution". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ a b "Tanqueray Rock-n-Roll Trivia Map". New York Magazine. 12 October 1992. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ "St. Marks Place Lot by Lot History". Lower East Side History Project. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ a b Simonson, Robert (1 September 2010). "Iconic Foods: Egg Cream". Edible Manhattan. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ^ a b Morgan, Bill (1997). The beat generation in New York: a walking tour of Jack Kerouac's city. City Lights Books. p. 100. ISBN 0872863255.
- ^ Jordan, Ken (7 May 2007). ""I Know We Won" - Abbie Speaks". Reality Sandwich. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ^ Ney, William (September 1988). "A talk with Allen Ginsberg". The New Common Good. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ^ Harriman, Jr., Louis (1997). "The Judson Flag Show 1970: actually called The People's Flag Show". Greenwich Village Gazette. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ^ Lichtenstein, Grace (17 January 1971). "On Lower East Side, Opinions on Police Strike Parallel the Generation Gap". New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ "Gem Spa burns". The Village Voice. 4 May 1972. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ Berger, Joseph (31 July 2005). "The Pizza Is Still Old World, Only Now the Old World Is Tibet". New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ^ Delany, Samuel R., The Mad Man, 1995 edition, p. 171
- ^ Carlson, Jen (20 April 2006). "NYC Album Art: New York Dolls". Gothamist.