Caffe Vivaldi on Jones Street is a throwback to a retro era in New York dining—the Italian-leaning restaurant serves live jazz with its ravioli, and has played host to a myriad of artistic Village boho types over the past 30 years. It looks like it has been and will be around forever, but it won't be, if new landlord Steve Croman gets what he wants—unless the restaurant fights its way back.
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York reports today that Croman, whom the Village Voice has named one of the city's Top 10 Worst Landlords, is tripling the rent to a cool $19,995.
Now the restaurant, which has had cameos in films by Woody Allen and Al Pacino, is petitioning for its survival:
"Caffe Vivaldi is a cultural institution. We want your support and patronage to continue doing what we have been doing for the past 28 years; that is, providing a haven for young artists, writers, and musicians so they can continue to contribute to New York’s vibrant cultural life. Only you can help us continue our mission by granting us a lease that reflects the actual current market rent structure.
Hey, it worked for St. Mark's Bookshop! "Our aim to urge our landlord not to increase our rent to an amount we can never come up with in 685 sq ft of space. We want to be fair to him and want him to be fair to us: All we are asking is that he charge us the fair market rent," Vivaldi's owners add. We're awaiting comment from the owner and will update when more information becomes available.
