Little Tokyo and some Stand-Up Comedy: East 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue

I was recently on this block seeing a friend of mine, Elon Altman, perform stand-up comedy. A bar on the block called Solas has a free stand-up show in part of their space every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Elon, an up-and-coming comedian in my unbiased opinion, was hosting the shows there that weekend. The Friday night show was in a downstairs room:

And the next night it was upstairs:

You can see in the above photo that Elon is the rare performer that can do great comedy with his eyes closed. Just kidding, I think he was blinking. He was wearing a cool Doors t-shirt though. Here's a brief taste of his stand-up:


After the Friday night show we were walking along the block and looking for a possible place to eat when Elon pointed out how many Asian restaurants there were. It was something I had never noticed, and a few days later I discovered that in fact the restaurants were all Japanese and this area in the East Village, and especially this particular block, is known as Little Tokyo.

So I went back several days later to get a closer look and take some photos. I couldn't believe that I had walked through this general area so many times and was unaware of it being Little Tokyo. I also kept an eye out for Little Bill Murray and Little Scarlett Johansson, but I didn't see them... I thought I would get that movie reference out of the way early.

Near 3rd Avenue, East 9th Street is intersected by the diagonal-cutting Stuyvesant Street.  This creates a couple of triangular plots of land and a fork in the road where 9th Street continues to the right and Stuyvesant Street goes to the left when facing 3rd Avenue. Here's a look from the corner of Stuyvesant and 3rd:

East 9th meets 3rd Avenue on the other side of that triangular park, next to the big multi-colored building which is NYU dorms. 

A quick aside: Stuyvesant Street doesn't extend to the Astor Place area a block to the west, but I noticed this on the sidewalk there:

Its line was pointing in the general direction of where Stuyvesant Street runs nearby. Maybe the street did originally extend to the Astor Place area over 350 years ago. 

Anyway, walking on Stuyvesant Street from 3rd Avenue leads to this intersection, with Stuyvesant continuing to the left and 9th Street going to the right towards 2nd Avenue:

At this area near 3rd Avenue, the Japanese stores actually continue along Stuyvesant Street, which physically is a continuation of the 9th Street block after it makes a slight turn. You can see the turn to the right in the above photo. I think I've attempted to explain the geography of this area but made things very confusing. Hmm. Let's just look at some Japanese shops now. 

At the little Stuyvesant Street part of this block, there is a Japanese market near 3rd Avenue called Sunrise Mart. 

It is actually on the 2nd floor, so the doors at the ground level just lead to an elevator that takes you up there. The 2nd floor is a rather tight space with several aisles. The food and products seemed authentically Japanese and I admittedly felt out of my element. Some of the food looked good but I was too timid to buy anything. Maybe another time. 

Next to Sunrise Mart is Village Yokocho. It is an izakaya restaurant, which seems to be sort of an informal place to eat in preparation for drinking.

Continuing east, here are 3 eateries: from the right, a Japanese bakery, a French/Japanese hybrid, and a Japanese restaurant called Sharaku.

According to an article about the area on the website Eater, Little Tokyo's origins go back to the 1980's when Japan's economy was doing well and many people were coming to New York and deciding to settle here. It was a little later, around the 1990's, that the rest of the city realized the trend happening in this area.  

Now we'll bear right on the block, which now becomes East 9th Street, where there are 3 more Japanese restaurants plus a Cuban eatery sprinkled in, just to keep you guessing perhaps. 

There are so many Japanese eateries on the block that I think it might not be so interesting to name every single one, but I will say that the Cuban restaurant is called Varadero Cuban Cuisine.

I wonder whether it's wise or unwise to have a non-Japanese restaurant on this block. On the one hand, if many people come here for Japanese food, then that's not good for you. But if they are just on the block and generally looking for a restaurant, then it's easier to stand out and distinguish yourself by offering a non-Japanese alternative. I don't know. Maybe it just depends on how good your food is. 

Continuing east is the Japanese restaurant Otafuku, next to the Budget Car Rental:

Speaking of which, at the top of the building there were cars that seemed to be close to dangling over the side, above the sidewalk below.

I'm assuming it's safe, but it looked unsettling.

Here is some more of this side of the block, including a Japanese tea house and the previously mentioned Solas, which is a bar and weekend comedy venue.

Farther down closer to 2nd Avenue in the above photos is Yonekichi, a Japanese place that offers burgers on rice buns. 

I was again tempted to try something here, especially since they have a to-go window, but I chickened out. I think I need to go back to this block with someone who knows more about Japanese food and can guide me through all of it. I like sushi and yaki udon and yakisoba dishes, but overall I need guidance. 

There are still a few more Japanese shops on the block, including one on the same side of the street called Sake Bar Decibel that is below-ground.

And on the other side of the street there are two more restaurants and a health center.

There are some interesting non-Little Tokyo things on the block too, including a pet shop called Whiskers Holistic Petcare, which was established in 1988 and also has a location in Astoria, Queens. 

There is some great colorful artwork on the outside of the store, done by local artist Chico. It includes a touching tribute to deceased animals.

It seems like a nice store. I'm glad there's a place for natural and organic items for animals. Why should only humans have those options these days?

At the 2nd Avenue corner there is a bank and a Starbucks. So that's fun.

I actually like Starbucks, but in the East Village it's not one of the more interesting sites. 

A building on the block is a former home of a metal working school. 

The Hebrew Technical Institute existed from 1884-1939 and was a vocational high school in the city. 

I found a New York Times article from March 27, 1902 covering the dedication of the school at this location, which was attended by the mayor and borough president. The article said that the school was "erected for the Hebrew Technical Institute by Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Steinam in memory of their son, Lucas." 

Earlier we saw a glimpse of the triangular park near 3rd Avenue that is between Stuyvesant Street and East 9th, and here's another look facing the avenue, with East 9th to the right:

Inside is a cool compass that seems to point in the right directions. I guess it would be odd if it didn't. 

The crossing of Stuyvesant and East 9th also creates this little triangular island of pavement:

The island seems so plain, maybe it should be decorated or have a LinkNYC kiosk put on it. Or a small tree. I don't know, I'm just brainstorming.

You can see to the left in the above photo that there is another small bit of nature across from the island.

On the other side of 3rd Avenue, across from where it meets Stuyvesant Street, is a Keith Haring work that I mentioned in a previous post but thought I would mention again because it's cool and so close by. 

Because of the angle, you can't really see the leg that is being raised, but hopefully it still gives an idea of the piece. And you can see an entrance to St. John's University in the background.

Well, that's all for this post. I think we learned some things and hopefully shared a few laughs along the way. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.