5/20/2023/SATURDAY/6AM
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: dungeon gallery @ tom house~2015~ 
rick castro: fetish tea salon @ tom house~ may 24th~ reservations~ 
Site suggested by @schiarizzi : Located at 200 Ave A between E. 12th & 13th Streets in Manhattan's East Village, Rapture Cafe & Books was a short-lived coffee shop/bookstore/ event space run by Joe Birdsong & Brian Butterick (aka Hattie Hathaway) that was open only from Dec. 2006 to Apr. 2008 but which was beloved by many who patronized it during that short time.
Rapture 1st opened its doors in December 2006 & was owned by Joe Birdsong, a former gym manager & go-go dancer at numerous East Village gay bars & managed by Brian Butterick, whose drag alter ego, Hattie Hathaway, had been a fixture at places like the Pyramid Club & Jackie 60/Mother. Over 200 people turned out for the Cafe's opening night of catered booze (pre-liquor license), which featured burlesque performances & even an appearance by former Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, whose band's hit song, "Rapure", was the cafe's namesake.
Other key patrons at opening night included video artist Rob Roth as well as Johnny Dynell & Chi Chi Valenti, the longtime husband-wife D.J.-promoter team who owned Mother. Mr. Dynell, a longtime East Villager, said the evening at Rapture “was like old-home week” for a certain downtown crowd that had partied & made art & music together as far back as the late '70s.
Since its opening, the 2,200-square-foot cafe-bookstore-performance space, which was situated on a street laden with shabby-chic hipster bars, become a hangout for many of the neighborhood’s longtime writers, performers, artists & quacks. Rapture habitués included the likes of Justin Vivian Bond, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, poet Ira Cohen & performance artists Penny Arcade & Shelly Mars.
Mr. Birdsong opened Rapture in part with the hopes of preserving the neighborhood’s quirky, artistic feel by keeping small independent businesses around. The Cafe featured wheat-colored plaster walls, light wood bookshelves stocked with everything from the latest Amy Sedaris book to magazines like Heeb & Mother Jones, a pastry-stocked coffee bar & an abundance of lighting from airy-looking Japanese lanterns.
Sadly, Rapture's artists oasis was short-lived & it closed in April 2008 after 15 months due to rising expenses.
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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| rick castro: galleries @ tom of finland foundation~2015~ |
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