Gem Spa
Encyclopedia
Gem Spa is a newspaper stand located on the corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue
in the East Village
neighborhood of Manhattan
, New York City
. It opened under another name in the 1920s, and received its current name in 1957. It is open 24 hours a day, and is known for selling authentic New York City-style egg cream
s, which its awning describes as "New York's Best." It does not stock pornographic magazines, and it gets magazines delivered one or two days before other New York City newsstands.
In the 1950s, Gem Spa was a gathering place for beats
, and in the 1960s it was a hippie
hangout, known for selling a wide selection of underground newspapers. New York Magazine named it the best newsstand in the East Village in 2001, and it has been featured on television programs about food, including Kelly Choi
's Secrets of New York
.
, 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. Village Voice reported in the 1970s that people remembered going to the store before World War I. For thirty years up until 1957 the store was owned by the Goldfeather family.
From 1957 until at least 1969 the store was owned by Ruby Silverstein and Harold Shephard, who employed 11 staff to keep it open 24 hours a day - Silverstein estimated that every 30 seconds someone walked in the store. The clientele initially mainly bought Jewish and foreign-language papers, which began to change around 1963 as they sold more copies of the Village Voice and underground magazines. Silverstein and Shephard gave the store its current name, initially Gem's Spa - the name comes from Gladys, Etta, and Miriam, the names of the wives of Silverstein and Shephard and Shephard's ex-wife. The owner in 1971 was Irving Stein. The store was closed for a time from February 1972 when it ran into financial trouble, and the storefront caught fire that May. 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.
In 1966, The Village Voice
called it the "official oasis of the East Village
"; it was known as a "hippie hangout". Abbie Hoffman
gathered people for his 1967 protest at the New York Stock Exchange at Gem Spa, Allen Ginsberg
called it a "nerve center" of the city, and the Art Workers' Coalition
had their offices above the store. In the late 60s it was midway between two other iconic venues, the Fillmore East
and the Electric Circus
.
. Allen Ginsberg
and Ted Berrigan
both mentioned the stand in their works.
Second Avenue (Manhattan)
Second Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan extending from Houston Street at its south end to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street at its north end. A one-way street, vehicular traffic runs only downtown. A bicycle lane in the left hand portion from 55th...
in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
neighborhood of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It opened under another name in the 1920s, and received its current name in 1957. It is open 24 hours a day, and is known for selling authentic New York City-style egg cream
Egg cream
An egg cream is a beverage consisting of chocolate syrup, milk, and soda water, probably dating from the late 19th century, and is especially associated with Brooklyn, home of its alleged inventor, candy store owner Louis Auster. It contains neither eggs, cream, nor ice cream.The egg cream is...
s, which its awning describes as "New York's Best." It does not stock pornographic magazines, and it gets magazines delivered one or two days before other New York City newsstands.
In the 1950s, Gem Spa was a gathering place for beats
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
, and in the 1960s it was a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
hangout, known for selling a wide selection of underground newspapers. New York Magazine named it the best newsstand in the East Village in 2001, and it has been featured on television programs about food, including Kelly Choi
Kelly Choi
Kelly Choi is the former host of Bravo TV's Top Chef spin-off, Top Chef Masters, which premiered on June 10, 2009...
's Secrets of New York
Secrets of New York
Secrets of New York is the all-time most recognized television program in the history of the New York Tri-State television market, having won 16 Emmy Awards since 2006 on top of over 50 Emmy nominations...
.
History
The Lower East Side History Project reports the site was an outlet for the Chain Shirt Shop in 1922, and that Gem Spa had opened by the 1950s. Sociologist Daniel BellDaniel Bell
Daniel Bell was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor emeritus at Harvard University, best known for his seminal contributions to the study of post-industrialism...
, 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. Village Voice reported in the 1970s that people remembered going to the store before World War I. For thirty years up until 1957 the store was owned by the Goldfeather family.
From 1957 until at least 1969 the store was owned by Ruby Silverstein and Harold Shephard, who employed 11 staff to keep it open 24 hours a day - Silverstein estimated that every 30 seconds someone walked in the store. The clientele initially mainly bought Jewish and foreign-language papers, which began to change around 1963 as they sold more copies of the Village Voice and underground magazines. Silverstein and Shephard gave the store its current name, initially Gem's Spa - the name comes from Gladys, Etta, and Miriam, the names of the wives of Silverstein and Shephard and Shephard's ex-wife. The owner in 1971 was Irving Stein. The store was closed for a time from February 1972 when it ran into financial trouble, and the storefront caught fire that May. 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.
In 1966, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
called it the "official oasis of the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
"; it was known as a "hippie hangout". Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
gathered people for his 1967 protest at the New York Stock Exchange at Gem Spa, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
called it a "nerve center" of the city, and the Art Workers' Coalition
Art Workers' Coalition
The Art Workers' Coalition was an open coalition of artists, filmmakers, writers, critics, and museum staff that formed in New York City in January 1969. Its principal aim was to pressure the city's museums – notably the Museum of Modern Art – into implementing various reforms...
had their offices above the store. In the late 60s it was midway between two other iconic venues, the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
and the Electric Circus
Electric Circus (nightclub)
The Electric Circus was a nightclub and discotheque located at 19-25 St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, from 1967 to September 1971. The club was created by Jerry Brandt, Stanton J. Freeman and their partners and designed...
.
In popular culture
Gem Spa is featured prominently in the book The Mad Man by Samuel R Delany, who lived in the neighborhood. It is also featured on the back cover of the first album by the New York DollsNew York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
. Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and Ted Berrigan
Ted Berrigan
-Early life:Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining the U.S. Army in 1954 to serve in the Korean War. After three years in the Army, he finished his college studies at the University of Tulsa in...
both mentioned the stand in their works.