Sidewalk opened in 1985 on the corner of Avenue A and East Sixth Street, a restaurant with a stage1, 2. In 1993 it teamed up with the musician Lach to host the Antifolk Festival, and in 1994 he started its open mic; it became the home of his anti-folk room, The Fort, and the center of anti-folk in the United States1, 2, 3. Beck, Regina Spektor, the Moldy Peaches and Lana Del Rey all played it early on1, 2. We liked that two of its four rooms were all ages, which made it the rare East Village bar you could bring your little brother to.
Lach stepped down in 2008, and the festival carried on3. In December 2018 the business was sold, and Sidewalk closed after its last Winter Antifolk Festival on February 23, 20193. That April the building sold for $9.6 million4.
Then the corner turned over the way East Village corners do. August Laura opened in October 2019 and closed in December 2021 after an uneven run through the pandemic5. Offside Tavern, a hockey bar for New York Islanders fans, an act of real faith on Avenue A, came in 2023 and left late in 20245, 6. On September 29, 2025, Corner Bistro, the West Village burger bar dating from 1961, opened its second location here, run by Elizabeth McGrath, who took over the original from her parents7, 8.
Researched October 2026.
