Overview
History
From go-go boys to pet supplies
The Urge was a bi-level gay bar and club at 31-33 Second Avenue, where go-go boys in thongs and tall black boots strutted right over your drink, with a drag show on Sundays and bingo on Mondays1, 2. It closed after New Year's Eve at the start of 2013, expecting to reopen that year at 14 Avenue B, but by June that address was for rent, having failed to attract a bar1, 3. Developer Ben Shaoul gutted and expanded the old building into a residential complex in 2013 and 2014, and an Unleashed by Petco shop opened in the storefront in August 20154, 5. Petco left in January 2018 and the space has been vacant since, though in November 2025 a notice on the door said Matt Webber, a nightlife operator behind several Brooklyn and Manhattan concepts, has plans for a bar there4.
Sources
Researched October 2026.