Double dose of Lower East Side nightlife death to report today. First, Sin-é on Attorney Street will close its doors on Sunday. Says owner Shane Doyle, who's fleeing for the tamer environs of a wine store in Queens, "I look at this block, and I know it’s over." Among those we don't expect to be invited to the goodbye bash: the gang from BLUE, the Whole Foods Fromagerie manager, and Steve Madden and Betsy Johnson.
Meanwhile, Tonic Tonic on Norfolk St., which has been on life support for more than two years, will reportedly succumb to inflated rent by gentrification on April 13. According to TONY, the owners will continue to make a go of it at the nearby Abrons Art Center while looking for another space of their own. (We hear there's something available on Attorney.)
An email from The Ludlow-Orchard Community Organization (L.O.C.O.) that landed in our inbox last night offers this coda: "When Tonic leaves we have officially lost the last venue for truly experimental music - - once so respected and legendary on the Lower East Side - - from below Houston Street and from the city, so that people can have more buffalo wing places."
· Tonic, 1998-2007 [TONY Blog]
· Gentrification Blues: Requiem for a Cozy, Unassuming Rock Club [NYT]
· Another Nail in LES Scene: Tonic to Close? [Curbed]