I had an ice cold glass of Brooklyn Lager at the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village tonight. It's difficult for me to completely soak it in. (the beer soaked in fine.) It's been almost fifty years since I had something to drink in the Gaslight Cafe, and Dave Van Ronk was still running the Monday night hoots. In most of those fifty years, there was no Gaslight Cafe. It went through a variety of disguises, the most recent being a hip hop bar.



THis afternoon, Ruth and I were in the Village, scoping out the location for the one day celebration of '60's folk music that is happening in October. McDougald Street, where the once and future Gaslight Cafe made its home looks completely unrecognizable. When we came up to the site of the old Gaslight I did a double take. There was a young man painting the handrail going down the stairs into the old Gaslight space, and plastered on the entraqnce were photocpies of old newspaper clippings and the prou title, The Orginal Village Gaslight. The young man, who is the owner, invited Ruth and I to come down and see the space and when I told him I had performed there, he told the young bartender to set us up with a drink on the house. While we sat there talking (Ruth had ginger ale,) I talked the the owner and the bartender about the old days when Dave Van Ronk reigned in the old Gaslight. We were all wound up. When I spotted the t-shirt the owner was wearing that said "The Original Village Gaslight" I had to buy one.



The bartender is about the age I was when the Gaslight was my home from 1960-64. When he fast forwards fifty years, he'll be where I am. I hope he has as much energy, enthusiasm and wonderful memories as I do.



The Gaslight isn't really open for business yet, but it should be, soon. If you're in the Village, drop into the Gaslight and say hello to Lawrence, the owner, and Neal, behind the bar. And buy a t-shirt.



All those years when Dave Van Ronk would sneak upstairs to the Kettle of Fish to have a beer... now he could have it in the Gaslight.



What goes around comes around.