SideWalk Cafe, Live music venue in Greenwich Village, United States
SideWalk Cafe is a bar, restaurant, and live music venue on Avenue A in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Inside, a small stage sits alongside dining tables, and a row of outdoor tables runs along the sidewalk facing the street.
The venue opened in 1985 and soon became a gathering point for emerging artists in the East Village. Over the following decades it kept its doors open to musicians and poets at the very start of their careers.
The name comes from its street-level setting where anyone passing by can stop at an outdoor table along Avenue A and catch a live act. Performers and audience members often swap roles here, making it a place where the line between watching and doing feels very thin.
The place is open throughout the day and serves food and drinks at both indoor and outdoor tables. Evenings tend to draw more people when performers take the stage, so arriving earlier works better if you prefer a quieter meal.
The open microphone night here has run without interruption for decades, making it one of the longest-running events of its kind in New York City. On any given night, a first-time performer might share the same small stage as someone who later signed a recording contract.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
