Ray's Candy Store
113 Avenue A | East Village | built 1900
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1858
Henry Vulner builds a five-story brick tenement on land leased from William B. Astor
The building at 113 Avenue A went up in 1858-59 as a five-story, four-bay brick tenement for mixed residential and commercial use. Its first owner was Henry Vulner, and the architect is unknown. The lot belonged to the holdings of William B. Astor, who leased it out in 1858. The later facade has plain rectangular lintels and sills under a bracketed cornice with a frieze.
- 1974
Ray Alvarez, a former dishwasher and waiter, buys the candy store for $30,000
Ray Alvarez was born Asghar Ghahraman in Tabriz, Iran, in 1933 and served in the Iranian Navy. In 1963, on a tour of the American East Coast, he deserted his ship and swam ashore off Virginia, then reached New York in 1964. After about ten years washing dishes and waiting tables, he bought the store here in 1974 for $30,000. It has been Ray's Candy Store ever since.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1988
Ray's stays open through the Tompkins Square Park riot because all the combatants were his customers
On the evening of August 6, 1988, police and demonstrators clashed in Tompkins Square Park over a newly enacted park curfew, a night remembered as the Tompkins Square Park Riot. Ray's, directly across from the park entrance, kept its doors open through the fighting. Ray's explanation was that every one of the people battling in the street was a customer of his.
“Ray said he stayed open "because all the combatants were his customers.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1992
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is shot by gunmen after getting into a stolen taxi outside the store
On the morning of June 19, 1992, Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, climbed into a stolen taxi outside Ray's Candy Store. Two gunmen kidnapped and shot him. The store sits across from the entrance to Tompkins Square Park.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
Behind on rent and facing eviction, Ray's wins a flood of neighborhood fundraisers and a social media campaign
In early 2010 Ray's fell behind on its rent and its landlord moved to evict it. The case drew heavy press coverage, and friends, neighbors and customers quickly organized fundraisers and an online campaign to raise the store's profile. A "Save Ray's Candy Store" poster is visible in the background of a November 2011 episode of the HBO series How to Make It in America, which filmed at the store.
“In early 2010, Ray's Candy Store fell behind on its rent and faced eviction by its landlord.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2011
At 78, Ray becomes a U.S. citizen at a ceremony at 26 Federal Plaza
In July 2011 the shop's owner was naturalized in a ceremony at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan. Afraid of being found undocumented, he had long used the name of a Puerto Rican, Ray Alvarez. He received amnesty in the 1980s under President Reagan, but his green card was mailed to the wrong address, so he stayed without papers for decades more.
“At age 78, Ray was finally able to qualify to become an American citizen.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
Anthony Bourdain and Harley Flanagan stop in for egg creams in the series finale of Parts Unknown
Ray's was featured in "Lower East Side," the final episode of CNN's Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which aired on November 11, 2018. Bourdain and his friend, the musician Harley Flanagan, stopped in to talk with the owner and try the egg creams. Bourdain's verdict on his first sip was that it was a superb one.
“Said Bourdain upon his first sip, "That is a superb egg cream.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2023
Ray, weeks after turning 90, is attacked outside his store and goes straight back to the counter
At about 3 a.m. on January 31, 2023, Ray was hit in the head outside the shop with an unidentified weapon, suffering cuts, a black eye and fractures of his facial bones and jaw. Luis Peroza and Gerald Barth were arrested on February 4 in connection with the assault and a string of robberies in the East Village. The attack made the cover of the New York Daily News on February 3, and Ray returned to working the counter immediately.
“Luis Peroza and Gerald Barth were arrested for the assault and robbery spree in the East Village on February 4.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Ray's Candy StoreWikipedia
- 113 Avenue AVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
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