KGB Bar

85 East 4th Street | East Village | built 1835

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1834

    A Federal house is built at what becomes 85 East 4th Street

    Around 1834, a two-and-a-half-story Federal house of Flemish bond brick is built over an English basement, with a peaked roof and two dormers. It is first numbered 411 Fourth Street, then 427 in 1850, and 85 East 4th Street in 1864. In 1857-58 the attic is removed and two more floors are added, along with an Italianate cornice.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1871

    May

    The Boarding House for Sewing Women moves in, and a women's aid group makes it a base

    In May 1871 the New-York Tribune reported that the Boarding House for Sewing Women had moved from 262 East Broadway to 85 East Fourth Street. Jane E. Carman had taken over running the boarding house that year, and the house also served as headquarters of the Young Woman's Aid Association. Hannah Hosier had already been operating it as a boarding house in 1867.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1891

    August 30

    The New-York City Federation of Labor is organized in Wilzig's Assembly Rooms

    Paul Wilzig leases the house in 1889 and hires architect H. W. Fabian to renovate the interiors, creating a hall that becomes a popular meeting place. In June 1891 it hosts the convention of the International Machinists' Union. A meeting of the Socialist Central Union held here is permanently organized as the New-York City Federation of Labor, as the Tribune reports on August 31.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1910

    A cloakmakers' union enforcer beats two strikebreakers here, and one dies

    During the 1910 cloakmakers' strike, union men brought back five workers who had taken jobs in Hunter, New York instead of picketing. When the train reached Grand Central, three escaped, and the other two were taken to 85 East 4th Street and beaten. Herman Liberwitz died of a fractured skull the next day, and in April 1914 detectives arrested union enforcer Morris Stupniker and vice-president Max Sigman for his murder.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1914

    June 28

    Anarchist groups meet at Casino Hall, and an Anarcho-Syndicalist League forms here

    The New-York Tribune reported on June 29, 1914, that several groups of anarchists and other radicals had met the day before at Casino Hall, 85 East Fourth Street. Within the year the New York Times wrote that the hall was where the Anarcho-Syndicalist League of Greater New York was formed. Robert L. Worm had leased the house in 1908 and kept it open to labor and Socialist groups.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1929

    December 1

    Communist agitation at a subway workers' meeting turns into a chair-swinging brawl

    On December 1, 1929, a mass meeting of nearly 300 subway construction workers at Royal Hall broke into a fight after communism was raised. The New York Times reported that chairs and water glasses served as weapons as scores of men fought. Nobody was arrested, but the clash left black eyes, bruised noses and several cuts from chair rungs.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1934

    The Palm Casino, reportedly a Lucky Luciano speakeasy, operates here

    By 1934 the building is known as the Palm Casino, which hosts a benefit party reported in the Daily Worker that May. The Palm Casino is reportedly a speakeasy owned by the gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Earlier names for the hall included Casino Hall and, by 1927, Royal Hall.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  8. 1965

    January 16

    The American Theatre for Poets leases the East End Theatre and plans a remodel

    The New York Amsterdam News reported in January 1965 that the American Theatre for Poets had taken a lease on the East End Theatre at 85 East Fourth Street. It planned a bigger stage and new lighting and sound. The house was renamed Cinematheque East Theatre, and in August the paper reported that Arise, Arise had premiered there.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  9. 1983

    Denis Woychuk buys the building and opens the Kraine Theater

    Attorney Denis Woychuk, who visited the building as a boy when it was the Ukrainian Labor Home, buys it in 1983. He opens the Kraine Art Gallery and turns the theater space into the Kraine Theater. Around 1993 he opens the Kraine Gallery Bar, known as KGB, which is still in the building.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  10. 1993

    KGB Bar opens and becomes a leading venue for literary readings

    KGB Bar opened in the building in 1993, inspired by Soviet-era memorabilia stored there. It grew into one of the city's most popular spots for book readings, with authors reading for free on Sunday evenings for fiction and Monday evenings for poetry. The Monday poetry series, founded by David Lehman and Star Black, produced The KGB Bar Book of Poems in 2000.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

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