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Ray's Candy Store Owner Gets Striptease for 78th Birthday
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 1, 2011
Modified Feb 1, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 1, 2011
Modified Feb 1, 2011
Share
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Last night Ray Alvarez, who owns the essential Avenue A hole-in-the-wall Ray's Candy Store, celebrated his 78th birthday with the usual pomp and circumstance: a strip tease performed in his honor on the shop's counter. Any senior citizen with a weaker constitution might have had a stroke right there, but Alvarez is a survivor. On his 77th birthday last year, he was over two months behind on his $3,000-a-month rent and the building's managing agent was threatening to evict him.
But Ray has successfully held on for yet another year, and his goal of keeping the East Village institution open until his 80th birthday seems much more plausible. With so much in the neighborhood now catering to the undead yuppie scum, this little joint—open since 1974—is one of the last remaining businesses with real character, a direct link back to the notorious Avenue A of yore. They make a great milk shake, too. So we're blowing out a virtual candle and wishing for Ray's wish to come true.
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avenue a
east village
Ray Alvarez
ray's candy store
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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