Gem Spa was a newspaper stand and candy store located on the corner of St. Mark’s Place and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It opened under another name in the 1920s, and was renamed in 1957. It was open 24 hours a day, and was known for being commonly considered to be the birthplace of the authentic New York City–style egg cream, which its awning described as “New York’s Best.”
Often referred to as a bodega, in the 1950s, Gem Spa was a gathering place for beats, and in the 1960s it was a hippie hangout, known for selling a wide selection of underground newspapers. New York Magazine named it the best newsstand in the East Village in 2001.
Gem Spa is featured on the back cover of the first album by the seminal punk rockers the New York Dolls. Poets Allen Ginsberg and Ted Berrigan both mentioned the stand in their works. Gem Spa is the name of one of the main works painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. Madonna shot a scene for the 1984 film Desperately Seeking Susan at Gem Spa.
On May 7, 2020, owner Parul Patel announced that the physical store would not re-open due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and rent increases, despite community efforts and a social media campaign to keep it open.
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