The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a New York City cultural institution, a creative home for artists and a stage for performers.

Its absence will be felt by many when it closes for renovations.

What You Need To Know

  • The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a New York City cultural institution, a creative home for artists and a stage for performers. Its absence will be felt by many when it closes for renovations

  • The venue is shutting down Wednesday for a $24 million renovation over the next three years, which is too long for those who love the establishment

  • The cafe started in the 70s in the living room of Puerto Rican writer and poet Miguel Algarín, who founded the cafe on East 3rd St. in 1981

  • The Nuyorican Poets Cafe has come to be known as a place where some of the most notable poets have performed

For the host of the venue’s legendary poetry slams, Jive Poetic, the cafe is a huge part of his life.

Most of my adult life, most of my youth was there,” the professor, writer and poet said. “And it’s really offered me a space to develop my writing, develop my performance in an environment that will not lie to you. If the poem is not landing with the people, they will tell you immediately. They’ll be holding score cards up.”

The venue is shutting down Wednesday for a $24 million renovation over the next three years, which is too long for those who love the establishment.

“It speaks to the power of the mission and the statement that it makes and the necessity of the institution as well,” Poetic said.

It started in the 70s, organically in the living room of Puerto Rican writer and poet Miguel Algarín, who founded the Cafe on East 3rd St. in 1981.

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is known as a place where some of the most notable poets have performed.  

“It became the Mecca of poetry, literally in the world,” said Omar Holmon, author, writer and poet.

It is, however, a home for music, theatre and educational events as well.

Holmon said the cafe has helped develop and expand his skills on the mic.

He said it’s a place for artists of all kinds to hone their craft and is especially important to people of Puerto Rican descent and African-American culture.

The cafe’s website boasts: “the late poet Allen Ginsberg called the cafe ‘the most integrated place on the planet.’”

Holmon said he wasn’t happy when he heard the cafe was closing temporarily.

“It was pretty dramatic, but again, sometimes you have to go away to come back. But you don’t want to see your home go away,” he said.

“It’s sad that it’s going away, but is it really leaving?” Poetic said. “Because there will be satellite events in other spaces. So it’ll still be around in spirit.”

The new venue will include two theaters instead of one, as well as a garden and other creative spaces.

The cafe has dubbed the day it closes its doors, Nov. 1, “Nuyoricanstruction.” In other words, a necessary restoration of the physical space.