The Creek and the Cave, located at 10-93 Jackson Ave (Google Maps)
Nov. 13, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
The Creek and the Cave, a staple venue in the Long Island City comedy scene, has shut permanently after a 14-year-run.
The much-lauded comedy club and restaurant, located at 10-93 Jackson Ave., has closed for good, its owner Rebecca Trent announced on social media Thursday.
“The Creek and the Cave is not going to reopen. I simply wasn’t in a strong enough position going into the pandemic to sustain ‘the Creek’ without going into insurmountable debt,” Trent wrote on Twitter.
Trent, in her social media post, wrote that the business was not equipped to deal with the burden of the coronavirus lockdowns and said she was left with no choice but to close.
She noted that the dated premises needed too many repairs and an infusion of cash to stay afloat.
“We had some interested investors, buyers, and ideas. But when it came down to it, the renovations would have been too expensive on a building that’s already crumbling,” Trent wrote.
I wanted to wait until the election was over before I let you all officially know something that I’m sure most of you already know. The Creek & The Cave is not going to reopen.
— The Creek & The Cave (@creekandcave) November 12, 2020
The club was known for its loose atmosphere and for providing an open platform to up-and-coming artists to cultivate their craft. The Legion of Skanks podcast was also taped at the venue.
Many renowned artists have performed at the club including Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-host Michael Che, 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner featured performer Michelle Wolf and the comedic twins the Lucas Brothers.
Comedian Colin Quinn used the club’s stage to develop his one-man Netflix show called “Unconstitutional,” and labeled the venue as “legendary” on hearing news of its closure.
James Adomian, who is best known for his impersonations of George W. Bush and Bernie Sanders, took to Twitter yesterday and credited Trent and the Creek and the Cave for saving his career.
“I washed up there ten years ago with nowhere else to go, like some idiot in a fairy tale,” Adomian tweeted.
“Rebecca fixed my wings and helped me fly again and crash again and soar through the crashes,” he wrote.
The Creek and the Cave is gone. It was the totality of my New York. I washed up there ten years ago with nowhere else to go, like some idiot in a fairy tale. Rebecca fixed my wings and helped me fly again and crash again and soar through the crashes. pic.twitter.com/g5wi7ewzWD
— James Adomian (@JAdomian) November 12, 2020
The outpouring of affection for Trent and the club flowed across social media last night and a GoFundMe page has been created to help Trent cope with the financial cost of closing the business.
The page, which was set up by Victor Varnado, asks artists and former customers to show Trent their appreciation for her generosity down through the years. The page has raised more than $6,000 from 72 donors.
“From her annual self-funded community Thanksgiving dinners to providing free stages to develop new shows, free studio space for podcasting, an annual awards show recognizing burgeoning comics, to even letting many artists who were down on their luck live in her home, Rebecca has tried her best to take care of all of so many of us,” Varnado wrote.
“Let’s take care of her for a change, ” he wrote.
The Creek and the Cave is the second city comedy venue to succumb to COVID-19 lockdowns this year after the iconic Dangerfields in the Upper East Side of Manhattan shuttered permanently last month.
Trent continued to provide platforms to artists this summer by helping to put together a series of successful outdoor popup shows at the Plaxall Galery. She teamed up with Michael Che and Culture Lab LIC to host the shows which drew large, socially-distanced crowds.
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13 Comments
Establishments like this venue are closing all over the world even in places without so called lockdowns. People are afraid to sit inside. I heard that from the other owners of restaurants in this area as well. If there is no demand for whatever the reason may be, then there is no revenue for a business to survive. Just simple supply and demand economics.
They had delicious burritoes.
Another shutdown victim
Another victim of the Trump Pandemic.
Another victim of Trumps dereliction of duty, mismanagement, negligence and inaction. Trumps failures.
Excuse me, but Andrew Cuomo is the GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK and Bill DeBlasio is the mayor. I know that’s hard to comprehend but it is true. It was DeBlasio urging people to go the Chinese Lunar New Year events and it was Cuomo who failed to shut down the subway for cleaning. I know logic is difficult for progressives, but still.
You’re right, local leadership brought infection rates way down. MUCH lower than the red states.
Meanwhile Trump couldn’t keep himself safe, how will he keep us safe?
Your orange boss loss. Get over it crybaby.
No logic – Facts truth and history aren’t your strong points. The Chinese community had one of the lowest infection rates in the city. Fact! With no spread traced to New Year celebrations. Another fact! Stop trying to stroke racist divisions. Trump failed to shut down air travel between infected regions of China and Europe just go to YouTube and search channel 2 news interviews with obviously sick and infected passengers arriving from Italy looking for assistance to quarantine. The NY pandemic is traced to the Italian outbreak. Fact!! Trump administration put flight restrictions in place well after these incidents in March. Also while on YouTube look up Trump at last March’s CPAC, you’ll see Trump dancing with the flag calling the Virus a hoax. Trumps legacy will be his failed response to a pandemic as someone posted. Stop supporting a failed corrupt president.
Do you cut and paste from same sources, Mac? Enjoy your new brave new world. Joe will give you a back rub.
Liberal – You obviously lost another comment dual when you no longer could debate the content of Macs post and resorted to some inane and irrelevant retort.
That’s not funny.
What’s the deal with herd immunity? What’s the deal with flattening the curve?