CAFFE VIVALDI in the West Village was named after the Italian composer, Antonio Vivaldi.

Although it opened in 1983, for the past decade it featured live nightly music including jazz and classical or folk. In the mid 1980s it had a significant role along with the radio stations WQXR and WNYC and WNCN in the resurgence of New Yorkers interest in classical music because the owner, Ishrat Ansari, played selections from his vast private collections of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart etc.

Sadly, Caffe Vivaldi @caffevivaldi just recently closed after 35 years in business after a prolonged dispute with their landlord who had tripled their rent. This breaks our heart, because the closure of this space is truly a great loss to the community. That is one of the reasons why we created our new public art installation inside Seward Park, to help raise awareness of the importance of unique small businesses like this one.