Life Cafe - East Village

11/04/2025

“One of John Sunderland’s surreal Menu Picture Riddles from the Life Café walls — remember this?”)

Hi dear Lifers 💛
Remember those surreal Menu Picture Riddles that hung on the walls during Life Café’s final years?

They were created by my husband, John Sunderland — the same imagination that made Life Café such a creative, mischievous, and joy-filled place.

After we left New York in 2012, John and I retired to a small mountain village in Spain. Out of that experience came his new memoir, The Last Shepherd’s Dog, now available for pre-order on Amazon and going live November 6.

Some of you might remember that John was the original project designer of the (1984) and the creator of , the iconic TV mascot. His first memoir, On My Way to Jorvik, tells how an 11-year-old boy who skipped maths class grew up to design one of Britain’s most beloved visitor attractions.

In The Last Shepherd’s Dog, our story continues — we leave NYC for a remote Spanish village, where a stray shepherd’s dog finds us and helps us rediscover the magic hidden in everyday life.

If you ever loved the spirit of Life Café — the art, the stories, the sense of belonging — you’ll feel right at home in this book.

👇 The link to the book is in the first comment.
Thank you for being part of the journey. 💫

11/02/2025

Photos on my Mac put together this little video of photographs from my archive of some candid everyday scenes of the very early Life Cafe. They go way back in time to the early eighties before there were all the tech devices we have today. I'm relieved they live in my computer. I thought I'd share it with you. RENT fans will be interested; they always asked me what it was like back then. They include staff and some regulars, Billy Sleaze, Tex, barefoot Elijah, John Farris, David Life, Seane Corn, and my very first kitchen staff who watched my back. Oh, and I'm in there as well. I hope you enjoy it!


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10/18/2025

I'm thrilled to share that my essay is part of Unmapped: Solo Women Travelers, a book compiled by Lizbeth Meredith. The ebook was #1 in Solo Travel pre-release on Amazon. My Unmapped story takes you to Israel. During the early 1990s when I lived in New York City and ran Life Café, I took a vacation to England, and made a side trip to Israel, invited by an ex-boyfriend. To get to a divers' camp in Egypt on the Gulf of Aqaba, we joined two couples on a camping safari across the Negev Desert. I was coerced to drive the jeep over a chasm. Why is food for thought. Solo travel gave me a route to healing. I can’t wait for you to read it alongside the other incredible journeys in this collection. Half the royalties support the YWCA’s mission to assist women who are survivors of violence. You can find the book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Unmapped-Travelers-Journeys-Resilience-Self-Discovery/dp/B0FTSNM997

10/24/2024

You could see Chico's clown mural on the iron gate of this building from the windows of Life Cafe in the 80s and 90s. I really liked Scott Borofsky's "Dog" painting that was there before. Kathy Life

East 10th Street and Avenue B, Alphabet City, Lower East Side, New York City in 1990.

04/23/2024

I remember this in the neighborhood. It was real. It was around the time David Life and I opened Life Cafe. Kathy Life

East 3rd Street (1983)

Photo - Philip Pocock

10/11/2023

A man reading the newspaper outside the Life Café on the corner of East 10th Street and Avenue B in the 1980's. The Café Opened in 1981 and Closed in 2012.
Photo by Peter Bennett.

10/14/2021

Hi everyone. I read about a recent production of RENT in Connecticut that looked really cool. "The virtual program for the show is presented in the form of a menu for the Life Cafe, the place where the entire cast performs 'La Vie Boheme.'" Read more at

One of your neighbors posted in Arts & Entertainment. Click through to read what they have to say. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)

12/24/2019

HAPPY SOLSTICE, HAPPY HOLLIDAYS EVERYONE!

05/19/2019

The "RENThead Registers....and a couple of pages from them. All the RENTheads that visited Life Cafe were awesome folk. What positive charge they brought with them to Life Cafe!

04/21/2019

As requested by a friend, David Olsen, here are some shots from the reading of Acme Writers' and Songwriters' Group at Life Cafe in 2002. It was the 20th anniversary of Life as well. Dave, I'll tap into John's Photos and try to dig up some more. Anyone else have any photos of this reading?