East Village Pangea Restaurant Finds Success with Cabaret Room

Stephen Shanaghan and Arnoldo Caballero have owned Pangea Restaurant in the East Village, 178 Second Avenue, since 1986, but a new spotlight has been shining on their business since unveiling an intimate and stylish cabaret room in the back in 2014.

Although visitors through the years had occasionally commented that the back room would make a nice music space, the two knew little about the challenges of running a nightclub. However, in the summer of 2014, cabaret artist Christopher Gines offered to do the bookings and came up with the name Caf� Noctambulo.

The first artist to be booked was singer/pianist Eric Comstock, and the jazz great Andy Bey made an appearance in September of that year.

"At this point, Pangea is branding pretty well," Shanaghan told me. "We may drop the Caf� Noctambulo name. We don't want to confuse the customers."

In a joint interview with both owners, they were asked if they are real-life partners as well. Both opened their eyes widely and quickly said, "No!" Although equal partners in sharing the work, Shanaghan is more reserved while Caballero (whom everyone knows as Arnoldo) is far more gregarious and eager to entertain visitors. Their successful business partnership does not translate to romantic coupling.

The club really took off in November 2014, when Shanaghan went to author James Gavin's book launch at an upper West Side Barnes & Noble and invited him and his entourage back to Pangea to see and hear Hilary Kole. Gavin's entourage included well-known East Village alternative cabaret artists Penny Arcade, Jackie Rudin, and Carol Lipnik, among others.

Lipnik was booked in January for a weekly Sunday night residency and she has slowly built a sellout audience and garnered a lot of press, including an excellent review from Stephen Holden of the New York Times.

"We had entertained KT Sullivan, and she mentioned Carol to Stephen Holden, while Carol's publicist, Dan Fortune, was also working on him," Shanaghan said.

The room itself is a work of art, but the renovation was anything but easy.

"We got the grand piano from a family in Long Island, but their condition was that it had to be put in a place where it would be used," Arnoldo said. "But we basically had to rebuild it."

The design of the room was aided by a friend, Donald Eastman, who had done set design for opera houses. "We got custom-made curtains from an old theater in San Francisco, but it was going to cost a fortune to have them cut to fit in here," Arnoldo said with a laugh. "And so I took out my sewing machine and did it myself!"

"The sound system is an immediate sell," Shanaghan added. "But we really had to shop around for the best prices. And the track lighting was another big expense."

They are also trying to create a post-show environment where folks can mingle and network, and they provide a meal for the musicians. "We're trying to create an old-fashioned downtown space where friends can hang out with friends and friends of friends," Arnoldo said.

What both are discovering is the sheer amount of work it takes to get it right. "We get here at ten in the morning just to answer emails and return phone calls," Arnoldo said. "And we've learned so much about contracts and paying artists and all that. I've never worked so hard in my life!"

Shanaghan does the hosting and seating, for the most part, and he has also taken over much of the booking. "We have to have a seating plan. It takes a lot of work to get fifty people seated in here, and it's very political trying to put the right people next to each other." He laughed. "I have to take a Valium before people come in!"

Their biggest coup was getting their landlord to renegotiate the lease in 2014 and convincing him that the new plan would work. "We were very lucky that he loves cabaret," Shanaghan said. "So we brought him in to see Mark Nadler and Mark really put on a great show. After that, the landlord committed to going forward."

Both report that the pleasures of the added business far outweigh the challenges. "People feel so comfortable in here," said Shanaghan. "There is a magical aspect to it."

The cabaret room is now mostly booked through the winter months. The success of the cabaret room is going to make possible needed upgrades to the front of the restaurant.

Upcoming events include an evening with Charles Busch on December 30 and New Year's Eve with Lady Rizo.

Shanaghan and Arnoldo have been happy to nurture the networking angle of their business, not only in building their great new space, but also attracting performers and new customers who have a place where they want to stay long after the show is over.

Accounting for nearly thirty years of a successful business, with more promising years yet come, perhaps Arnoldo summed it up best with one of his laugh lines: "What I used to call tricks I now call connections!" Shanaghan just smirked and rolled his eyes.

Pangea Restaurant and Bar is located at 178 2nd Ave, New York City, New York. For calendar of events and more information, visit the Pangea Restaurant and Bar website.