Newburgh bar shares works by ‘new Bohemian’ artists
Beginning Friday (Feb. 7), there will be reunions for the ages in Newburgh at a new gallery called Assisted Living. Artists who escaped from Williamsburg before it began to gentrify in 2000, moving to Beacon and other spots in the Hudson Valley, will exhibit a work completed in Brooklyn and a more recent piece.
The gallery is tucked in the back of the dive bar Untouchable, owned by Tom and Yukie Schmitz, who also own Quinn’s on Main Street in Beacon. They moved across the river several years ago. “Beacon doesn’t remind me of Brooklyn anymore,” says Tom. “Newburgh reminds me of Brooklyn.”
Anna West, who lived in Williamsburg from 1989 to 2004 before moving to Beacon, curated The New Bohemia Now, which includes works by 31 artists who live up and down the river, from Catskill to Hastings-on-Hudson. Besides West, the Beacon contributors include Ron Horning, Katherine Mahoney, George Mansfield, Sue Rossi and Laurel Shute.
After Soho gentrified in the 1970s and the galleries disappeared from the East Village in the 1980s, artists decamped to Williamsburg’s cheap lofts. For a 1992 article in which New York magazine christened the working-class neighborhood as “the new Bohemia,” a carefree West appeared on the cover with two friends at a cafe beneath the Williamsburg Bridge.
More media converged, attracting hipsters and investment bankers. “When someone built the first luxury building with no parking in the middle of a rough neighborhood, I knew the times were changing,” says West. “That happened in Beacon, too, across from the post office” at 344 Main St.
After 2000, many Williamsburg artists dispersed upstate and to nearby Bushwick, where luxe buildings are popping up again, says West.
As Beacon experienced growing pains, especially for artists, the larger burgh across the river became a refuge. One slogan is “Don’t Beacon Our Newburgh.”
The Untouchable complex is located on semi-chic Liberty Street at the far end of the commercial strip past Washington’s Headquarters and a block from Big Mouth Coffee Roasters, a satellite of the flagship Beacon store.
Entering the bar is like stepping into a time machine. The smell of fresh-cut wood infuses the back room as Schmitz continues building panels and creating clever and practical interior designs to accommodate bands, artists and exhibitors. The backyard is huge.
As at Quinn’s, Yukie handles the food. For now, the menu is a work in progress because the prep area is a nook off the bar. Tom takes care of the arts and events.
In 1991, he opened Earwax Records in Williamsburg (mentioned twice in the 1992 New York story) and promoted illicit and infamous warehouse parties. Eventually, he sold the business and the couple moved to Japan.
After the country’s 2011 earthquake, they came to Beacon at the behest of George Mansfield, a close friend who had relocated after 9/11. (Tom and George opened Dogwood on East Main Street, which they sold in 2023 and is now Cooper’s.)
West, her curation complete, reminisces about those halcyon Brooklyn days of the early 1990s. “There were a zillion zines,” she recalls. “With the open studios, you could see everyone else was doing something, not just sitting around. It wasn’t a competition — it was more about inspiration because you wanted to be a part of the energy and excitement.”
Then rents ballooned and new buildings along the East River blocked the views of the quaint four-story walkups. West and her husband could only afford Coney Island, an hour by subway from Manhattan, so the couple initiated a “one-hour policy,” she says. After visiting Beacon on Metro-North in 2004, they put down roots.
Is it ironic for Beacon artists to participate in a show about a once-dicey locale revitalized by an artistic community that gentrified 25 years ago? “Everyone sees what’s happening here,” says West. “I’m glad I bought my house back in the day.”
Assisted Living is located inside the Untouchable Bar & Restaurant at 40 Liberty St. in Newburgh. “The New Bohemia Now” opens Feb. 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. with readings and live music by Maynard & the Musties; on Saturday (Feb. 8), the gallery will host a memorabilia night with zines and posters from 6 to 8 p.m. The show will also be open Feb. 13, 14 and 15 with performances.
Sitting on Anna West’s right in the New York magazine cover photo was Lisa Jane Kohner. Alas, she is no longer with us. But she was a great painter — and she always kicked my ass at Scrabble. [via Instagram]