Last night Ray Alvarez, who owns the essential Avenue A hole-in-the-wall Ray's Candy Store, celebrated his 78th birthday with the usual pomp and circumstance: a strip tease performed in his honor on the shop's counter. Any senior citizen with a weaker constitution might have had a stroke right there, but Alvarez is a survivor. On his 77th birthday last year, he was over two months behind on his $3,000-a-month rent and the building's managing agent was threatening to evict him.
But Ray has successfully held on for yet another year, and his goal of keeping the East Village institution open until his 80th birthday seems much more plausible. With so much in the neighborhood now catering to the undead yuppie scum, this little joint—open since 1974—is one of the last remaining businesses with real character, a direct link back to the notorious Avenue A of yore. They make a great milk shake, too. So we're blowing out a virtual candle and wishing for Ray's wish to come true.
