McPunkLand

Once the Mecca for punk rockers and skinheads, St. Mark's Place has gone strip mall over the past ten years. Back in the early 90s, the East Village punk scene was filled with runts hanging all over the stoops with their multiple piercings, technicolor hair reflective of their DIY code of honor. Punk wasn't just music, it was a lifestyle, a political platform, a kick in the eye to conformists anywhere. Punk was about being who you are not giving in to the establishment. If you were all about the music, there were shows happening every night - CBs, Coney Island High, and The Continental.

With this being said - as 90s moved on, and the closer we got to the millenium, the East Village - once Ground Zero for counterculture has turned into a sea of luxury condominiums and chain stores. The old record stores are hanging on their very last thread - with dusty cd sleeves, as today's punks are more likely to carry a cell phone and iPod in tow. Materialism and conformity are not as shunned as it was in days past. If you go down St. Mark's now, you'll see a couple of punks hanging out, but nowhere near the packs that would hang on the stoop.

And so, about 15 years after it opened, The Continental will no longer have live music, as the music scene has forged eastward toward the Lower East Side and Brooklyn. Now that St. Marks has become a tourist trap where kids are starting to play "where's the punk?" amid the Starbucks, Chipotle, and Mondo Kim's, The Continental is looking for a more "bridge & tunnel" feel complete with pool tables and a less grimy feel. Maybe NYU owns the building too....food for thought....