First Lakeside, Now Parkside Needs Help

Add Parkside Lounge to the long list of neighborhood mainstays that are soliciting donations to keep afloat. The East Houston Street bar seeks $10,000 to overhaul its performance space to include a new bar and better sound equipment. “With all the stuff that’s going on in the neighborhood right now, sometimes I get nervous. Some places have just completely changed their identities. I don’t want to do that,” operating partner Christopher Lee says in the video, filmed by the local fundraising company Lucky Ant.

The longstanding bar serves up cheap booze and an eclectic array of musical acts, much like Lakeside Lounge did before it shuttered at the end of April. Parkside joins The Living Theatre, FAB Cafe and the Yippie Cafe in the fundraising-drive mania — which is either a depressing commentary on the challenges of making it as a small business in the East Village and Lower East Side, or an uplifting illustration of how the community can rally around a local institution.

Meanwhile Cake Shop appears to have gotten a boost from the front-page story in the Times’ Arts section about its fundraising drive. The article, published online two days ago, said the venue had raised about 18 percent of its $50,000-goal. Now, it’s at 36 percent.