Once the centre of the New York bohemia, Greenwich Village is now home to lux restaurants, and buzzer door clothing stores catering to the nouveau riche. But one shop in the heart of the Village remains resilient to the encroaching gentrification: Carmine Street Guitars.

There, custom guitar maker Rick Kelly and his young apprentice, Cindy Hulej, build handcrafted guitars out of reclaimed wood from old hotels, bars, churches and other local buildings. Nothing looks or sounds quite like a Rick Kelly guitar, which is the reason they are embraced by the likes of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and Jim Jarmusch, just to name a few.

Featuring a cast of prominent musicians and artists, the film captures five days in the life of Carmine Street Guitars, while examining an all-too-quickly vanishing way of life. With Christine Bougie (Bahamas), Nels Cline (Wilco), Kirk Douglas (The Roots), Jim Jarmusch, Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Band), Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan Band), and many more.

“A portrait of the Greenwich Village guitar shop that represents a vanishing New York in more ways than one: Not only has the store resisted gentrification, its owner builds guitars out of wood salvaged from city buildings.” (New York Times)

"A gentle, warm, immensely satisfying portrait of a West Village institution... A love letter — to NYC, to the bohemians and musicians who call the place home... to taking pride in your work and to finding a place for freaks and misfits to call home." (Rolling Stone)

"CARMINE STREET GUITARS is a New York story about standing tall in the face of commerce-driven gentrification. It’s also a meditation on the magic of wood and of music, and the interaction of people." (Variety)

Tuesday, April 16
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm
Advance tickets $10.50 | $12.50 at the door

*Minors welcome in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

About Rick Kelly:

Long Island native Rick Kelly took his fascination toward trees one step further to break boundaries as a guitar builder. Growing up, Kelly had always idolized his grandfather as a woodworker. While in college studying sculpture, Kelly began collecting and working with ancient woods, noticing that the tones they conjured on the electric guitars he was building held deeper, resonant tones than those built on factory assembly lines. He eventually made his way to Greenwich Village where he opened up for business in the late 1970s before moving to the present storefront for Carmine Street Guitars in 1990.

CARMINE STREET GUITARS (Ron Mann, 2019 / 14A / 80 mins) Five days in the life of fabled Greenwich Village guitar store Carmine Street Guitars.