Aftermath NYC, a Ridgewood cocktail bar and lounge, held its first holiday market that featured local vendors who set up tables in the back to display a wide variety of wares for potential gifts, including jewelry, artwork, chocolate and, because it’s Ridgewood, even a professional tattoo artist. The market lasted from 3-9 pm and both the organizers and bar owner were happy with the turnout and ability to help display the talents of up-and-coming Queens business owners and artists.
“We’ve done different versions of it… but we like doing a lot of different markets within the community,” Rudy Manzur said, owner of Aftermath NYC. “We always do things and try to bring them together.”
Manzur was born and raised in Ridgewood and opened up Aftermath NYC four years ago, and the small business owner does his best to give back to his community. The holiday market included a canned food drive for the Ridgewood Commons and a donation box for Toys for Tots, both of which will be open until Dec. 20, though Manzur says they wouldn’t reject a donation brought in late. Aftermath NYC is also partnering with Hellbender, a local restaurant, where donors are eligible for a sample of the seasonal mojito.
Among the vendors was a Brooklyn-born man known as Smelly, though he attests it’s not due to any body odor. Smelly started designing custom casts to make his own sterling silver jewelry, with a horror movie-inspired theme, and made his own business: Phantom Reengs. Many rings feature iconic characters such as the Wolfman, Frankenstein and even King Kong, though he still makes more traditional jewelry and even accepts commissions for custom pieces.
“It’s basically based off of my childhood, everything I grew up with: old school horror, rock and roll, heavy metal, monsters, art,” Smelly said. “Everything is all 925 solid sterling silver, so you’ll pretty much have it for the rest of your life. You can shower with it, swim with it… it’s never going to tarnish on your finger. You’ll have a family heirloom.”
Smelly started the business during the COVID-19 pandemic using money from the federal stimulus checks to invest the materials he needed to get started. Smelly still hasn’t purchased his own crucible or furnace, so he brings his casts to the Diamond district in Manhattan. Smelly works his day job as a welder and was excited for the opportunity to attend the holiday market to show off his rings to locals in the hopes of making it more than his passion project.
Behind Smelly’s stand, a small tattoo booth was set up in the corner next to the Christmas tree and toy donation box. Olga “Szabla” Szubiak, a tattoo artist originally from Bilgoraj, Poland, displayed several posters showing her own tattoo designs that were ready to go. By 7 PM, she’d already done five tattoos and just started on another.
Szubiak lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, “like a true Polish New Yorker,” after moving there in 2019. Szubiak received her master’s degree in graphic design before making the swap to DJ-ing and tattoo artistry about 10 years ago and is proud of her spotless record as a tattooer. Szubiak rents a booth at Ink Centre, a tattoo shop on Decatur St. in Ridgewood, where she and her colleagues are “one happy tattoo family.”
“A whole family came over,” said Szubiak on her day at Aftermath NYC. “The dad got two tattoos, the wife got two tattoos as well… even one of the DJs got a tattoo.”
The holiday market featured several other vendors, including Art by Aleksey, who displayed a variety of prints, comic books, stickers and more. Another COVID-19 passion project, Aleksey Nissenboym makes ends meet selling his artwork and making custom vinyl designs for local businesses’ windows.
Two recent start-ups were selling food for Christmas gifts: Achilles Heat and Saluna Cacao. Lisa-Thi Beskar recently won an award for best new sauce from NYC BBQ for her Smoked Chili Crisp and has done well attending several holiday markets around Queens and Brooklyn, where she’s based. Saluna Cacao sources its chocolate from ethical farms in the Dominican Republic, even visiting the farm that grows the cacao beans. On top of traditional chocolate bars, Saluna Cacao poured bitter-sweet hot chocolate for those in attendance.
The market’s organizer Ryan Claybaugh, who operates the event planning and collective Unkahmen, typically manages and schedules shows for the trio of DJs in residence at Aftermath NYC, Tha Bois. However, after moving to Ridgewood from Kansas 10 years ago, Claybaugh fell in love with the community and plans to organize more events like the inaugural Christmas market to help show off local artisans, chefs and more.
“We’ve done different markets before and it’s the holidays, so let’s just expand a little bit,” Claybaugh said. “We don’t really want to limit ourselves and it’s just a nice thing to do. We keep it open but it’s always in Bushwick and Ridgewood… because there’s so much good energy around [here].”
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