It's the end of an era: The Village Voice is dead

Oh, boy. We don’t want to say this, but we have to pour one out for The Village Voice.

Today, the publication has officially ceased printing any new stories. The iconic publication founded in 1955. But, three years ago The Village Voice halted its print publication. And now, it’s gone forever. It feels like a piece of edgy, engaging, and observatory piece of New York history disappeared right along with it.

Words cannot express how saddened we are by this recent news. The Village Voice is one of those elements, one of those entities that made New York, well New York. What do we have left? Enjoy your corporate chains, your television screens, your social media notifications in this wasteland.

Gothamist posted some quotes (obtained from audio in the meeting): “Today is kind of a sucky day. Due to, basically, business realities, we’re going to stop publishing Village Voice new material [sic].”

A skeleton crew of the staff will remain on board to tie up loose ends and archive content. But, the remaining employees were let go today. Long live The Village Voice.

If you’re not done mourning (like us), here are some staff, media, and fan reactions on the culture purveyor’s shuttering:

And pour one out for the Village Voice. It was a good run.

— Neil deMause (@neildemause) August 31, 2018

Fuck. https://t.co/W0UitLkeQT

— Tyler Coates (@tylercoates) August 31, 2018

The Village Voice is the only place I’ve ever wanted to work, thanks to these names and so many more. It’s been an honor every week, even the dark ones. And, hey, @szacharek was a goddamn Pulitzer finalist for her Voice work in 2015! https://t.co/p5nIDO2hiY

— Alan Scherstuhl (@studiesincrap) August 31, 2018

Long live the Village Voice: the newspaper that gave New York its cool, birthed generations of some of the best writers this city has ever known, and taught me everything I know about being a journalist here. You will be dearly missed. https://t.co/yi9FGbkQZ7

— John Surico (@JohnSurico) August 31, 2018

RIP Village Voice

Almost exactly a year ago I asked @lukeoneil47 to call as many old Voice writers as he could on the occasion of no more print edition.

This is obviously vastly worse https://t.co/H3CEjNRG3i

— John Hendrickson (@JohnGHendy) August 31, 2018

It’s hard to even imagine New York without the Village Voice

— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) August 31, 2018

Friend just turned in his news piece, was told by his editor there was good news: He’s the journalist with the last news story to appear in the Voice. That’s also, the editor said, the bad news.

— Valerie Vande Panne (@asktheduchess) August 31, 2018

This is so sad for NYC. The paper where I got my start (and obviously where a lot of much, much more impressive people did too) https://t.co/N7I3KwablF

— Emma Span (@emmaspan) August 31, 2018

Two and a half years ago, the Reading Eagle CEO who bought the Village Voice told me it just needed “food and water”: https://t.co/9XJkDxHbEZ Today, he stopped feeding it. https://t.co/qVw14WS0LQ

— Chris Krewson (@ckrewson) August 31, 2018

Oh my god the Village Voice.

— Vadim Rizov (@vrizov) August 31, 2018

I think it’s safe to say that without the Village Voice I might never have achieved my dream of being a childless 37-year-old debt-ridden “critic’s critic” with a niche social media presence and chronic knee pain RIP.

— 𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕰𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝕯𝖆𝖞 (@NickPinkerton) August 31, 2018

The loss of the @VillageVoice is bad news for all New Yorkers. We should all be concerned about the increasing loss of voices in our city’s media landscape. The public and private sectors need to come together to address the crisis facing our #freepress. https://t.co/AO8bMZ0o0F

— Eric Adams (@BPEricAdams) August 31, 2018

Hard to communicate how important The Village Voice was in NYC in the 50’s; the place to turn to for the first green shoots of the counterculture. RIP… https://t.co/pFSU2YfYOI

— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) August 31, 2018

Well, this sucks:https://t.co/WfLmn1LzFA

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) August 31, 2018

There is no silver lining to the terribly sad news that the Village Voice is dead. None. But I am prematurely happy for whatever publication is smart enough to hire @BilgeEbiri, one of the very best film critics in America.

— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) August 31, 2018

the village voice meant so much to so many people. and writing 20 columns there changed my life. @DavidSwansonNYC is one of the best editors in the entire world: thoughtful, talented, smart, empathetic. everyone at VV was kind to me when no one else was. this is crushing.

— anemone of the people (@chick_in_kiev) August 31, 2018

[H/t via Gothamist]