The cafe/theater is in Manhattan Plaza, which was specifically built to house people who are active in New York's theater scene.

Lewis Black, Rand Foerster, and Rusty Magee proposed staging plays at what initially was called the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar.

[3] The following day, Rivers suffered a cardiac arrest resulting from complications during a procedure on her vocal cords, and died on September 4, 2014.

On Christmas day 2020, the Cafe ran a telethon to raise needed funds to stay open.

Among the notable performers who appeared on the program were Matthew Broderick, Al Pacino, Betty Buckley, Nathan Lane, André De Shields, Marissa Mulder, Pete Townshend, and the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.