Vanishing New York Backup

As you probably know by now, New York's famed Carnegie Deli is closing tonight . They just sent out this official goodbye press release. New York, NY – (December 30, 2016) – Marian Harper-Levine, President of Carnegie Deli and second-generation owner, issued the following statement this morning regarding the closure of the original location of the Carnegie Deli at 854 Seventh Avenue: “Along with my daughter Sarri and in honor of my late father Milton, I would like to sincerely thank all of our loyal patrons, – tourists, dignitaries, and New Yorkers alike- who have visited Carnegie Deli over the past 80 years. Since my father took over the Deli in 1976, this has been a second home to me and it has been a true privilege and an honor to serve you. Although this has been an incredibly difficult decision to officially close Carnegie Deli New York (854 7th Avenue) tonight at midnight , we thank you for your letters, notes, visits and sharing your stories. The Carnegie Deli look...

At the end of each year, since 2007, I offer a list of places that vanished during the year. These are the ones I covered on the blog, but there were many more (and I've been blogging less lately). Please add those not included here in the comments. Click the highlighted name to go to the post for more info. And for previous years' vanishings, just scroll down to the bottom. Ziegfeld Cinema Forced to close after 46 years. I still want to know what happened to the artifacts from the Ziegfeld Museum. St. Mark's Bookshop Finally shuttered after a long fight to save it. 39 years old. I miss it every day. Left Bank Books The cost of doing business was too high. 24 years old. 69 Bayard The landlord hiked the rent on this 80-something-year-old Chinatown classic. Gene's Coffee Shop Just a regular little place that had been around for decades. Evicted. The Stage Restaurant After being forced to close after the Second Avenue explosion, after fighting eviction ...

Years ago, the morning of the Winter Solstice would bring a strange parade of clowns moving through the East Village. It happened every year. And yet it seems, looking back, like a hallucination. Did it really happen? In this colorful and strange parade from the 1990s, a blue-haired queen rides a white horse pushed by clowns. One clown bangs a drum. Bringing up the rear, another pair of clowns pushes a rolling rack of white gowns. They seem to have angel wings. Who were these people? What was this all about? And why did it end?

As EV Grieve first reported, the great and gorgeous Lanza's restaurant in the East Village was forced to close this past summer --seized by the marshal for non-payment of taxes--and it remains closed. this summer We'd hoped it would reopen by now, but the place is looking grim. A peek through the window shows a place in the process of being packed up. Bottles of alcohol stand on tables. Framed art has been taken down from the walls and placed atop cardboard boxes. The white tablecloths, set for a meal that never came, are gathering dust. It seems that Lanza's is leaving us, slowly but surely. This is breaking my heart. today Opened in 1904, Lanza's was started by the same family that started DeRobertis Pasticceria. As Annie DeRobertis once told me , her father’s father started DeRobertis and her mother’s father started Lanza’s. It has a history . The cafe left us two years ago and now this. Here's what the place looked like last year at this tim...

For many years (don't ask me how many) 6th Avenue between 11th and 13th Streets has supported two stationery stores. As a lover of stationery stores in a digitizing and gentrifying world, I consider this a small miracle. And now--miracle over. Reader Simone sent in this photo of Downtown Stationers -- everything must go, they're out of business. That leaves the great Stevdan Stationers , one block south. For now.

After I shared the news that Peter McManus Cafe might soon be closing , fourth-generation owner Justin McManus reports that negotiations with the new owners are progressing. "We are close to a year extension," he told me, adding that the lease will hopefully be signed after the holidays. One year, of course, is only a short-term solution. The Renatus Group, the building's new owners and a real estate development company, have had plans to redevelop and possibly demolish the building. Neighbors have told me that only two holdout rent-regulated tenants remain upstairs. As we've seen before, it's often the holdouts who keep old buildings standing--and their ground-floor commercial tenants in place. We'll watch this one carefully over the next year. The city can't afford to lose Peter McManus.

Two years ago I shared the sad news that La Lunchonette would be vanishing . Its owner, Melva Max, rightly blamed the nearby High Line and its rampant luxury development. “The neighborhood is so gross now,” she said. “It’s all tourists coming for the High Line. People always say, ‘But wasn’t it great for you?’ The High Line has been the cause of my demise.” The beloved 28-year-old restaurant closed last New Year's Eve . Said Max, "A ten-story building will be erected, another 'starchitect' flexing their creative muscle along the old rail line." That was the plan. A handful of buildings would be demolished, including a former horse stable built in the 1880s , for a tax-supported luxury condo from SHoP, architects of the Barclays Center. But now the Real Deal reports that the Lunchonette building just sold for $10.6 million , and is "adjacent to a planned residential building along West 18th Street that SHoP TRData LogoTINY is designing." So i...