Friday, March 20, 2009

Unzipping the mystery at Zips (trying to, anyway)

There's no shortage of chitchat among a few neighbors [that I happen to know] of the former Zips Deli on Avenue B at Fifth Street. Rumors abound that this space will become an upscale diner-type place, though I never report on unconfirmed facts, unsubstantiated rumors or other un-words. Oh, oops. Anyway! Something is happening here...



Yesterday, a worker was removing the graffiti from the front doors.



And there has been plenty of hammering and nailing kind of thing happening behind the brown-papered doors. An EV Grieve tipster who caught a look inside said the interior is shaping up to look like an upscale diner-type place, though you likely already knew that by now.




The EV Grieve tipster frets that what goes in this spot could have a negative impact on the neighborhood...if it's something obnoxious that attracts the let's-be-loud-and-pee/barf-in-the-streets-real-late-and-yell-for-a-cab crowd from outside the neighborhood. The people who are already going to a few places just south of here on Avenue B.

Related:
Check out this shot of Zips on Flickr...

3 comments:

Jeremiah Moss said...

zips! it's been shuttered forever. thanks for the update. that block went straight downhill after giuliani tore down the squat. practically the following week, robert deniro was having dinner there.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I was trying to remember exactly when Zips did close...Three years? Four years?

Tiny Banquet Committee said...

Those guys in Zips gave me a free lotto ticket once, even though I never went in there all that often. I think it has been closed at least 3 years but 4 is a possibility.