[Photo from June 2012 by Gudrun Georges]
After 110 years at 176 First Ave., DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe will close its doors for good this afternoon at 3.
The economy, age and health concerns reportedly weighed on their De Robertis family's decision to sell the building.
Meanwhile, leading up to today, there have been a number of tributes to the bakery.
It Was Her New York has a 2-part series ... here and here.
The Daily Beast stops by too.
It is one of those city relics New Yorkers gush about without ever darkening its door — or only go when they learn it’s shutting down. “I’ve passed this place a thousand times but never came in,” says Ranesh, who grew up in Staten Island and has lived in Park Slope for 20 years. “You take it for granted and think it will always be here.”
[Photo from June 2012 by Gudrun Georges]
Previously on EV Grieve:
174-176 First Ave. is in contract
[Updated] 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe looks to be closing once the building is sold
174-176 First Ave., home of DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe, is for sale
Let's take a look at the DeRobertis in-house bakery
Ugh: The 110-year-old DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe closes after Dec. 5 (43 comments)
I"m one of those people who never went in, after my first visit decades ago. It's not that I didn't like them, just don't buy cookies.
ReplyDeleteSucks big time. This was my Italian bakery. There were other ones close by, but I chose DeRobertis. My only hope is that a new owner will come in and take advantage of the facilities and old decor and continue it as an Italian bakery, but we know what the outcome is these days of situations like this.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to the family.
As a longtime customer I'm at a loss for words about this. Happy for the family but sad otherwise. The EV will not be the same.
ReplyDeleteBeen coming here for years, and these last few weeks, every time I went in the place was packed. I would recall all the times I went and it was either empty or only had a table or two filled, and I could not help but wonder, where were all these morons when the place wasn't in its death throes? Goodbye, DeRoberti's, goodbye John and Dana, Godspeed to you all, and thanks for providing a quiet, sane refuge in the neighborhood for those of us who appreciate such increasingly rare gifts. You will be missed. You will be missed.
ReplyDeleteThe family gets millions! They deserve it after 110 years! I wish them all the best!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely irreplaceable. Sad.
ReplyDeletewhy are those people morons for going now? they may have been going there for years, or passed by and never went in, or just found out about the closing and wanted to make sure they got in before it went. or maybe this is the first time they ever heard about it and they wanted to check it out before it vanishes! just sayin' no reason for namecalling. customers always pack in when they hear an awesome place is closing. sorry to see it go and I sure hope someone buys it and keeps it going.
ReplyDeleteUsed to go here circa 1990. It seemed like walking into the earlier decades of the 20th Century. The tile work on the floor and the walls was fascinatingly archaic. I left NYC in '97, and am surprised to see that De Robertis has survived this long, but am sad to learn of its demise.
ReplyDeleteBy this point, I am disinclined to revisit NYC, so that my memories of the city as it had been not be replaced by sights of how it's become.