Last October, a tipster who lives on East 13th Street and University Place said that the whole corner would be demolished — from University Place Gourmet on the corner to Bennie Louie Chinese Laundry a storefront away on the side street. At the time, we didn't get any other confirmation that anything was imminent.
Until now.
The signs went up last week noting that Bennie Louie Chinese Laundry is closing for good after today… (Jeremiah Moss first noted this last week.)
And yesterday, several EVG readers told us that University Place Gourmet has closed after 30 years of the current ownership (47 years in business total).
The owners left a heartfelt goodbye…
Back to the tipster in the fall.
Apparently the buildings that house University Place Gourmet, the doggy day care and Benny Louie Laundry have all been sold to one person and will be coming down. I was in Benny Louie this morning and was told the new owner came by and advised that they have about 6 months before they will need to get out.
To date though, nothing has shown up yet in public records to note a sale… or impending demolition.
There's a lot of new luxury development along this corridor. Bowlmor Lanes, University Place Gourmet's former neighbor, closed last July … and is being replaced by a 23-story residential building. There are other condos projects in the works along this corridor, so might as have one more.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Bowlmor Lanes will convert to condos, like everywhere else around here
76-year-old Bowlmor Lanes closes for good today
Bowlmor says goodbye
Such a shame to lose both the businesses and the buildings. I guess everything is going to be a glass box or towering glass needle dick in the sky now.
ReplyDeleteIt's just like in "Our Town".
ReplyDeleteI always told people that visited NY from other places that the city is a huge collections of tiny villages some overlapping one another. Most tourists never discover this on their visits to the big attractions like, Time Square, MoMA and 911 Land.
ReplyDeleteSoon most of Manhattan will look like the upper east side and anything unordinary and surprising will be gone, sigh.
they are tearing this city down one block at the time and the destruction slime is creeping into every neighborhood, every nook and cranny, and eventually almost every building.
ReplyDeletethose of us that can't move will find ourselves in a disney land that is too expensive to partake take in.
there will be no supermarkets, only phony old-fashioned-looking general store stage sets that sell $10 bread and $8 coffee.
people that provide the day-to-day services will have to travel from outside the city and public transportation will deteriorate further.
i sure hope this rapidly moving tidal wave of greed doesn't mow down everything!
Counting the minutes until the next building bubble pops and Wall Streets gives up another Ponzi scheme, sadly this is what it takes to protect our neighborhoods from unlimited greed.
ReplyDeleteSimply heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteWell, dear co-readers, I start slowly getting tired of these comments. They are always the same - and they help exactly nada, niente, zilch. Instead of feeling shame, hoping that this will somehow stop, or that some bubble will pop at some point in the future... why don't you get off your sofa for a minute and contribute a bit more, like at www.nyc.nyc ? Doesn't cost you a penny, and you will feel better doing something that might actually change something to the better. It is also your nonaction that helps producing these glass boxes and dick needles.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great street that used to be! A veritable cultural treasure trove. You had Bradley's Piano Bar, The Cedar Tavern, Knickerbocker's Steak House and on the other side of 8th Street 1 U and Kipling's Last Resort. I forgot what the place was called on 8th Street that had all the "Andrea Doria" artifacts. Was that 1 U ? Oh well, just another impetus to face the inevitable and move to a place more affordable for this senior citizen. At least I got the memories.
ReplyDeleteThis development is completely out of scale for University Place. It's a real shame that it was given the green light!
ReplyDeleteThis is tragic. I attended The New School from 2008 to 2012 where I earned my undergraduate degree; it was a daily stomping ground for the purchasing of snacks between classes. So many memories. I also patronized the Chinese Laundry Cleaners for pressed shirts. This is a true illustration of how nothing remains the same, especially in a transient city like New York. Here today. Gone tomorrow. This should also reinforce how nothing or no one should be taken for granted. On that same exact corner, across the street, a Vietanamese restaurant stood on the corner for twenty years. Now a housing goods store has stood there for over three years. Again, the neighborhoods are transforming at an alarming rate. This is disconcerting. I wonder what New York will look like in another five to ten years? I also wonder what the west and east village will look like in another five years. :(
ReplyDeleteI am sad about the eventual loss of that doggy day care. They haven't been there as long as some of the other merchants, but I always loved to stop in front of the windows as I walked home to look at all of the happy little pups playing or waiting for their moms and dads.
ReplyDeleteWell, just now I was thinking of breakfast and for the likes of me could not come up with a place in the East Village to sit down, talk with the locals, and enjoy an inexpensive meal. Leshko's, Odessa, Kiev, Stage, B&H, 7A -- all closed.
ReplyDeleteObviously, anyone who opposes this development and others like it is on the wrong side of history. Don't be one of those people.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the Bini-Bon Restaurant,
ReplyDeletewhich was one of the first victims of gentrification.
Even if we wanted to oppose, how can you oppose history? That's like denying your special humanity.
ReplyDeleteThe Odessa Restaurant is still open at 119 Avenue A. There's also Little Poland on 2nd Avenue and the Neptune on 1st Avenue.
ReplyDeleteAs for closures, my favorites on 1st Avenue can be added to the list — Polonia and Teresa's
Little Poland. I forgot about Little Poland. I'll make a lunch stop there. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSo basically there is going to be no village feeling anywhere downtown anymore. Besides the great museums the point of staying here anymore?
ReplyDeleteThis is why newbies and gentrifiers refer to this as Central Village.
ReplyDeletedon't forger the cookery
ReplyDeleteThe lovely farewell note from University Gourmet captured it in a nut shell. These were PEOPLE (real people) that owned a business for thirty yrs. They formed relationships with their customers and, bc of that, came through for the neighborhood when times got rough (Sandy, blackout etc). What are we left with now? Glass tower investment boxes and chain retail. As a born/bred nyer, I'm disgusted & unwilling to live in this place I no longer recognize. Looking for my next city....
ReplyDeleteThe 2 east corners are already franchise or branch businesses that ousted locals, so this sucks. I don't mind a little mixed use, but leave us a corner or 2 for useful stuff.
ReplyDeleteLP, Odessa and Neptune, yes...but so many other places gone...
ReplyDeleteThe morning I found Teresa's shuttered I stood on First Avenue and cried.
Unfortunately my first cold borscht/garden visit of the season (to Neptune) was marred by the endless rant of an entitlement dude who had made a wrong turn... on an otherwise pleasant Sunday morning...
*sighs*
Our neighborhood is losing essential services and the friendly small businesses that make it home.
ReplyDeleteI have noted these losses to the GVSHP, but it doesn't seem to take a proactive stance. There is no laundry in the neighborhood...understand there is one on Morton Street which is not exactly neighborhood. As for a simple deli, a flowerstand, doggy day care...the new dwellers of the neighborhood will find it sadly lacking.
Where is the leadership in this city? This is Bloomberg's legacy, but I don't see DeBlasio showing he gives a crap about this issue -- or that he is even aware of it.
ReplyDelete