Another item we meant to note sooner... Nino's Pizza, a longtime favorite hub on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, closed at the end of October. There's paper over the windows, and we saw the tables and chairs stacked up on the sidewalk.
Back in March,
we noted that Nino's was for sale. According to the listing, "owner retiring and looking for a quick sale." No mention of key money, though the rent was listed at $13,200 a month...
We heard that another pizza place was taking over, but no one has
officially confirmed that... hopefully it won't be a franchise (Papa John's, etc.) and that the new owners keep the walk-up window. Ray's is the last one left on Avenue A.
Updated 9:25
Added a photo of Nino's fountain drinks machine... Gojira mentioned it in the comments.
And via a reader in the comments:
[The new owner] He said he will still have pizza and mediteranean food and that it will still be fast food. He said that they were going for an industrial look with a communal table.
He said that he would apply for a beer and wine.