Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Classic Mr NYC

Two years ago I blogged about how diners are rapidly vanishing from the face of NYC. Color me prophetic -- The New York Times only now has written a big article about how diners in this town are, bit by bit, disapearing.

The reasons are obvious (rising rents along with risings costs of doing business) but sometimes it's the case that the land the diner is on is so valuable that the owners can't help but give into temptation and sell it to developers (gas stations in NYC are suffering this particlar fate). 

Diners or "greasy spooons" are bastions of middle class NYC -- thick menus, fast service, open for long hours (sometimes 24/7); you can get a burger and fries or a BLT or a club sandwhich along with a milkshake and bottomless cup o'Joe and still have some cash left over. In an era of fast food and chain restaurants, diners were holdouts for homespun afforadble grub.

In my 2017 post, I sang the praises of the Neptune Diner in Astoria, one of the best in the whole city. Well, the land its on has been sold, its lease is up in August, and it's probably that it'll cloes by the end of the year. This makes me particularly sad because I have lots of great personal memories of this place. If and when it goes, a little piece of my heart will go with it. 


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