Yesterday, I walked by to find the Sweetheart boarded up with plywood.
I went into Village Pizza to ask about it and the guy assured me the facade of the building is just being restored and the businesses, including the bakery, which has been here for about 15 years, will be returning.
But why am I still filled with a sense of foreboding? Maybe because workmen were going at it inside with a circular saw. That's not facade restoration--which was done already in 2005, by the same company. And Racked says "the fate of the bakery is up in the air," though the luxy stores will be returning. (And nobody's touched the colorfully named "Shoegasm.")
Let's face it, that bakery is not coming back. Say goodbye to vegan and dietetic baked snacks, to giant chocolate muffins and little butter cookies, and to empanadas from "Daniel the king of empanadas"--after Sucelt closed, Sweetheart's Argentinian empanadas were a good alternative.
Isn't it then inevitable that Village Pizza and the neighboring bodega will also shutter?
I would recommend to you more empanada options in the city, but I fear you will J-reap them into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm out of NY. I was a regular customer at Village Pizza. Please tell the guys hello and thank them for their good work. So wish I'd obtained a Village Pizza T-shirt. Am sure that block will be razed for a glass condo. Its residents can look at those who live at One Jackson.
ReplyDeleteBroken record. I believe deep inside you, you want these places to vanish.
ReplyDeleteFrom photo, assume the shoe repair place next to Village Pizza is gone. They always changed my watch batteries. BTW, a high profile divorce case in NY is fodder for TV chat. Today, on The View, Joy Behar said the husband is a narcissist: he masturbates, looking at photos of himself. Wish you could tell Joy about yunnies. OMG, they should call that condo One Jack-Off! Guess that collective wanking kills any desire for pizza!
ReplyDeletevillage pizza is still going strong, no big worries yet.
ReplyDeleteand, yes, when i'm feeling most hopeless and angry, a part of myself wishes the whole city would just be bulldozed and replaced with a giant glass box already--because this "death from a thousand cuts" is excruciatingly painful.
it's a damn shame. i'll still hold on to the faint glimmer of hope for the bakery to reopen, if only because their coffee (and cheerful disposition) made my mornings. the empanadas were legendary, too. sigh...
ReplyDelete:( This sucks. Why are the rich moving into these condos so vapid? As if they don't enjoy a good deal and a tasty bite. Fuck them, the Yunnie can starve malnourished on Starbucks candy and cocaine.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI can't remember for how many years I would pass Village Pizza daily. The Pizza was really good & the Guys who ran it were really nice.
Hope they outlive the New all glass Village.
Sadly I doubt it.
Bring back neighborhoods that really were neighborhoods. Not just glass steel & people who want status.
Bring back the real people, Straight, Gay, Butch, Fem, Leather & S&M.
In leather & pride,
Lenny Waller
It's sad to see small businesses close, but Village Pizza is terrible and Sweetheart Coffee is nothing special. I think the only reason they survive is because they're on that godforsaken stretch of 8th Ave.
ReplyDeleteHAH! It came back! Ho ho!
ReplyDelete