Employees at the diner say the whole building is coming down, demolished for a new condo development. A sign on the shuttered pizza place next door reads, "Due to recent building events out of our control, we have amicably accepted to leave this location."
A reader writes in with some good news: "Gracie's Diner bought the Viand Diner a block over on 2nd & 86th. It's already renamed Gracie's on 2nd." So, after a shuffle, it's goodbye old Gracie's, goodbye Viand, and hello new Gracie's.
In the end, the city is down one diner and up another luxury condo tower.
OY.
ReplyDeleteI live around the corner.
Like we REALLY need more useless construction here in Yorkville these days.....It never ends.....
Condos. Hmmmm... with a Kale Bar in the lobby?
ReplyDeleteHopefully ex-Yankee David Wells will visit for old time's sake before it closes.
ReplyDeleteWill people in those luxury condos just have food delivered from warehouses or what....? -MJ
ReplyDelete86st east (@lex) is a very ugly block w/chainstores. the whole area or 1st ave, 2nd ave thru the 90's north is faceless skyscapers. by far the ugliest part of nyc. no surprise here.
ReplyDeletemost of these buildings are used for corporate apts. meaning that they are for visiting executives. many apts are bought by overseas investors from china etc.
ReplyDelete@ laura
ReplyDeleteActually 1st Ave in the 80s isn't nothing but faceless skyscrapers. There are quite a number of mom n pop spots, including Glaser's which has been at the same location for over 100 years, and tons of old walkups. Unfortunately 7-eleven has seeped in, but I think you are selling 1st Ave a little short.
jaz i said north thru the 90s! once you pass 90th its a concrete jungle. remember all those streets were small buildings@ one time. yes i know 1st & 2nd in the 80s have bars & resturants etc. looks like they want to demolish the entire area.
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry, I naturally meant to write "pre-modernist housing" in the post above, not "pre-modern". Big difference.
ReplyDeletePlease modify as deemed appropriate.
Cheers!
The Swede
Hello, I was born and loved at 352 E. 86th St. from Dec. 1965 - Nov. 1975. My family and I lived on the top floor, the 5th floor, which, after a fire in the building (I think sometime in 1976?) - meant that after the bldg. was renovated, the 5th Floor was eliminated in favor of duplex apts. on the 4th floor (though for a long time I thought they were penthouses!) I am so sad to see this bldg. come down. I loved growing up in Yorkville. We had the best neighbors (Jimmy Murphy and his wonderful partner Ricky - I've always wondered what became of them). I remember Jimmy's father ("Mr. Murphy") who used to sit on the stoop. I loved the red wooden newspaper stand that we'd get candy from. I packed groceries at the "Grand Union" for spare change from customers, or the stamps (H&S?) that we used to put in booklets to exchange for merchandise (I got my first pair of roller skates from those) and learned to skate down the hill in front of the "Tri-Faith" bldg. across the street on 1st Ave. My brother's and I went to St. Stephen of Hungary and of course, spent many hours at Carl Schurz park (which we still call "Carl Schultz"!) I've always wanted to get a picture of our bldg. before 1976, showing our top 5th floor, but have never come across one. So many fond memories of Woolworth's boxed Halloween costumes, the OTB and Baskin Robbins, Reinlander, the bazaar at St. Monica's, the Ideal, Glazer's - so many memories I could write about for hours. So grateful for a website like this! :)
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