Lunch Mob for Cafe Edison

This past Saturday, we held a Lunch Mob to save the beloved Cafe Edison, which is being denied a lease renewal and thus forced out by the Edison Hotel after 34 years of serving New Yorkers, tourists, and the Broadway community.



The event was a huge success. Cafe manager Conrad Strohl estimates that 400 - 500 people were in attendance. The most popular dish? "Definitely soup! Matzo ball soup. But cabbage soup may be a close second." And how many matzo balls were consumed during the mob? Conrad told me, "Two to a soup. Some lucky ones may get three. About 600 matzo balls!"

That's a lot of matzo balls.

The Cafe Edison cooks prepared all morning for the mob, tripling their usual orders, and managed to feed everyone throughout the busy day and night. (The night before, they sold out of matzo balls and blintzes, and there wasn't even a mob.)


Conrad Strohl & NBC News: photo by Barbara Nassberg -- see the video here

Supporters showed up hungry on Saturday afternoon with hand-made signs and clever slogans. Out on the sidewalk, regular customer Mike Salonia offered "Don't bust my matzo balls!" Comedian Jackie Hoffman held up a manila envelope with, "Matzoh ball, not wrecking ball."

Everyone wore name tags with the popular Twitter hashtag #SaveCafeEdison, a slogan you could find on flyers and signs all over the coffee shop.


Jackie Hoffman: Photo by Jennifer Leonard

Someone called the cops, but they were friendly, telling the sidewalk protesters, "We had our matzo ball soup earlier today."

Someone called the Fire Department--a safety inspector cited concerns for over-occupancy--but nothing stopped the mob.



Inside, the place was literally mobbed, with a line going out the door. "It was insane," said Betty, the cashier. Supporters meeted-and-greeted each other, noshing and plotting the next steps for saving this iconic coffee shop.

Jordan Strohl, son of Conrad, told me, "We were extremely pleased with the turnout and overwhelming show of love and support for the Cafe Edison. We cannot thank everyone enough for all that everyone is doing. These past few days have been very overwhelming and emotional for my entire family and all we can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!"


photo by Davy Mack

At a table of honor, the matriarch of Cafe Edison, Frances Edelstein, sat among her family. Her 2001 Tony Award for Excellence in Theater, for Service to the Theater Community, sat prominently beside her as she greeted supporters and gave interviews to the media.

Over email, her grandson Adam Strohl told me:

"My grandmother was appreciative of all the visitors. She was overwhelmed by all the hellos from friendly, supportive faces, new and old. If losing her husband of over 70 years was the worst day of her life, then losing her kitchen will be the second worst. She makes people happy through their bellies. It's what she knew after surviving the Holocaust and coming to America. My grandparents never envisioned creating such a special, unique place like 'the store,' as Cafe Edison is referred to by the family. They just wanted to keep people fed. And, as chronicled by Neil Simon's '45 Seconds from Broadway,' when some couldn't pay because the acting gigs were drying up, they still kept them fed."


Mrs. Edelstein: photo by Adam Strohl

With her son-in-law Conrad, Mrs. Edelstein started the cafe with her late husband, Harry, back in 1980 when they were invited to open shop in the hotel by its former owner, their friend and fellow Holocaust survivor Ulo Barad. When Mr. Barad died last year, his son Gerald Barad became principal owner of the hotel. Several months ago, the Strohls were told that no new lease would be offered.

Word of the closure leaked out last week when two of the coffee shop's customers got in touch with me. Hotel management later confirmed to the Times that "the cafe is closing as the hotel prepares for a multimillion-dollar investment to upgrade and restore the space." The Strohl family says they will be replaced by a white-tablecloth restaurant with "a name chef."

Adam Strohl adds, "The closing takes away an icon in Times Square and the theater community. It is also the undermining of an Old World deal made by a meaningful handshake between two Holocaust survivors looking to make a living together in the New World."

On the petition to save the cafe--now with well over 5,000 signatures, including many actors like Susan Sarandon and Glenn Close--Brian Strohl echoed his brother, writing: "two Holocaust survivors had an agreement that as long as my family ran the Cafe, we would be able to call the space our home. One Holocaust survivor gave another his word and that assurance meant something."


photo by Davy Mack

In the new New York, such an agreement doesn't mean much. Without protections like cultural landmarking, selective retail rent control, or the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, our beloved small businesses are sitting ducks, completely unprotected from the big guns of Big Business.

The creator of the petition, Jason Bratton, recently added Gerald Barad's name to his document, explaining: "Mr. Barad is a co-owner of Triumph Hotels. Triumph Hotels owns and operates the Iroquois New York, the Hotel Chandler, the Gershwin Hotel, the Hotel Belleclaire, the Washington Jefferson Hotel and the Cosmopolitan Hotel - Tribeca. You might want to keep that in mind when staying in New York or recommending a hotel to your friends and family who come to town."


photo: Tim Schreier

Though the Lunch Mob began to dwindle around 3:00, enthusiastic diners continued to flow into the Cafe Edison, arriving in waves throughout the day and night.

Around 8:30 p.m., the last bowl of matzo ball soup was served to Friederike Paetzold and Shane Arbogast. As the waitress slid the bowl onto the table, she announced, "You're lucky. It's the last one. Enjoy!"

It may have been the last matzo ball of the Lunch Mob, but it won't be the last for Cafe Edison. They'll be in their long-time home at least until December 27, and many are fighting to keep them there for a long time after. While they've been looking for a new location, the Edelstein-Strohl family wants to stay put. There is simply no other space like the Cafe Edison space.

The petition continues to gather signatures. From loyal customers, there's talk of boycotts, legal action, and more mobs. Those working to save the soul of New York--from the ravages of real-estate overdevelopment, skyrocketing rents, and unrestrained chain stores--hope that the fight for Cafe Edison will be a watershed moment.

This gathering was not a funeral, not a goodbye, but the beginning of a battle.


photo by Robert Bischoff


Previously:
Cafe Edison Lunch Mob Announcement
News of the Closure

• Sign and share the petition
• Join the Save Cafe Edison Facebook group

Cafe Edison Lunch Mob: Sat Noon

Yesterday morning, I broke the news that the Cafe Edison is about to vanish. The Edison Hotel is denying this New York institution a new lease after 34 years in business. The Cafe Edison is beloved, but I had no idea just how beloved. The outpouring has been tremendous.



Soon after I posted the news, it spread like wildfire across the Internet, from Broadway.com to Playbill. It quickly appeared in the Daily News, the New York Post, and the New York Times, who reported: "The cafe will be replaced by a white-tablecloth restaurant with 'a name chef,' Mr. Strohl said. He has told the staff of 32 that they will be out of work. The hotel’s general manager, Richard Hotter, wrote in a statement that 'we can confirm that the cafe is closing as the hotel prepares for a multimillion-dollar investment to upgrade and restore the space.'"

Immediately, fans of the cafe took to Facebook and Twitter to share their outrage and call for a protest. The Twitter hashtag #SaveCafeEdison was created by the folks behind the Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. They also made this lovely image, saying "We can help":



Theater guy Jason Bratton started a petition, which is now up to nearly 2,000 signatures.

This morning, Broadway actor Martha Plimpton wrote a piece for the Daily News, saying, "Oh, my God, it’s a tragedy. The Cafe Edison should be landmarked." And "There is absolutely nothing redeeming about the Times Square of today."

Julie Klausner wrote a piece for Grub Street, saying, "this closing feels different: like the final dagger in the Times Square Tourist Elmo Massacre."



People want to take action. So here's the plan: Tomorrow, starting at noon and going to whenever, there will be a Lunch Mob for Cafe Edison. You can join the event on Facebook here. Below are the details:

This beloved New York institution must not go down without a fight. Let your voice be heard--and have some matzo (or brisket, or blintzes, maybe a nice piece of fish?).

Let the cafe, hotel management, and the tourists know why you're there. PLEASE BRING A SIGN OF SUPPORT TO CREATE A VISUAL IMPACT. Markers, poster board, slogans: "Save Cafe Edison," "Polish Tea Room Forever," whatever's clever.

Have lunch, make some noise, get connected with other concerned and pissed off New Yorkers. Take photos--tweet and Instagram with hashtag #SaveCafeEdison. Do those Foursquare and Swarm check-in things, too. Spread the word!

Cafe Edison is located at 228 W 47th St., between 7th and 8th Aves.

Two Boots Bleecker

VANISHING

After 22 years in business, the Two Boots Pizza on Bleecker Street has lost its lease. They recently made the announcement on their Facebook page:



640 Broadway, the building that houses Two Boots Bleecker, has been cleaning out all the local, small businesses. Star Shoe Repair was pushed into the basement under Two Boots. At the same time, out went the Optimo newsstand, a Chinese take-out place, and a little locksmith shop.

Most recently, Bleecker Digital Solutions, a small photo lab and print shop was given the heave-ho.

I talked to Neal, owner of Bleecker Digital Solutions, about the situation. He told me that the building was bought by Arcadia Realty Trust and "They're kicking out everybody." He added, "They're taking over the downtown area like crazy." Neal was on Bleecker for 30 years, running his shop for the past 15. He's now at 85 Kenmare Street.

How's he doing in the new spot? "Well," he says, "we'll see." Moves like this can be tough, especially after building a following in one place for three decades.


BEFORE

Several small, local businesses were put out--and for what? In their place today is one big Organic Avenue.


AFTER

What will replace Two Boots? It's already listed as empty and available on Arcadia's website--in a brochure choking on chains.

Cafe Edison

VANISHING

Drop a bomb on Times Square. It's over. The Cafe Edison is being evicted -- denied a lease renewal and thus forced out by the Edison Hotel after 34 years.



The last real coffee shop left in the neighborhood, it's an absolute oasis in an otherwise miserable part of town. Located in the Edison Hotel since 1980, it's also known as the Polish Tea Room, a place to get an affordable meal of matzoh ball soup, brisket, a bagel. It's long been a favorite hangout for the theater crowd, cops, blue-collar workers, even magicians.

I talked this morning to Conrad Strohl, the cafe's manager, who was in the middle of a bustling breakfast rush. The Edison does good business. Conrad told me the closing is for sure, the Hotel Edison is not renewing the cafe's lease.

"They don't want us here," he told me. 

He expects the cafe will be there for at least another month. They're looking to relocate. But how can you relocate perfection? The place looks like no other, with walls painted pink and baby blue over frothy plaster angels and scrollwork--it's like dining inside a big wedding cake. I love this place. Many, many New Yorkers love this place.



When longtime owner Harry Edelstein died in 2009, Broadway dimmed the lights of its marquees in tribute.

The Times wrote of Cafe Edison: "The playwright August Wilson wrote notes for three of his scripts on Cafe Edison napkins. [Neil] Simon’s 2001 comedy, '45 Seconds From Broadway,' was a sentimental display of his affection for the restaurant. 'There is something magical about this place,' he said, sitting there in 2001."

New York magazine called it "a New York institution."



So how can it be evicted?

It seems like the Edison Hotel is cleaning house. In 2010, the original Rum House bar closed after 37 years in business. Last year, out went Sofia's Italian restaurant after 35 years.

Spain

After many years of meaning to, and never doing, I finally got to Spain Restaurant on West 13th Street.



In business since 1960, this place is one of our surviving classics, filled with that heavy, dark Spanish style of the mid-twentieth century. Think conquistadors and bullfighters, flamenco dancers with high and lacy combs in their hair. Think blood-red tablecloths, brick walls, and dark wood furnishings.



The bartenders wear red jackets and black bow ties. They speak Spanish.

Your best bet is to sit at the bar, order a drink, and enjoy your complementary tapas. With every drink, you get a new plate. I got delicious meatballs, potatoes, sausages, and more potatoes. You can live off this strategy very nicely for a night. For heartier fare, the chicken and rice will fill you up.



On the early side, the place is quiet, but soon the gangs of hipsters come in--a surprising sight--they must come from the dorms on the block, the New School around the corner. They crowd around the bar and get loud. This is clearly their regular spot, and if they're helping to keep Spain alive, good on them. But go early to avoid the jostling.

Globe Slicers

As the Bowery continues its radical shift from Skid Row, restaurant supply, and lamps to stratospheric luxury, I am always relieved to walk by and see Globe Slicers still in business.

It's been in business since 1947.



Chances are, unless you run a deli, you're never going to need a slicer. But the place is worth a peek, if only for its windows.



They are cluttered with a collection of random items--baseball photos, transistor radios, dolls, books that warn of "Genocide Emergency TODAY."



There's a large and eerie doll dressed in a pith helmet and what looks like a Boy Scout uniform, a button pinned to its arm that says STOP IRAN.



The interior of the shop is equally fascinating, a cacophony of slicers, boxes, papers, the detritus of 67 years, and a slice (sorry) of the old Bowery, before everything was sleek and clean, sterilized for the comfort of newcomers.

Club 57: Flyers 1979-83

Club 57 was on St. Mark's Place from 1979 - 1983. It was run by Ann Magnuson, who called it a place for "pointy-toed hipsters, girls in rockabilly petticoats, spandex pants, and thrift-store stiletto heels...suburban refugees who had run away from home to find a new family...who liked the things we liked--Devo, Duchamp, and William S. Burroughs--and (more important) hated the things we hated--disco, Diane von Fürstenberg, and The Waltons."

Keith Haring had his first New York show at Club 57.


Magnuson in front of Club 57--see more photos by Harvey Wang

Back in the day, long before blogs, local news and announcements were spread via flyer. A collection of Club 57's flyers is available through the Alden Projects.

Todd Alden writes on his site: "What is reproduced here just tells part of the lost stories of Club 57. This archive consists of a collection of flyers that happened to be saved by contributing Club 57 artist, Henry Jones, who assisted Ann Magnuson in scheduling the club’s calendar. (Several of Club 57’s monthly calendars, designed by Magnuson are also reproduced). Jones, who attended SVA, like Haring, Sex, and Scharf, made a notable stroboscopic film around 1978 about The Fleshtones and was a protégé of the filmmaker and musicologist, Harry Smith."

"To some extent, the original photocopies from Club 57 unquestionably approximate artworks. But of course the equivocal status of the photocopy as non-art---as degraded ephemera, designed to invite the audience to passing performances and to passing pleasures, also contributed to the re-doubled urgency of these messages in a place where life and art traded places, however briefly."



The flyers were on display and for sale recently at the NY Art Book Fair (see also: poet's pubic hair).

Alden was also selling a spiral-bound book full of photocopies of the flyers. It was priced at $20. If you're a Club 57 fan, or just enjoy ephemera from this lost era, you might still be able to find the book through Alden Projects.