Tuesday, September 02, 2008

A Sad Day for Bagels




The closing of David's Bagels is a serious loss for the East Village, a neighborhood formerly crawling with places to get fresh bagels. No more. Now we will have to either go very far to find a fresh bagel, or buy them from the heinous Hot & Crusty, which is more crusty and less hot. It's a carb factory of gigantic proportions and they even have the chutzpah to make pizza. I won't be surprised when they apply for their liquor license, just to keep up with their alcohol swilling neighbors. We loved our Asian-made bagels, warm every morning with too much cream cheese, and will miss this establishment enormously.

And, in an interesting sub-note, while David's says they lost their lease, presumably to enormous rent hikes, the candy store next to Hot & Crusty (all these stores are in the same building) was renovating this past weekend. The building above all these stores is a Condo building. Who then owns the leases to the stores in that building? I wonder how that works. Is it the board of the Condo building raising the rents? I would like some answers, if anybody knows, please share.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn.

Anonymous said...

This is a huge crime! I've been enjoy David's everything bagel since 1996! That was my favorite bagel from my favorite bagel place. What the hell?!

Love live David's Bagels!

:(

Unknown said...

Have no fear! I also was seriously aggravated when Hot and Nasty opened in the neighborhood and new it was just a matter of time... However- they still exist only farther uptown ( like 14th wasnt far enough) theyre now on 19th and first! YAY long live DAVIDS!

Jeremiah Moss said...

sad. glad you were there to capture the goodbye. and as you know, this whole block is being turned over, store by store.

Anonymous said...

Um, they only moved 4 blocks up 1st ave. Walk it and you might actually earn some of that extra creamed cheese. ;)

Seth said...

The building is owned by the owner of the Hot and Crusty franchise. David's could afford the rent, but their landlord forced them out for fear of competition. As though the people who trekked 10-20 blocks for a David's bagel would do the same for the generic bread products next door.

Apparently, cornering the market on crappy pizza, salad, and sandwiches wasn't enough. He wanted to crap up the neighborhood bagels too.

It's devastating. Join me in a permanent boycott of that Hot and Crusty.

Seth said...

Oh, also the David's on 19th isn't new. That's been there for some time. It is affiliated, but it is not a replacement for the one on 14th.

Jill said...

Are you saying I have to venture north across 14th Street to get a bagel... it sounds like uptown to me. ;)

Anonymous said...

I spoke to the proprietor in the last days before the closing and I think they're still looking for a new location nearby the 14th st. one.

Unknown said...

This is just horrible...I grew up on 11th and C and remember all the old bagel shops that used to be in the hood. There was one on 14th between A and B. We used to help them load up the trucks in exchange for a bag of bagels....so sad.

Unknown said...

Open letter to Hot and Crusty
http://stuytownandfriends.wordpress.com/

Adam said...

Uh La Bagel and Essa Bagel and David's new location are still there. Stop being outraged about nothing, but please continue whining because you feel the need to.