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Early Addition
After news spread that Upper West Side institution Cafe La Fortuna would close today, many people came by to bid farewell.
The restaurant was packed last night and this morning and afternoon, as people enjoyed the sandwiches, Italian coffee drinks and opera music one last time, lamenting the closing of another standby. One woman arrived with a bouquet of flowers and a card for the staff.
Owner Vincent Urwand explained that the West 71st Street cafe's closing was spurred by his wife's death (see his letter after the jump), but the soaring real estate market also played a role. Urwand summoned the spirit of John Lennon, who, with Yoko Ono, were Cafe La Fortuna regulars, in a new letter posted in the cafe's window:
A hardware store will replace the cafe. The Cafe La Fortuna website will remain open "so that people may read our history and send comments."
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A hardware store will replace the restaurant!? Not a new Starbucks, Chase or Duane Reade? What sort of hardware store is this? Intriguing...
The owner actually sold the three years that still
remained on his lease back to the LL.
An update is in the New York Times today.
i've never been there, but the sign in the window brings tears to my eyes. sad to see such an institution gone and even more so since the owner just lost his wife.
I bet a starbucks will take its place.