First the financial crisis, now this. Nostalgic sweet tooths are now screaming vainly for ice cream in Hartsdale, New York, where the first Carvel on earth closed yesterday after more than seven decades in business. Legend has it that company founder (and beloved commercial spokesman) Tom Carvel opened the depression-era soft serve icon at the location because that's where his self-made frozen custard trailer broke down with a flat tire on Memorial Day 1934—business was......

A tipster wondered if local Mexican chain BurritoVille had gone bankrupt, seeing as how their website now redirects to Google. We've spent the last few minutes frantically trying to get someone, anyone on the phone at the various BurritoVille locations around town, with no success. A call to BSI Corp., which seems to be the corporate owner, did get answered, however. When asked if we had reached BurritoVille, the man told us, "Not anymore." He......

Could it be that Reverend Billy prematurely administered last rites to Astroland, that highly romanticized jumble of third-rate county fair rides? After yesterday's report that unnamed officials were trying to broker a deal between Astroland owner Carol Albert and developer Joe Sitt (to whom she sold her 3 acres of property for $30 million in 2006), Mayor Bloomberg has now publicly entered the fray. Hizzoner told reporters yesterday that it "would be a shame if......

Well, forget about getting any closure; less than 48 hours after Coney Island amusement park Astroland supposedly shut down forever, city officials are working behind the scenes to try and keep it alive. The Daily News hears buzz from an unnamed official that if property owner Joe Sitt can be convinced to temporarily extend Astroland's lease, the city will agree to lease land to Astroland owner Carol Albert if and when a controversial plan for......

Well, that's that. McCarren Pool – the giant Robert Moses-era landmark that's been revived as a music, theater, dance and film venue after decades of neglect – hosted its last free 'pool party' yesterday. The Bloomberg administration has allocated $50 million to renovate the pool for swimming, restore the historic bathhouse building, and build a year-round recreation center that is to include a skate park and an ice rink. After three years of presenting free......

The Gawker crowd was dismayed last night to find that Nolita bar Sweet and Vicious has abruptly closed. Former Gawker editor Jessica Coen relays a rumor on Grub Street that the place was seized by the landlord. And the Sweet and Vicious answering machine has this to say: "Thank you for calling Sweet and Vicious. After enjoying ten years at our 5 Spring Street location, and due to circumstances beyond our control, we are taking......

Photo courtesy istolethetv. The first Summer StreetsSaturday took place over the weekend, with the city barring motor vehicles from 6.9 miles of streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street and Central Park. Cyclists and pedestrians reveled in the car-free oasis as the vehicular traffic was replaced by music, dance, yoga and other exercise classes from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. But some drivers, retailers and garage owners were less enthused. Mark Barbosa, a......

Greenpoint's Studio B has allegedly been shut down; good news for some neighbors, bad news for some patrons. The Brooklyn Paper writes of its demise, saying it has "now been shut down by the Department of Buildings — but club lawyer Ken Fisher says the club has fixed whatever led to the failed inspection." No specifics have leaked, but the DoB shut the club down on July 31st, following the CB1 meeting that ended in......

Troubled comedy hotspot Rififi (also known as Cinema Classics) will close tonight due to “an impasse with the landlord,” who is now “asking for substantially more money,” according to Matt Ruby's blog Sandpaper Suit. One "disillusioned ex-employee" tells Gothamist that “employees received text messages yesterday announcing tonight (Wednesday) as the last night open. One day’s notice, and there was a crazy insinuation that if more money had been made over the weekend the venue could......

Newsday is reporting that beloved coal-oven pizza institution Grimaldi’s was shut down today by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. The paper's website has it that the Brooklyn restaurant was seized because of over $150,000 in tax warrants. Agency spokesman Tom Bergin told Newsday that Grimaldi's has been in a dispute with tax officials over allegedly unpaid state sales and withholding taxes for two years. And yet... we swung by Grimaldi's......

There was some surprise when Geoffrey Zakarian’s three star restaurant Country (pictured) was shut down by the Department of Health last Friday. But it turns out that fruit flies, mouse droppings and a fly in the Maker’s Mark were the least of its problems – the main infraction was the restaurant’s unapproved sous vide method, which Country utilizes to vacuum-seal raw meat in plastic for slow cooking at low temperatures. The Times reports that Zakarian......

The Tony, OBIE and Drama Desk-award winning rock musical Passing Strange will close June 20th after a six month run on Broadway, during which time the show failed to translate massive critical acclaim into box office profits. Attendance hovered around 50% capacity for most of the run, and producers’ hopes for a post-Tonys boost were dashed when Latino musical In the Heights dominated the awards. ...

Could the Roxy rise from the ashes of a troubled night club scene? Last year the famed club shut down to the disappointment of many, all echoing the "end of an era" sentiment. They originally opened as a roller skating rink and roller disco in the 70s, later transforming into a popular gay dance club. To make matters worse, the word on the street was that a developer would be turning the space, at 515......

Well, that’s that. Four years after gentrification forced them to relocate from their longtime space on Ludlow Street to Tribeca, Collective: Unconscious, a hotbed for experimental theater and art, will close for good. The funky little theater was adept at connecting broke performers with broke audiences and letting the sparks fly with minimal risk. The lease on the Tribeca space, where they moved in 2004, is up at the end of the month, and per......

Two weeks ago Eater reported that 34 Avenue A, the space that held Mo Pitkin's -- which closed earlier this year, is now in contract. Since there's a transferable liquor license which goes along with the keys to the joint (described as a perfect multi-use space), it will likely become another bar/venue/club...but one prankster is suggesting otherwise. Copyranter caught a glimpse of the old "House of Satisfaction" recently. If you look closely past the glare......

“You could be a transgendered elephant walking in here and as long as you pay your check, you’re fine,” diner Lars Hoel told the Times yesterday during his last breakfast at Florent, the 24-hour French bistro that’s been a Meatpacking District institution for 23 years. The transgendered elephant refuge closed last night after the gay pride parade and a private party for staff and friends of owner Florent Morellet....

This weekend’s vibe has been officially harshed: The perpetually hassled Frying Pan will not be reopening this weekend, contrary to prior reports. The relocated party boat bar and café was mercilessly shut down last summer by the Man over some sort of uptight permit issue, and owner John Krevey says the square community is basically conspiring against him: "It's been horrible. I'm never going to convince them that an old rusty boat is something worth......

When we spoke with Florent Morellet on Monday, he assured us that his 23-year-old Meatpacking District bistro – scheduled to close this Sunday at 10 p.m. – would not be occupied by a Bank of America or some similar abomination. But the Parisian restaurateur stopped short of divulging the space’s fate – the landlord had been seeking $35,000 in monthly rent and it was naturally assumed that only the most crass retailers could manage a......

Back in 1985, when the meatpacking district nightlife was all about gay clubs like the Manhole and, as John Waters puts it, not getting mugged after a night of “watching men pay good money to get pissed on,” Frenchman Florent Morellet opened a bistro in an old greasy spoon called the R&L. Open 24/7, the place soon became a magnet for all sorts of soulful misfits drawn by the open-minded spirit cultivated by Florent himself.......

The incessant stampede of beloved neighborhood institutions closing has a way of making your eyes glaze over and wonder it even merits mentioning anymore. But today’s tally of three (so far!) price-outs demands observation. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York – fast becoming the most depressing read in town – has the bad news of two of them. The first is Hopscotch, the 2.0 version of Avenue A’s Alt Coffee, renowned for its ‘No ODs Allowed’ signage in the filthy bathroom. Owner Nick Bodor had hoped to fancy it up for the yupsters, but it seems the local real estate market won’t rest until it’s a real estate office....

Some West Village restaurants can’t catch a break this week; first an old water main broke and flooded them out during Memorial Day weekend, now the city has been stone cold shutting them down. Eater has it that the Department of Health ordered Diablo Royale on West 10th Street to close yesterday for “unsanitary conditions” – a tipster says the inspectors faulted the restaurant’s flooded basement. Now the swank bar/restaurant Employees Only has gotten......

Brooklyn Paper has it that the smaller, funkier Tea Lounge in Park Slope, on Seventh Avenue and Tenth Street, is to close at the end of July. And you’ll never in a million years guess what the reason is! Turns out an obscene rent hike is forcing the neighborhood hang-out to move along and make room for, most likely, a Corcoran real estate office. Where have we heard this tune before? And so the tumbleweeds......

Today’s wake for a beloved New York institution is being held in honor of Mei Lai Wah Coffee House in Chinatown. It seems the Times’s Eric Asimov, who usually writes about wine, doesn’t subsist on vino alone; he needs his coffee and steamed pork buns as well. And ever since Mei Lai Wah closed last week after a long, losing struggle with the Health Department, Asimov has been in mourning: Mei Lai Wah was indeed......

Glory Days, the new musical written by a pair of twenty-somethings from Virginia, closed after its official opening night last night, joining such Broadway flops as Moose Murders and Teaneck Tanzi in the illustrious "Open/Close Club." The negative reviews proved too much for producers, who chose to pull the plug and eat their $2.5 million investment. In writing his delicate pan, Ben Brantley noted that the producers “have done this little, hopeful show no favors......

Photo courtesy jenie212. Woodhaven Lanes, the classic Forest Hills bowling alley, will close in less than two weeks, NY1 has learned. But this latest loss of a beloved NYC institution wasn’t due to the obscene rents that are sucking all the character out of our city, but rather a multiplying swarm of radioactive scorpions that have nested in the lanes’ shoes and balls. Kidding, of course it’s the obscene rent. Owner Jim Santora tells......

The earlier reports of the city’s sudden shutdown of Veniero’s pastry café have been followed up with some rather revolting details, sent to Eater by a tipster at the Department of Health. The beloved East Village institution, founded in 1894 by Antonio Veniero, had posted a sign on the door next to the DOH sticker blaming the shut-down on a “pest problem” caused by “a large Capital Improvement Project.” Pest problem, indeed: Veniero’s Café was......

Is Luna Lounge the latest casualty of the Department of Health? Eater reports that the venue "was shuttered on Friday and has yet to re-open." Recently another Williamsburg fixture, Sound Fix, was forced to close its doors after being harassed by the DoH -- they told us the irony of being "shut down for not having a food permit - and WE DON'T SELL FOOD! Ice is considered food in the health dept's eyes, I......

The owners of four Manhattan Burger King franchises are locked in a nasty legal battle with their royal overlord. Luan Sadik and his sister, Elizabeth Sadik, rebelled against the mandatory 99-cent menu and the recent dollar Value Menu because the prices couldn’t cover the obscene Manhattan rent and the fast food monarch roared. According to the Daily News, their rent at a Fifth Avenue restaurant is $9,000/month and $18,000.month at a 47th Street location. The......

It would a bit too simplistic to blame the impending closure of La Fortuna, the Upper West Side café that first opened in 1976, entirely on the skyrocketing rents of a turbo-gentrifying neighborhood. While the ever rising rental tide was certainly a factor – the building was taken over by a real-estate group after the previous landlord died – three years still remained on the lease. According to amNY, the closure has more to do......

This weekend Gowanus Lounge was first to note the unexpected closure of the 2nd Street Cafe at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. The decade old restaurant, which on weekends had all the charm of a daycare center on adderall, had undergone a major renovation last summer. OTBKB hears word from a former employee that he/she was given just two days notice. Part of the ever-widening quicksand consuming New York restaurants? No word yet on the......