Tale as old as time, true as it can be! Vic's Pizza, which has been slinging pies on Essex Street for the past 45 years, will close next week to make room for a fancy new apartment building. The pizzeria announced their closure in August and confirmed to DNAinfo that their final day of service would be next Monday.
Current owner Victor Mendez tried to find another locale in the neighborhood but higher rental prices and the proliferation of dollar slice joints made a move impossible. The pizzeria will operate from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. until next Monday, after which it'll go dark before the building is razed. When the closure was announced, Bowery Boogie discovered that the new building proposal included "4,578 square-feet split between two enormous triplex units [and] 1,958 square-feet of retail on the ground floor."
At a recent Community Board 3 meeting to view proposed zoning initiatives in the neighborhood, locals worried the neighborhood was "becoming a rich white girl's dorm," as local business and residents are pushed out to make room for millionaires. What college girl wouldn't want a pizzeria in her building is beyond me; I don't really get kids these days.
