Big Nick's Closes

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 2:55pm

For those of you who knew the burger dive Big Nick's on the Upper West Side, they have closed. It was a great "dive" type of restaurant with absolutely everything on the menu. They were one of those places that still had actor 8x10 glossies on the wall.
Link

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 3:07pm

Aw, another part of my NYC past is gone. I went there for the first time in 1988 when I moved to the UWS. I grabbed a slice of pizza when I was in town around the Christmas holidays. So glad I did.

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 4:43pm

This is terrific news! The UWS is sorely lacking in banks. And Duane Reades. And nail salons. (Yes, this is sarcasm.)

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 5:16pm

Please, they need a Starbucks!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 5:29pm

It's sad because hardly anything is around from when I first moved to the city. I would get a bagel at H&H for breakfast. I liked Big Nick's because they always had a bowl of pickles sitting on the table.

I'm suprised that the BBQ place is still in business. Being that close to Central Park and having such cheap meals, I thought they would be forced out. Of course, they're in the basement, so maybe the rent is cheap because of that.

[~tiny~]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 1:54am

Can't believe this....oh, so sad...
The last of the GREAT greasy spoons - a cramped, smokey from burger grill smoke, collegey UWS burger joint unparalled in authentic NY dive spirit.

Great burgers, and the owner, over the yrs added every customers' request for a menu item, which, of course made the menu a cornucopia of practically every combo. Yummy pickles on the table!

I Loved this place since the late 70s and ate there probably twice a month for 30 yrs. See a play across the street..burgers after! The end of an institution.

---for those (really) old UWSers, first, TEACHERS closed...super sad, then TEACHERS TOO closed...then Zabar's bought up the space and expanded, and the rest is history.

Updated On: 7/31/13 at 01:54 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:12am

Last Night At Big Nick's
Last Night At Big Nicks

[suestorm]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:19am

Gosh, it seems like everything is closing. at least all the small family biznizs. is there no light at the end of this economy?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:24am

Goth, I love the Honeymooner's theme in the video and the perfect New York verbosity on the sign detailing the closing.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:28am

"It WAS New York City. And New York City as we all knew it and loved it is disappearing. On every block we now have safe corporate or corporate franchised outposts. Producing the same bland products that can be sampled anywhere.
What is the point of even visiting a city if everything that once defined it has now been erased. Replaced with just another corporate facsimile chain experience? The same food, clothes, music, entertainment? Why travel at all?"

So very well said. I've been going through some kind of disconnect with NYC over the last two years. No wonder why. Things I associate with my history of 13 years of living there have been slowly disappearing.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:30am

Guys, seriously! What the UWS really needs is ANOTHER frozen yogurt place. I don't want to have to go more than two blocks to get to one.

[suestorm]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:32am

Dottie, thats whats great about Europe, you dont see that type of thing. Its a shame that its so hard for small businesses to survive these days.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:37am

Dottie, I know what you mean by disconnect. I understand that progress must happen, but it's difficult to see so much of the past slipping away so quickly. And if they replaced some of this stuff with something useful, it wouldn't bother me so much. But who needs another Chase Manhattan Bank or Duane Reade.

And speaking of Duane Reade, I remember when they were cheap, cheap, cheap. They were one step up from Jacks 99 cent store. Now they are higher priced than CVS.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 11:44am

It's like every neighborhood has become a generic clone. No individual personality.

[IAMWHATIAM]

Posted: 7/31/13 at 1:47pm

While I do feel quite bad for the owner and the folks who worked at Big Nick's and lost their jobs, I am a life-long New Yorker (the last 25+ years on the Upper West Side) and my family and I haven't stepped foot in that place for at least 15 years. I hate the "malling" of Broadway, and, not to piss in anyone's corn flakes, but I thought Big Nick's was just simply disgusting. Some may have seen and smelled delight and charm where I saw dirt and grime which is, I suppose, what makes the world go 'round. A few things that I don't understand on this thread and in the piece linked. Tiny, I also remember fondly and miss Teachers and Teacher's Too (remember Marvin Gardens?), but to talk about Zabar's buying up space and expanding “and the rest is history” seems to me blame Zabar’s for something and ignore the fact that Zabar's is the quintessential mom and pop success story. It may no longer seem so, due to its size and success, but that’s what it remains at is core, and should be celebrated as such. (And no, I’m not a Zabar, although I do know and am friends with many of them). The thing from the piece that I just can’t wrap my head around is the naivete, to me at least, of a statement to the effect that Big Nick’s owner “deserved...a fair rent increase.” We don’t (and won’t, and certainly shouldn’t, in my opinion) have commercial rent control in the city, and the statement seems to imply that the landlord (evil, of course, for not doing so) should altruistically have continued to lease its property at less than the free market will bear as a matter of civic planning. That’s not its job, and I just don’t get that thinking but, then again, I am a proud capitalist when it comes to these matters. And please, all, let’s not just wax nostalgically about the old days without remembering things like the drugs, garbage and crime and that accompanied it. All that notwithstanding, I do miss the old days and many of the local businesses that are now gone, and I support those that still exist (and that I value) with my pocketbook. We never eat at national chain restaurants, not on principle, but why would anyone in this city which has so much else to offer? Until they closed, all our books (and we are a big book family) were bought at Shakespeare & Co. (even though they were list price and thus probably on average 15% higher than at the now almost defunct big box stores) and we attended story hour every weekend with our little daughter and everyone knew her by name (and we were miserable that our son, born soon after they closed, would never have that same experience). Every Friday night we took our daughter to our local video store (not the biggest selection but the best information and recommendations) and to the local candy store (even though it was owned by 2 of the biggest and nastiest curmudgeons I’ve ever met) until the day each went out of business. I still try to buy all my hardware (and whatever else they sell) at one of my local hardware stores, and when I walk in I greet them by name, they do the same (and they know what kind of bulbs I bought last time). I try to buy shoes at one of the local stores (usually Tip Top, because I really, really hate Harry’s, and, I confess, that Zappos really makes this one difficult to do), and when I walk in, my salesman is there and we greet each other and he knows what will work and what won’t work for me. Too much information here, but I but all my bras and the like at The Town Shop (and will do so even though they moved to the other side of Broadway – the side the family matriarch made them promise, before her death, that they wouldn’t ever do), and, again, when I walk in I’m greeted by name and do the same in return. Almost every Friday morning (ok, not in the summer) I have breakfast with my mother and sister at local little diner (with Cafe in the title, for those of you who know it), and we have a whole group of “diner friends” who also have their own whole group of “diner friends”. We chat and catch up, and greet each other when we bump into each other in the neighborhood or at a show, concert or movie. The waiters know us and what and how we order (as quirky as it and we may be), and its rather lovely. Yes, times have changed, and our neighborhoods don’t look like they used to, but I guess what I’m saying is that I still look for, and find, a real “neighborhood” and “community” in my neighborhood, those changes notwithstanding, and I think you’ll find the same when you look. And when September comes, if you see me at the diner on Friday morning, come say hi and we’ll catch up.

Updated On: 7/31/13 at 01:47 PM