Hector's Cafe, a Meatpacking District mainstay since 1949, set to close amid redevelopment plans
Plus, fire guts art deco 7 Up plant in Bakersfield; Sacramento's Jim-Denny's closes -- again. And more roadside headlines.
I remember a time when Manhattan’s Meatpacking District wasn’t a trendy nightlife or shopping destination, but an edgy workaday neighborhood with dozens of butchery operations that gave the area its name – and pungent scent.
The neighborhood has been gentrified, of course, and today, a small but resilient presence of meatpackers remains, toiling in the shadow of the High Line and the Standard Hotel, operating under the protection of the city-sanctioned Gansevoort Market Co-op.
Since 1949, Hector’s Cafe has been a part of this neighborhood, outlasting notable nightspots like Hogs and Heifers and Florent, which drew more headlines but came and went. Hector’s never left until it had no choice.
Now, the final days of actual meatpacking are nearing for the neighborhood, and closer at hand is the final day for Hector’s itself, which is set to shut for good on July 18, well before the end of its lease in 2033.
The news of the cafe’s closure surfaced on social media a few days ago, and I called Saturday morning to confirm. Nick, one of the owners, informed me that the closure is related to a deal the co-op struck with the city, which made news late last year. The remaining butchers would retire or move. In its place would potentially go expansions of the Whitney Museum of American Art as well as the High Line, a housing development, and other changes.
Here’s some video of the store shot Saturday by Eyewitness News, including the farewell sign in the window.
The city calls the new development Gansevoort Square.
“This vision will build upon the success of the Meatpacking District and reimagine the site as a one-of-a-kind destination for New Yorkers, with mixed-income housing, new open space, and the opportunity to expand the Whitney Museum of American Art and the High Line operations facility—some of the city’s most iconic cultural institutions,” the city announced last October.
In January, the city put out a request for proposals for developers to reimagine the property:
The Request for Proposals (RFP) outlines a vision for up to 600 units of mixed-income housing — with a goal of 50 percent of total units being permanently affordable — and ground-floor retail space, both which will be located on the residential site of Gansevoort Square.
Last fall, New York Post reporter Steve Cuozzo offered context on the potential deal. The meatpackers, rather than being forced out, reportedly saw Gansevoort Square as the knock of opportunity.
Gansevoort Market president John Jobbagy said “technological advances” had made the market’s processing facilities obsolete.
“This opportunity [to leave] has come along at the right time,” Jobbagy added.
But what happens next was unclear. A source said the meat companies weren’t obligated to move out “until a project for the site is secured.”
And although the city has prioritized housing, an insider said the agreement gives the Whitney “right of first offer” over the entire site.
So, where exactly do things stand with the development? Expect more news to emerge in the coming days, as word spreads of Hector’s impending closure. I’ll keep you posted here.
In the meantime, get thee to Hector’s before the last day, and enjoy an experience you’ll never be able to have again — a bite inside a working piece of Meatpacking District history.
Fire guts art deco 7 Up warehouse in Bakersfield, California
I swear I try not to make this newsletter all about bad news, but it’s a newsletter, and, alas, the news is often bad.
Just weeks after the soda distribution operation relocated from its historic 1930s art deco building, taking the once-revolving 7 Up neon sign with it, the historic plant on East 18th Street in Bakersfield went up in flames on June 30.
The video below is cued to footage of the sign’s removal recently.
A series of fires has plagued Bakersfield in recent years, damaging historic structures and alarming preservationists. The city’s architectural legacy takes a hit with every one of these blazes.
The loss of the 7 Up facility, a former bottling plant, is so unsettling to me, as I had just visited last July. It was my second time visiting the art deco beauty, and it was always a highlight of my visits to Bakersfield.
No more.
As for the status of the sign, I’m not sure yet where it is (if you know, drop me a line), but I’m relieved it wasn’t left behind, as it might have been destroyed in the blaze. The sign is gorgeous, with the seven little neon bubbles adding whimsy, one of the soda’s vintage logos.
7 Up’s presence in this region is unmistakable, with other historic signs in Bakersfield’s Tower District and in Merced.
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Jim-Denny’s comeback comes to an end
The revival of Sacramento’s beloved Jim-Denny’s restaurant has come to an end. N’Gina Guyton, the owner, announced the closure last week after being served an eviction notice earlier this year. She told the Sacramento News and Review that she had a verbal deal with the landlord to buy the place and defer rent in the meantime, or at least have a right of first refusal in a sale of the property.
She says the landlord would never name a price, making it hard for her to rally investors to facilitate a deal. And then, in April, she said, the landlord decided to evict her. With only a verbal agreement to fall back on, her case did not stand up in court, she said.
Last week, customers came to say farewell — again — to Jim-Denny’s. It last closed, under different ownership, in February 2020.
As for Guyton, she said she would revive South, an earlier restaurant she operated in Sacramento.
Whither the building and its gorgeous neon sign? Jim-Denny’s is landmarked, which confers protection, but we’ll have to see what happens next, as Guyton said the landlord is selling the building and an adjacent property.
Jim-Denny’s has been through a lot since opening 1934 — let’s hope it makes it to its 100th birthday and well beyond.
Retrologist Roadside Bites
A storied Nashville Music Row studio where Johnny Cash recorded is on the market for $4.65 million.
The longtime home of Tucson’s El Güero Canero, a restaurant known for its Sonoran-style hot dogs, is closing to relocate to a larger location, opening later this month.
Just what is a Sonoran dog? Ana Frias explains:
Sonoran Hot Dogs are taken to a higher level! With a soft bun, hot dog wrapped in bacon and topped with sautéd onions, chopped tomatoes plus your favorite condiments. Once you have one of these, you’ll never go back to standard hot dogs!
The state of work as seen on July 8, 2024. (Rolando Pujol) More updates from Bakersfield, and this report is welcome news. The renovation of the old Woolworth’s and its luncheonette is nearing completion and is set to reopen this summer.
Granary Row, a historic shopping center at the site of a grain mill in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has been sold.
Here’s a delightful sampling of art deco buildings around the world as the style celebrates its centennial.
This is a compelling argument to visit Oregon’s oldest resort, Hot Lake Springs. (It’s got a killer neon sign — that’s usually sufficient inducement for me.)
Albuquerque’s historic Frontier Restaurant gets a shoutout in this Wall Street Journal celebration of the New Mexico city. If the WSJ paywall gets in your way, learn more about Frontier here.
Enjoy this sweet and richly detailed celebration of the Rock Springs Cafe in Black Canyon City, Arizona — a desert delight for dessert, particularly pies. Pies so good, news of an earthquake prompted a story reassuring readers the pies, while shaken, were not slaughtered.
The 90th anniversary of North Carolina’s first ABC liquor store just passed. The excellent North Carolina Rabbit Hole Substack asks why the state is still selling booze from state-controlled stores.
Hong Kong’s iconic neon lights are endangered, and a new show is a bold light of hope in the spreading darkness: Artist Jerry Loo and his grandfather, neon craftsman Wong Kin-wah (黃健華) aka Master Wong, have put together an exhibition, Neon Heroes: Illuminated Dreams, at PMQ in Hong Kong. Master Wong has been making neon signs since 1954 — if you’ve explored the lights of Nathan Road and other parts of town, chances are your eyes have reflected his handiwork. Reports Honeycombers:
My grandfather is my hero. And that’s what inspired me to do a hero-themed exhibition,” explains Loo as he leads a tour of his latest showcase at PMQ. Neon Heroes: Illuminated Dreams is a collaborative project not only between Master Wong and Loo, but also of craftspeople and artists, tradition and contemporaneity.
Here’s a guide to finding some of Hong Kong’s best neon signs.
The St. Cloud Times has a lovely profile of Little Falls, Minnesota. A highlight: The Falls Theatre, which I’d love to give a home on my SD card sometime soon.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a paywalled write-up on Nu-Way Weiners in Macon, Georgia, which I unsuccessfully tried to photograph on a frigid December night many years ago. I’ll be back one day. Read more about Nu-Way here.
A new art exhibit from Taiwanese-Canadian artist Liang Wang takes inspiration in part from the neon signs of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
A visit from a celebrity chef can really shake up a local restaurant, and the Gordon Ramsay effect is reverberating through the Four Star Diner in Cortland, Ohio.
SWEPCO, the power utility in Shreveport, Louisiana, has restored the large sign atop its Arsenal Hill plant. The sign was fitted with LED lights, replacing neon. The plant started generating power in 1926.
This makes me so wistful about Hector's Cafe!! I have such vivid memories of the Meatpacking District during that strange, in-between era—when it was shedding its old skin but still carried little bits and pieces of its past (RIP Hogs & Heiffers!)...I was a twenty-something working the front desk at one of the only hotels in the neighborhood, often rolling in with a brutal hangover and beelining straight to Hector’s for the antidote to my raging headache and stomach that was turning over on itself. A bacon, egg, and cheese for four bucks—absolute perfection. Nothing hit quite like it. Will be sad to see it go.
RE: “Arizona town” uhh, Albuquerque is in New Mexico.