Hole left in our hearts: Beloved NYC donut shop closes after 48 years
There's a cloud over Sunnyside, Queens as the Omega comes for Alpha Donuts, a coffee shop that I adored with all my heart.
Everything in life has an Alpha and an Omega, a beginning and an end.
Alpha Donuts’ beginning was in 1975, when coffee shops in New York City were as common as Starbucks are today, if not more so. Alpha’s Omega came last week when the beloved greasy spoon on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside closed for good.
The longtime owner, Patty Zorbas, told the Long Island City Post’s Michael Dorgan that the Omega came not because of a rent hike — it wasn't that bad, actually — but because of the residual damage inflicted by the pandemic.
So many shops managed to scrape by, but now, on the other side of the lockdowns, they are confronted with relentless problems like inflation and a shaky economy. When Zorbas realized she had to upgrade equipment like her grill — that which puts the greasy in the spoon — she realized her heart was no match for her mind, which had done the math and concluded it was time to close. She told the paper:
“I’ve been crying for two weeks. I’ve been there for 32 years.”
She said she decided to close late Tuesday, June 27, and the following day she shut down Alpha Donuts and started stripping out all of the equipment and fittings.
All the wonderful things you see in these pictures — the rare S-shaped counter, the menu boards, the old-school cash register, the stools — are now gone. The space is a shell; the sign outside survives for now.
And what about the people who gave Alpha its heart?
The older folks who haunted this place are shaken — where else can they go? Alpha had been here since some of those seniors were raising families, their whole lives ahead of them. And let’s not even get started with the cab drivers, whose cars used to line up out front, a testament to Alpha’s bonafides if there ever was one. The drivers sought the sustenance of a fresh donut and a good hot cup of coffee as well as the substance of conversation and camaraderie. They, too, have to find a new port in the storm that is life in New York.
And what about everyone else, people like me?
Back in January 2019, when I was working through some sadness in my own life, I commandeered a stool here one afternoon and found comfort and relief, and wrote the following words, which now serve as a tribute to Alpha Donuts, a true New York survivor — until it wasn’t:
The No. 7 train rumbles above every few minutes and, on Queens Boulevard, the trucks and cars speed by with little concern for your well-being — it’s no wonder they’ve nicknamed it the Boulevard of Death. So let’s get away from all that deafening and death-defying madness and step into a cozy New York time capsule, where they do care about you — Alpha Donuts in Sunnyside.
Since the 1970s, Alpha has offered an escape from Gotham’s whirl. In this tiny shop, you can claim your spot on the low-slung, serpentine counter, order breakfast favorites, chat with fellow New Yorkers from all walks of life, and then, when the bill comes, enjoy the blissful lack of sticker shock.
Yes, the prices are a throwback here, too, along with everything else. Swipe the photos and look for yourself. There’s the old cash register. It works like a champ. There are the vintage menu boards. There’s the Formica counter and stools.
But what you can’t experience on Instagram is the comforting smell of savory cooking. Nor can you enjoy the care and attention you get from the friendly staff. This is a family-run place and it shows. It’s nice to find a little bit of home — authentic and unvarnished — in a city increasingly lacking those qualities.
Alpha Donuts is also awfully lucky — a fire wiped out many of the businesses on this block the other day. A great tragedy. Thankfully, Alpha is still here, taking in souls a little weary from the grind and fortifying them so they can face the trains and the crosswalks and the roar of city life anew.
Alpha Donuts: 1975-2003
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