Iconic Neil's Coffee Shop, a Manhattan institution since 1940, has closed; fire damages beloved Orange World in Florida; a rare neon supermarket sign to be restored
Plus, a dream job alert: Run drive-in theater owned by the National Park Service; classic motel signs auctioned; farewell, Dutch Haven and over a dozen more roadside headlines from The Retrologist!
In its 82 years, Neil’s Coffee Shop did something remarkable: It stayed largely under the radar, true to its foundational spirit as a simple neighborhood coffee shop. Vintage restaurants in New York often become global destinations and social-media sensations, but Neil’s always kept an even keel, forever the redoubt of walking-distance locals, not Frommer’s-toting tourists.
I was never a walking-distance local but I once almost rented an apartment around the corner mainly because I wanted Neil’s to be MY coffee shop. New York was once full of places like this, teeming with character and characters, brimming with coffee and coziness. Even though I never became a neighbor of Neil’s, I showed it off with pride, bringing out-of-towners here because I wanted to offer them proof of what New York was once like. I wanted to show them that restaurant dining surrounded by wood paneling, Formica and earth-toned decor could be sublime. We’d have burgers ideally near the Tony Randall photo, the kind of fellow I could see ducking in here even at the height of his “Odd Couple” fame.
It’s a class of restaurant all its own, the coffee shop, with its own distinct vibe, a subspecies of New York restaurant whose lineages include the diner and the luncheonette. I’m occasionally asked to break down the differences among these kinds of dining establishments. (I was quoted in this article from Eater NY.)
My simplest answer? You know it when you see it outside, you feel it when you walk inside.
Neil’s, yes Neil’s, was the perfect coffee shop.
Emphasis on “was.”
Patch first reported last week that the landlord evicted the owners of Neil’s for failure to pay rent after years of legal wrangling to figure out a repayment plan. The eviction is the latest dramatic turn here — in 2018, it was seized for a time for the alleged failure to pay taxes.
Longtime owner Christos Kaloudis recently died, and the back rent has piled up to an astonishing million dollars, according to Patch. (Amazingly, Kaloudis could have bought the building for that amount back in 1982, a couple of years after he began running Neil’s. But Kaloudis told Adam Platt of Grub Street back in 2017: “Who’s got a million bucks?”
And in 1982, a million dollars was properly written A MILLION DOLLARS.
As of 2017, Neil’s rent was $25,000 a month, Patch reported — that’s a lot of coffee, a lot of burgers, a lot of club sandwiches you have to sell to make that rent and pay the other bills, surely too many to count.
Does this mean Neil’s is done for good? Or is it simply on pause? Could Neil’s go the route of other iconic restaurants, rescued by a new restaurateur armed with a fresh vision and menu, but determined to preserve stylistic cues, like the neon sign that makes the place so special? Could Neil’s be … gentrified?
We shall see. I remain optimistic this isn’t the end, but I’ve been called a Pollyanna, too, so take my optimism with a hearty shake of salt.
Neil’s has its devotees, and they include Matthew Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men.” I interviewed him back in 2010 for a piece I wrote for amNewYork, “Don Draper’s New York,” and he listed Neil’s as a place the fictional advertising genius would have undoubtedly patronized.
I’ve republished the piece here — it’s sadly no longer exists on the interwebs in its original form, and have updated it to reflect this news and the closure of two other locations on the list.
A big sticker in the window from the City Marshall informs passersby that Neil’s is off limits, for now, forever perhaps? I visited last Sunday night, a few days after the news broke. The neon sign, in the twilight of what was Oscar Sunday, was still lit. I felt I had won an Oscar, so giddy was I to take a few parting shots of Neil’s as I’d always known it, and as I feared I would never know it again.
Indeed, just the very next night, my pal reported the neon was turned off.
A fire at the beloved Orange World shutters roadside landmark
A reader sent me troubling news about one of my favorite roadside landmarks: Orange World in Kissimmee, Florida, has been damaged in a fire.
The fire broke out Tuesday evening in the back of the building, and while the inventory inside may be a total loss, the building is not, reports the Osceola News-Gazette. (Warning: Sad photo at the link of the damage to the back.)
Owner Mason Rahman told the publication that the building is closed for now, but the goal is to repair the damage and reopen Orange World in a few months, depending on how fast the insurance claim is processed.
Based on an initial inspection, it appears the fire began in a storage area above the gift shop. Passersby may not realize anything is amiss, as the damage was contained to the back of the building.
"This place is local history, it's as famous as 'The Mouse'," Rahman told the publication. “We're only the second owners. Our employees have been here quite a long time, they bridge the gap to the original owners. We're going to be back, better than ever."
I was pleased to see the article reference my essay from 2021 on the history of Eli’s Orange World.
"He paid $6,000 to a maker of outhouses for the privilege," according to website TheRetrologist.com, which highlights off-the-beaten-path attractions.
You can read my whole piece below. I have plans to be in Florida later this year and I hope I can make it to a good-as-new Orange World!
***
It’s billed as the world’s largest orange. At 92 feet wide, 60 feet tall, and 35,000 pounds, Eli’s Orange World in Kissimmee, Florida, is a fascinating fiberglass fixture in the pantheon of great Florida tourist attractions.
Eli is Eli Sfassie, who moved to Florida from Indiana and opened a Texaco station near Disney World just as the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971. Smart guy. But Sfassie almost lost his shirt in the gas-station business until he really got smart. He started to sell souvenirs from the mechanic’s bay, and that’s when he began to partake in the magic of the Central Florida tourist boom of the 1970s.
Other tourist shops were in his future, including this one on Highway 192 in Kissimmee. But it didn’t always stand out in the crowd. In 1988, he had the sweet idea to turn his shop into a giant orange. He paid $6,000 to a maker of outhouses for the privilege, he told the Tampa Bay Times.
Business boomed – it was an astronomical return on his investment. I mean, how could a self-respecting tourist pass up a chance to enter a giant orange, open your wallet, and leave feeling as though you were part of something, well, big? I played that role last month and happily. Indeed, I am glad Eli Sfassie had the idea to construct this orange dome. Larger-than-life people with big ideas help make the American road go round. Literally in this case.
The irony of a big fake orange where orange groves once bloomed is not lost on Sfassie. He told the great Florida writer Jeff Klinkenberg that he misses the aroma of the orange blossoms from the groves, long since paved over for parks, shops, motels, and attractions like the Big Orange and the Giant Wizard.
My friend Yanis Carreto, Hopelessnostalgic on Instagram, posted a picture of the wizard. It’s a neighbor of Eli’s Orange World. During Hurricane Charley in 2004, it’s said a tropical gust flung the wizard’s crystal ball onto the defenseless Big Orange, leaving a big dent, Kathy Franco, Sfassie’s daughter, said back in 2008. The ball was never found. Hmmm. It’s an appropriate tall tale in a town where big is good.
Historic Upper West Side supermarket neon sign taken down — but (hopefully) not for good
To think there was a time even supermarkets had neon signs, and the Pioneer supermarket on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan is a reminder of that. The sign was removed last week, raising alarms, but the plan reportedly is to restore it and put it back in its rightful place, reports the West Side Rag. I work a few blocks away and will be keeping an eye!
This comment did make me glad:
Oh, I am happy to learn the old school sign will be back! It’s hard to explain and it sounds so sentimental, but the font and the neon just remind me of my childhood in the neighborhood
Historic motel signs being auctioned off in Minnesota
Amazing: Two vintage motel signs are going up for auction in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The auction ends in two days! The county purchased the motels on Lyndale Avenue South near West 57th Street in Minneapolis and is auctioning them off.
Here’s the auction for the Metro Inn. Bidding is up to a mere $31!
The second sign is for the Aqua City Motel. Bidding for this beauty sits at $525.
I suspect they will go for a great deal more, and that bidders will pounce at the last minute, which could get really interesting. (Here are the rules around last-minute bidding on Municibid.)
And if you win, don’t expect it to be delivered to your backyard free of charge. You have to figure it all out, come up with a safe plan for its removal, cough up the dough to pay for it, and get it out of there by May 1!
Good luck, and seriously, I do hope these beauties end up in good hands.
Final sale — and slices of shoo-fly pie — at Dutch Haven in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
I’m sorry I missed the liquidation sale at the Dutch Haven, the historic roadside attraction in Lancaster County that closed on Jan. 1. It reopened for a three-day liquidation sale that concluded on Monday, March 13. And yes, they were selling their shoo-fly pie one final time, the one thing that was not heavily discounted.
Dutch Haven remains for sale, and there’s no word yet on what will happen to the property. But with the big house cleaning that just happened, the slim chance that somebody might buy it and keep it going as a delightfully kitschy roadside attraction got slimmer than slim. The real estate will likely be sold at auction in April — it’s languished on the market at an astonishing $2.4 million.
Below, you can read my tribute to Dutch Haven.
Goodbye, old friend: River View East closes in Elmwood Park, New Jersey
Beloved for its deep-fried hot dogs, gorgeous neon signage and historic building, the River View East in Elmwood Park, closed last week.
It was one of the holiest places in New Jersey for “Texas weiners,” those roadside-eats treasures that are objects of gastronomical veneration in the Garden State.
Northjersey.com reports the restaurant “was felled by a combination of rising labor costs, inflation and rent, according to Tom Decicco, the restaurant's owner since 1989.”
I sadly never dined here but did grab this shot on a quiet Sunday morning six years ago.
Did you ever dine at River View East? Where’s your favorite place for a hot dog in New Jersey?
Happy days are here again for someone looking to run ‘FDR’s Drive-In Theater’!
Did you know the National Park Service owns a drive-in theater? The Hyde Park Drive-in Theatre, which opened in 1950, is just down the way from the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site and needs somebody to run it, reports the Daily Freeman.
This is the sort of opportunity that intrigues me, and if I wasn’t so passionate about what I do, I’d know what I was doing with the next 10 years of my life, which is the length of the lease.
No, you will not be able to build a strip mall or a mixed-use development — that’s prohibited as the park service acquired the property from Scenic Hudson, which had purchased it back in 2000 to keep just such a thing from happening here along serene Route 9.
If you are hearing the historic knock of opportunity, you have until April 14 to email amy_bracewell@nps.gov. Make sure you say “Hyde Park Drive-In” in the subject line.
I talk Pizza Huts and more on ‘Park Date’ podcast with Christopher Beanland!
I had so much fun chatting with Christopher Beanland for his fun “Park Date” podcast, taped while we walked around Central Park!
Writes Christopher:
Well this one was a joy. The wonderful Rolando Pujol from ABC 7 TV talks to me as we stroll through Central Park in New York City. We chat about the mom n pop shops, diners, drive-thru, dives, malls, motels and mid century design that inspired him to create his Retrologist newsletter and website. Oh and how the media and news landscape has changed!
Rolando, we gotta make a movie where we drive across America looking at Pizza Huts, Arby's, Arthur Treachers and all the rest, while staying in vintage motels like the Starlight. Are you in?
I’m in!
Notes From the Road
One of the biggest stories in a while, the closure of San Antonio’s historic Pig Stand is really hitting home. This was the last of the historic Pig Stand restaurants — the first was in Dallas, which opened in 1921 or 1922.
The Pig Stand is heralded as the first drive-in restaurant in America, and many other firsts are attributed to it as well, some hard to confirm, but all speaking to the significance of a restaurant chain that emerged before Howard Johnson’s, often touted as the first chain.
The owner of the San Antonio store, Mary Ann Hill, stepped aside for health reasons; the building was recently sold to a developer. As recently as December, she said the place was not closing despite reports to the contrary. Virtually all reports list this as a 101-year-old restaurant, but this location opened later in the 1920s. The big number celebrates the birth of the chain in Dallas.
Eric Lynxwiler on Instagram posted these photos of the signage being dismantled - it’s gone into a private collection. An auction for other memorabilia is reportedly set for April 1. If the sign looks familiar, it may have come from a Kip’s Big Boy restaurant, reports roadarch.com. [Sacurrent]
Note: Texas Monthly did yeoman’s work digging up the story of the Pig Stand chain.
Steeped in FDNY history, two Bronx buildings, including a prairie-style structure, may become New York landmarks. [6sqft]
A historic building in Reading, Pennsylvania, that was long closed and deemed a firetrap succumbed to a fire. And nobody knows yet what started the blaze that destroyed the East End Athletic Club. [Reading Eagle]
Corpus Christi’s Dobson Building was built in 1970 to serve as the headquarters of Texas-based hamburger chain Whataburger, and named after its founder, Harmon A. Dobson. The building is starting its next half-century as the new home of a popular bakery business, Bien Mérité. [Caller Times]
Manhattan’s wonderful Astor Place cube — officially known as Alamo and the work of sculptor Bernard “Tony” Rosenthal — will be awaiting your push to spin anew this summer after it’s repaired. [Patch]
This sign is a real heartbreaker! (Rolando Pujol) Romeo Wildwood, a beloved pizzeria in that Doo-Wop paradise by the Jersey Shore, has reopened for the season, with a restored sign! Above is how the sign looked in 2020.
Veselka, the revered Ukrainian restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village, since 1954, is opening a second location in Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Paper]
I’m sure you’ve seen all the “reports” about Ames reopening — I’ve even seen them in credible publications, and I’ve received perhaps hundreds of comments and DMs about this. But so far, I haven’t seen a single shred of convincing proof Ames is coming back, and it all feels like a cruel hoax, as it’s really playing on people’s nostalgic hopes. But in Canada, Zellers, a discount department store chain that’s been defunct for a decade, is indeed coming back to life on March 23! [CP24][Ottawa Busines Journal]
What will become of the beloved, 60-foot-long Conny the Whale now that the sale of the former Children’s Museum in West Hartford, Connecticut, has been finalized? The land, it will not surprise, will soon become home to luxury housing. [CT Insider]
Len & Jo’s Pizzeria, a shuttered Port Jervis, New York, institution, may reopen as early as Wednesday, reports the city’s mayor. [Facebook]
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