I went in Joe Jr.’s restaurant about four months ago, inspired I think by Vanishing New York’s previous coverage of this Village institution (same location for 35 years). It’s a real old school New York place located at Sixth Avenue and 12th Street. I sat at a booth. It was really comfortable. I ordered something diner-y, like a grilled cheese and unsweetened iced tea. They couldn’t have been nicer. It wasn’t expensive. Sort of a throw back to how things can be, and were, in NYC. It’s not glitzy by any means and you’re not going to get the best gourmet meal but not everything has to be about shiny glass buildings and chi chi wine bars and Duane Reade’s on every corner and Wall Street myopia in New York City. The ‘other’ is what makes New York complete and unique and what it’s renowned for … art and politics and community and grit and controversy and being on the f**king cutting edge … not wiping out all of its past and its future. It’s something people like Mike Bloomberg say they understand (at least in campaign ads – where he’s all about the ‘average’ New Yorker and supporting small businesses) but so don’t. After all, actions speak louder than words. And it is Mike Bloomberg’s actions that are making the ‘other’ New York, places like Joe Jr’s, capsize and disappear.
Read Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York Blog piece today to hear the latest on Joe Jr.’s. It’s another story of a landlord, greed, a lost lease. There’s a petition in the restaurant… perhaps venture by to sign it.
Note: Joe Jr.’s did indeed close that Sunday.