NYC's iconic Carnegie Deli closes after 79 years in Midtown

[tenorly]

After 79 years of serving up heaps of cured meat to tourists, theater patrons and workaday New Yorkers, the Carnegie Delicatessen will slice its last ridiculously oversized sandwich on Friday.

Fans lined up all week for a last bite at the restaurant, which got a star turn in Woody Allen's 1984 film Broadway Danny Rose and remained a stop until the end for out-of-towners looking for the classic New York deli experience.

The Carnegie, its walls now lined with photos of celebrities who have eaten there, opened in 1937, drawing its name from Carnegie Hall just a block up 7th Avenue.

Aside from the long lines out on the sidewalk (and unusually high prices), the place screams old New York, from its vintage neon sign, to the items on the menu: slices of cheesecake, knishes, tongue, and chopped liver, and a $30 reuben.

The restaurant reopened last February after being closed for nearly a year amid an investigation into a possible illegal natural gas hookup, discovered after a utility crew found a diverted line while they were investigating a leak.

The personal lives of owner Marian Harper and her husband Sandy were thrust into the public spotlight with a messy divorce after she accused him of having an affair with a hostess and slipping her cash and pastrami recipes. The deli was also ordered to pay $2.6 million in back wages to its employees after a labor dispute.

Harper has insisted the closure has nothing to do with any of those issues. She's said her long hours at the deli have taken a toll and she wants to take time to enjoy her life. A spokeswoman for the deli said in September that Harper would focus on licensing the brand and selling products for wholesale distribution.

The restaurant is scheduled to close at midnight after a last full day of business Friday. It will still have outposts in Las Vegas; Bethlehem, PA; Madison Square Garden; and at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens.

At: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-Iconic-Carnegie-Deli-Closes-After-79-Years-in-Midtown-Pastrami-408733955.html

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[Renew Deal]

1. That's a shame

The sandwiches were as big as the prices. But it is a loss to NY.

[tenorly]

4. I once almost visited.

It was in one of my occasional visits to New York; but sure enough, the line was just too long.

Probably just as well, given that I'm a vegetarian (albeit not a strict one).

[HoneyBadger]

2. Possible illegal gas hookup????

It was illegal and once discovered, the owner instantly offered to pay the trivial (relative to the value of the business) amount. Unluckily for the owner, there were two explosions in similar circumstances that endangered hundreds of people and killed several. Possible illegal gas hookup my ass. The business was made an example of. Good riddance.

[tenorly]

7. I hear you.

Running a business is, as you know, very expensive in Manhattan, and I've heard other anecdotes here and there as to the lengths some shopkeepers will go to cut corners.

But you're right: running an illegal gas line takes the artfulness to a whole other level, given the horrific risk to anyone around.

[HoneyBadger]

8. Close to home

The first explosion took out the store that I rent a piano from, the second explosion was a block from where my wife works and rocked her office, the Carnegie Deli is close to my child's school. I knew ConEd guys that were responding to the first explosion. If they got there 15 minutes earlier, they would be dead. All illegal hookups.

[tenorly]

9. Thank God you and yours are all right.

Definitely a big problem - and my guess is that it's getting worse given the increasingly brazen attitudes.

Thanks for sharing that.

[gratuitous]

3. Has Trump rushed out to take credit for this?

He's been very animated in taking credit for things like the sun rising in the east this morning or some company adding a whole bunch of jobs eight months ago. Will he be bragging about how he closed Carnegie Deli?

[uponit7771]

5. +1

[HoneyBadger]

6. 6 years of stealing, $2600 is an hour of business for them

The famed 79-year-old eatery had been shutdown for nearly 10 months after Consolidated Edison workers discovered that the deli had been stealing gas for cooking, according to The New York Times.

The building that houses the deli on Seventh Avenue had been without gas since last April after utility workers responded to a report of a gas leak and found that the restaurant had been siphoning gas for more than six years and not paying for it. The owner of the deli said she did not know anything about the gas diversion. The deli was fined $2,600, and repairs took longer than expected.

[CanonRay]

10. Still, I have fond memories of chowing down a pastrami sandwich there.

I was working in Midtown in 1988 for a month.

[Runningdawg]

11. I went once after I had recently moved to Manhattan,

even in the 80's it was a tourist trap. Deli food is one of the things I miss most about NY, OK doesn't have a clue. Compared to a NYC our sandwiches taste like they come from a vending machine.

[doxyluv13]

12. 1. I grew up on their salami sandwiches.

Even tho I grew up in New Jersey, my father was a frequent guest in a late night radio show catered by the Carnegie Deli. He'd grab me half a hard salami which was what I liked in those days.

2. A friend worked on the crew of Broadway Danny Rose. She said the kitchens were so disgustingly dirty she'd never eat there again, and didn't. I didn't go back for maybe 20 years.