Once an Arbiter of Cool, a 30-Year-Old Nolita Icon Has Closed | Eater NY

"Opened in June 1994 by Luc Lévy at 242 Mott Street near Prince Street, this Nolita cafe evolved from a day-one ghost town—Lévy even sent home his only waitress, musician Charlyn Marshall, who soon recorded her first album as Cat Power at a practice space up the block shared by Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys—into an iconic downtown living room and “intimidatingly cool” clubhouse. Known for helping make avocado toast ubiquitous—the “fashionable toast specialist cafe,” as Eater once put it—it drew regulars like Spike Jones, David Bowie, Michelle Williams, and restaurateurs Serge Becker and Zac Bahaj of Lucien. The appeal was as much about feel as food; as Lévy told WNYC, the space wasn’t modeled on anywhere else but built on instinct: “How do I feel? What would I want to put on this wall?” Even as its reputation was back on the rise—“I still think Gitane is as cool as it always was,” Helena Christensen said—the original location has now quietly closed, its website dead and staff at the Vinegar Hill location confirming the shutdown, following a turbulent stretch that included a landlord suit over back rent in 2020 and, per Grub Street, employee allegations of missed paychecks and owed wages." - Melissa McCart