"If there was a reason to host a party, Vivienne’s hosted one. Owner Vivienne Hansen, now 72, opened the Pelham Bay watering hole in August 1999 after working as a bartender at various venues in the neighborhood. She had never run a business before, but she apparently knew how to host a party. Were Vivienne’s located in Bushwick, the bar, with its indoor market lights and pandemic-mandated food menu of pretzels and hot dogs, might have been labeled a dive. But for the Bronx, it was also a place for the community. In its 21-year run in Pelham Bay, the neighborhood watering hole served as a stage for local musicians, a venue for sweet 16s, a dance floor for Valentine’s Day afterparties, and a proving ground for amateur karaoke performers. “Tell your friends to tell their friends to tell their friends,” the bar’s Facebook page often read. The story of its closure is one shared by countless restaurants and bars across the city, whose rent payments have stayed the same despite their revenues being decimated. Yet for Vivienne’s, trouble started last spring ahead of the pandemic, when Hansen’s landlord gave her a choice, which hardly felt like one: Pay double her rent going forward or be out of the building by June, according to the Bronx Times. A few weeks after that proposal, the coronavirus pandemic flipped the hospitality industry on its head, forcing Vivienne’s to temporarily shutter, but the landlord’s demands stayed the same. Following a few slow summer months of outdoor dining, Hansen’s landlord informed her she had to be out of the building by the end of October. The restaurant officially closed on October 31, 2020." - Eater Staff
.png?w=88&q=75&f=webp)
