Inside the Lovely 12 East 13th St.

• USQ-14th Street Community Forum | Monday, January 28
• Union Square Sweat Fest | Thursday, February 7 – Tuesday, February 12
• USP Annual Meeting + Networking Reception | Monday, May 6
• It’s My Park! Day | Saturday, June 1
• Summer in the Square | Every Thursday, June 13 – August 8 (closed on July 4)
• Harvest in the Square | Thursday, September 19
• Happy Pawlidays Holiday Kick-Off | Sunday, November 24
• Holiday Market by Urbanspace | Thursday, November 21 – Tuesday, December 24

Bon Jour to Patisserie Fouet on 13th St. just steps away. High-end delicacies with a Japanese twist. You can read all about them in their liquor license application.

Brandy Melville has arrived at the corner of 13th and 5th to sell high-end fashion to the neighborhood. It’s a far cry from the old deli or Lonestar Cafe.

Gotham Bar & Grill, the longest-running high-end dining establishment in the neighborhood, is done.

According to Eater.com…

After 36 years — and one major, recent chef change — fine dining trailblazer Gotham Bar & Grill is closing. Saturday, March 14 will be its last night of service, according to an email sent to customers.

Restaurants across the city are closing temporarily as new measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak have led to declines in sales, but Gotham will not be reopening.

The closure follows a brief tenure from its new chef Victoria Blamey, who started leading the kitchen only last year — and was a significant change for the longtime regulars of the storied American fine dining restaurant. The previous chef, Alfred Portale, ran the kitchen for more than three decades and through its many accolades, including Michelin stars and James Beard Awards. He left to open his first solo restaurant, Portale, in Chelsea.

Blamey did not come into an easy situation. Much of the staff and the clientele were intensely loyal to Portale, who created dishes that became icons, like a riff on tuna tartare. He’d also been there for most of the restaurant’s tenure. Gotham opened in Greenwich Village in 1984, and he took over the large, white tablecloth establishment a year later.

Moreover, Gotham is a fine dining legend; its menu shaped what American fine dining looks like in New York. The pressure was on for Blamey, who was expected to bring a younger crowd to the restaurant. And under her, Gotham retained its three stars in the New York Times, with Pete Wells delighting in her additions to the menu.

University Place already has two high-end ice cream shops, now we get a third. Gentile Gelataria actually has a very long history going way back to the old country.

This finding from the Union Square Partnership:

The Union Square Partnership analyzes and promotes visitor activity by conducting pedestrian and bicycle counts every two years over several Fridays and Saturdays in July.  Working with BFJ Planning, counts were taken from 8 AM to 10 PM at 26 locations around Union Square Park. To gain the most accurate account of how many people move through  Union Square on a typical summer day, the data gathered was then combined with transit turnstile information for the 14th Street – Union Square station. The station is the fourth busiest subway hub in NYC on a weekday and skyrockets to second position on weekends. Based on turnstile count patterns, it is estimated that during the summer a record-breaking 383,000 people visit the area on a Greenmarket Friday over a 24-hour period, a 10% increase from our last survey.

Find the full 2014 Pedestrian Activity Report here.