NYC's Oldest Kosher Restaurant Closes After 93 Years: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Upper West Side institution Fine & Schapiro has closed after 93 years in the neighborhood, the West Side Rag reports.

Owners of the West 72nd Street Kosher restaurant decided to close up shop with two years left on their lease because of lagging business, a building manager told the outlet.

The eatery, the oldest Kosher restaurant in New York Ciyt, had been open at the same 138 West 72nd St. storefront since 1927.

"Because of their age and bad health, they decided to close," building manager Joe Kizner said. "That’s the story."

West Side Rag wasn't able to reach the owners, but said Lana Taubes, a member of the family, wrote “time to say goodbye to our dearest customers” on Facebook.

Rumors first started swirling about the restaurant's closure when a sign went up last month that it was closed for renovations.

Fine & Schapiro was one of a few restaurants to survive gentrification in the neighborhood, according to a profile of the restaurant in the Huffington Post.

"In the 1920's and 1930's as large communities of European and Russian immigrants migrated to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, food shops catering to their cultural preferences followed in droves," the Post wrote.

"Fifty years later, a widespread gentrification in this neighborhood dramatically changed the landscape, and Fine & Schapiro was one of only a handful of businesses to survive. In fact, it is the only authentic kosher deli in the twenty-five block stretch from Columbus Circle to West 86th Street."

To read the full West Side Rag report click here.