“This is the last time we can get a bagel at this bagel store,” a father in rather formal casualwear explained to his pigtailed daughter. “O.K.,” she said, seemingly unfazed by the news.
Other, older Upper West Siders were fazed by the news that the legendary—it was featured in the ‘Festivus’ episode of Seinfeld and the Meg Ryan movie You’ve Got Mail—bagel store was closing.
While the store announced last week that it would shutter, it didn’t specify when—leading many to unexpectedly find themselves with one last bagel over the weekend.
Spencer Bailey was watching the evening news last week when he heard the news. On Sunday, he was pleasantly surprised to find H&H still open. “They have the best bagels in town,” Mr. Bailey said.
Just in time for a bagel brunch on Sunday, The Observer found herself waiting in a line that was not as long as it used to be for a warm sesame. The sign on 80th and Broadway had been taken down, but there was still sawdust on the floor and Norman Rockwell prints on the wall.
Die-hard customers will still be able to buy bagels at the H & H bakery on 46th and 12th Avenue, but it is hard to imagine most Upper West Siders making the trek south and west.
Tristan Migliori, who grew up eating H & H and recently moved back to the Upper West Side, saw a post on Facebook about the closing. “Forty-Sixth Street is not next to Zabar’s,” he noted.
“Zabar’s,” said Upper West Sider Ellen Zimmerli when asked where she will get her bagels. “But they won’t be warm.”
An employee handed out photocopied, handwritten flyers advertising a rally to “Preserve H & H Bagels.”
“I am a local resident. I am organizing neighbors to keep our beloved mom-and-pop store. We don’t want (or need) another bank here,” read the flyer.
The rally will be held tonight in Riverside Park. Although it may be too late for the bagel store, at least embattled Upper West Siders will be able to commiserate.
