H & H Bagels Closure

More than fifteen years ago I jogged down from 90th and Central Park West to 80th and Broadway and bought a dozen hot fresh bagels from H & H Bagels, then took a taxi to La Guardia. There was still some warmth in the bag when I landed in Minneapolis, and Isabelle seemed grateful for the gift when I got home an hour and a half later.

Friday, we decided to walk down there instead of going to Tal Bagels to break our fast. I delayed us with some writing and then some research on what to do that night, so we didn't get there until nearly 11 am.

As we hurried up to the door, I noticed three men, two in uniform, standing in the vestibule. The one not in uniform was working on replacing the lock. Inside was vacant except three stocky young men at the counter staring disconsolately at the floor behind the glass cases of bagels.

There was a square red notice pasted to the inside of the glass door: "This property seized for non-payment of taxes."

A small collection of salmon stopped swimming upstream: the dam was too high to jump. "What?!?" said a woman. "Closed?!"

We caught a taxi and went across to the Upper East Side to the Neue Gallery, an Austrian/German art museum that has a wonderful Austrian restaurant and had foreign food.

That H & H store was apparently closed for only 3 hours, but the news articles hint that not all is well. The economic downturn began in 2007, and that's apparently when the company began to have trouble paying its taxes. Bankruptcy is next, one fears.