Elk Confectionery in Yorkville

[emsny]

We were walking down Second Avenue today and saw that Elk Confectionery had closed. A "no further information" message from the phone company played when we dialed its number. Does anybody know what happened? Last time we were there, a couple of months ago I suppose, it seemed to be thriving.

[gaf]

They closed in mid-April. The rent became too high, and it was time - they thought, I didn't - to close up shop. An end of an era. More traumatic for me than the closing of the Second Avenue Deli.

[emsny]

Thanks. So, they have no plans to try to find a new location?

[gaf]

I was told not.

My go-to place for marzipan in New York is now Hinsch's in Bay Ridge. (8518 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-748-2854).

[Atomic Lunch]

I'm so depressed. I absolutely LOVED their marzipan pigs.

Watch, there will probably be another starbucks in that location.

Will we be the last generation to have known interesting and unique?

I wish I'd known they were closing, I would have stocked up on pigs.

[Pan]

I love marzipan, but New York is becoming more Asian and Latin American. There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean.

[jeanki]

I love marzipan, but New York is becoming more Asian and Latin American. There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean.

←

I don't get this statement. What does NY having more Asian and Latin American stuff have to do with the loss of marzipan? NYC is certainly big enough that it has something of everything. Granted Yorkville only has trace remnants of its old Germanic past, but that isn't because the nabe is now Asian and Latin (which it actually really ISNT; it's the Upper east side for crying out loud). There's something vaguely xenophobic about that statement. Maybe not even vaguely.

[Pan]

I love marzipan, but New York is becoming more Asian and Latin American. There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean.

←

I don't get this statement. What does NY having more Asian and Latin American stuff have to do with the loss of marzipan?

←

It has to do with things that are "interesting and unique" and available in Manhattan.

NYC is certainly big enough that it has something of everything.

←

Granted that the reason for Elk Confectionary closing is not that New York has gotten smaller. That isn't the issue, as I discuss below.

Granted Yorkville only has trace remnants of its old Germanic past, but that isn't because the nabe is now Asian and Latin (which it actually really ISNT; it's the Upper east side for crying out loud).

←

Did I limit my remarks to Yorkville only?

There's something vaguely xenophobic about that statement. Maybe not even vaguely.

←

Did you read the post by Atomic Lunch which, since it's directly above mine, I thought it would be evident I was replying to? Particularly, look at the following sentence:

Will we be the last generation to have known interesting and unique?

Think about this sentence again and tell me whether it really is more false than true: "There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean."

Is Manhattan "big enough" to have something of everything? That's not the issue. There has to be a community there to support it. As the German and Hungarian communities moved out of Yorkville and others moved in, the clientele for the large number of Mitteleuropean shops that used to be in that neighborhood as recently as 2-3 decades ago largely disappeared. The same, by the way, is largely true of the Jewish bakeries that used to be all over the Upper West Side (and now, I'm particularly referring to the high 90s and low 100s, my old stomping grounds). It's not that there are fewer Jews there, but that they are another generation removed from the Old Country and don't have old-fashioned Jewish cake and other buttery and sugary Jewish bakery items often enough to support the old-fashioned bakeries of yesteryear (though some of the bagel-and-muffin places do have a few similar cakes available for the small percentage of their clientele who want them). If you want to find a bakery like the ones we used to have up there, come to Moishe's in the East Village, which seems to be supported mostly by a dwindling remnant of the Lower East Side Jewish community plus a good deal of window-shopping passersby and folks coming in for a morning coffee, plus some people who come in from far away, and is in a low-rise building whose days, I'm guessing, may be numbered. When the clientele dies or moves or the rents go too high for it to remain in business or the building is torn down and replaced with high-rise condominiums, the shops close.

So anyway, it's very regrettable if there is no longer a good source for marzipan in Manhattan, but that does not mean that there aren't other interesting and unique things to be found on this island.

As for your inference that there was something xenophobic about my remarks, I'll chalk that up to my meaning being unclear and you not knowing me very well.

[Todd36]

I love marzipan, but New York is becoming more Asian and Latin American. There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean.

←

I don't get this statement. What does NY having more Asian and Latin American stuff have to do with the loss of marzipan?

←

It has to do with things that are "interesting and unique" and available in Manhattan.

NYC is certainly big enough that it has something of everything.

←

Granted that the reason for Elk Confectionary closing is not that New York has gotten smaller. That isn't the issue, as I discuss below.

Granted Yorkville only has trace remnants of its old Germanic past, but that isn't because the nabe is now Asian and Latin (which it actually really ISNT; it's the Upper east side for crying out loud).

←

Did I limit my remarks to Yorkville only?

There's something vaguely xenophobic about that statement. Maybe not even vaguely.

←

Did you read the post by Atomic Lunch which, since it's directly above mine, I thought it would be evident I was replying to? Particularly, look at the following sentence:

Will we be the last generation to have known interesting and unique?

Think about this sentence again and tell me whether it really is more false than true: "There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean."

Is Manhattan "big enough" to have something of everything? That's not the issue. There has to be a community there to support it. As the German and Hungarian communities moved out of Yorkville and others moved in, the clientele for the large number of Mitteleuropean shops that used to be in that neighborhood as recently as 2-3 decades ago largely disappeared. The same, by the way, is largely true of the Jewish bakeries that used to be all over the Upper West Side (and now, I'm particularly referring to the high 90s and low 100s, my old stomping grounds). It's not that there are fewer Jews there, but that they are another generation removed from the Old Country and don't have old-fashioned Jewish cake and other buttery and sugary Jewish bakery items often enough to support the old-fashioned bakeries of yesteryear (though some of the bagel-and-muffin places do have a few similar cakes available for the small percentage of their clientele who want them). If you want to find a bakery like the ones we used to have up there, come to Moishe's in the East Village, which seems to be supported mostly by a dwindling remnant of the Lower East Side Jewish community plus a good deal of window-shopping passersby and folks coming in for a morning coffee, plus some people who come in from far away, and is in a low-rise building whose days, I'm guessing, may be numbered. When the clientele dies or moves or the rents go too high for it to remain in business or the building is torn down and replaced with high-rise condominiums, the shops close.

So anyway, it's very regrettable if there is no longer a good source for marzipan in Manhattan, but that does not mean that there aren't other interesting and unique things to be found on this island.

As for your inference that there was something xenophobic about my remarks, I'll chalk that up to my meaning being unclear and you not knowing me very well.

←

Zabar's sells those heavy eastern European desserts, like Babka and Russian Coffee cake, and they have a large selection. Someone is buying it. It's true that as people move around, local populations shift and that changes local markets. Some of the changes are probably connected to deaths, as in owner/baker dies/and or retires, and the place shuts down. There are sizeable numbers of bakeries in Brooklyn that have eastern European desserts, try heading over to Avenue J in Midwood. As for Moishe's....ummmm.....their stuff seems like sawdust to me and isn't in my opinion a good example of the genere. Not sure how they stay in business, almost no customers. You can get a better babka pre-pack at the GI Polish Deli neaby.....

[jeanki]

I love marzipan, but New York is becoming more Asian and Latin American. There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean.

←

I don't get this statement. What does NY having more Asian and Latin American stuff have to do with the loss of marzipan?

←

It has to do with things that are "interesting and unique" and available in Manhattan.

NYC is certainly big enough that it has something of everything.

←

Granted that the reason for Elk Confectionary closing is not that New York has gotten smaller. That isn't the issue, as I discuss below.

Granted Yorkville only has trace remnants of its old Germanic past, but that isn't because the nabe is now Asian and Latin (which it actually really ISNT; it's the Upper east side for crying out loud).

←

Did I limit my remarks to Yorkville only?

There's something vaguely xenophobic about that statement. Maybe not even vaguely.

←

Did you read the post by Atomic Lunch which, since it's directly above mine, I thought it would be evident I was replying to? Particularly, look at the following sentence:

Will we be the last generation to have known interesting and unique?

Think about this sentence again and tell me whether it really is more false than true: "There are plenty of interesting things in New York, they just are no longer Mitteleuropean."

Is Manhattan "big enough" to have something of everything? That's not the issue. There has to be a community there to support it. As the German and Hungarian communities moved out of Yorkville and others moved in, the clientele for the large number of Mitteleuropean shops that used to be in that neighborhood as recently as 2-3 decades ago largely disappeared. The same, by the way, is largely true of the Jewish bakeries that used to be all over the Upper West Side (and now, I'm particularly referring to the high 90s and low 100s, my old stomping grounds). It's not that there are fewer Jews there, but that they are another generation removed from the Old Country and don't have old-fashioned Jewish cake and other buttery and sugary Jewish bakery items often enough to support the old-fashioned bakeries of yesteryear (though some of the bagel-and-muffin places do have a few similar cakes available for the small percentage of their clientele who want them). If you want to find a bakery like the ones we used to have up there, come to Moishe's in the East Village, which seems to be supported mostly by a dwindling remnant of the Lower East Side Jewish community plus a good deal of window-shopping passersby and folks coming in for a morning coffee, plus some people who come in from far away, and is in a low-rise building whose days, I'm guessing, may be numbered. When the clientele dies or moves or the rents go too high for it to remain in business or the building is torn down and replaced with high-rise condominiums, the shops close.

So anyway, it's very regrettable if there is no longer a good source for marzipan in Manhattan, but that does not mean that there aren't other interesting and unique things to be found on this island.

As for your inference that there was something xenophobic about my remarks, I'll chalk that up to my meaning being unclear and you not knowing me very well.

←

Your meaning's more clear now, and I see your point wasn't meant to be xenophobic, thank you.