With the grit of an American diner and the flair of a Parisian bistro, the hip New York City hangout known as Restaurant Florent served an eclectic mix of stars and starving artists for more than two decades.
But the iconic gathering place of the liberal, the gay, the struggling and the fun-loving lower Manhattan set is preparing to close its doors at the end of the month, after being forced out by the same skyrocketing rent costs that have gradually changed the character of the entire city.
“In the beginning, I was paying a little more than 1,000 dollars a month in rent,” said the owner, Florent Morellet, who describes himself as an American who was born in France by “geographical error.”
PHOTO: AFP
“Currently I pay 6,000 dollars a month and now the owner of the building is asking for 30,000 dollars a month,” said Morellet, who opened the restaurant 23 years ago and will close it on June 29, in concert with the city’s annual Gay Pride Parade.
Still, the son of famous French conceptual artist Francois Morellet who made his own mark running the all-night diner at 69 Gansevoort Street between 12th and 13th Street in southwest Manhattan’s meatpacking district, said he has no regrets.
“I do not regret having to leave,” Morellet said. “One cannot regret something that is not possible.”
The Florent has not changed its look in years — pink neon lights illuminate the windows, fake red leather covers the chairs, and actors and painters moonlighting as waiters and waitresses bustle behind the long formica counter.
But omens of the restaurant’s imminent demise are popping up everywhere. The sign on the front window now reads: “Serving 24/7 until the bitter [sweet] end: June 29. Au revoir.”
Inside, instructions on how to buy pitchers and other souvenirs from the restaurant on eBay are scrawled on the blackboard, and flyers announce a series of parties to mark the “five stages of mourning” from June 1 to June 29.
Theme-soirees are signature events at Florent, whose owner has been aware of his positive HIV status for years and gladly admits he enjoys being called “the queen” or “the mayor” of the neighborhood.
Ahead of a Bastille Day party one year, he posted a flyer showing himself dressed in drag as Marie Antoinette.
“Marie Goes Nuke-ular,” the poster proclaimed, “Live Acts: Can-Can Dancers, Go-Go strippers! Et more! Reserve Now!”
“I liked this neighborhood 23 years ago, the restaurant was frequented by a mix of butchers and prostitutes,” he said, recalling the early days after he took over the R&L diner and renamed it after himself.
The restaurant “was an immediate hit, because in New York the minute you say there’s a dive joint in a dangerous place, the people can’t get there fast enough,” he said.
“The adventurous, eccentric and curious types came in right away. But nostalgia can play tricks on your memory. We had some difficult years,” he said.
“During the crack cocaine epidemic in 1989 [to] 1990, we had to organize patrols with the Guardian Angels to chase out dealers and prevent people from getting high in the street,” Morellet said, referring to the group of unarmed citizen crime patrollers known for helping out on New York City streets.
“It was a point of light in a dark neighborhood, but has turned into a point of darkness in a neighborhood of light,” said the restaurant owner, who will turn 55 on June 23 and says he will write a book about his experience.
The restaurant has counted among its clients designer Calvin Klein, singers Lou Reed and Amy Winehouse, but mostly catered to a crowd of students and artists who consumed fries, sausages, mussels, onion soup and beer.
Now, it seems everything has changed in the neighborhood, which has morphed into the hot area for movie stars, models, investment bankers, pricey fashion houses and glitzy nightclubs.
“The soul of New York is changing, moving away from the past,” said Morellet, who was once described in New York magazine as “the patron saint of the meatpacking district.”
“I’ve been going to Florent since 1986, whenever I can. But the whole neighborhood changed,” filmmaker Spike Lee was quoted as telling the New York Times.
“Before it used to be transvestites and transsexuals on every corner. Now? Forget about it,” he said.
“It’s like everything else in New York. It’s like SoHo and everything else that gets ‘hot.’ And I put that in quotations. ‘Hot.’”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique