Patsy’s on the Upper West Side. Photo by Gus Saltonstall.
By Gus Saltonstall
The Upper West Side will be losing one of its most famous pizza shops.
Patsy’s Pizzeria at 61 West 74th Street, between Columbus and Central Park West, will close sometime in January, a manager, who did not provide his name, confirmed to West Side Rag in a phone call on Tuesday.
“We are not sure yet when exactly, but we are closing for sure,” the manager told the Rag. “Maybe two more weeks after January 1.”
When asked about the reasoning for the closure, he said, “The lease is finished and everything is so expensive now.”
The manager added that there are no current plans to open a different location on the Upper West Side, but confirmed that Patsy’s four other locations in Manhattan would remain open. The Upper West Side location has also been under a sidewalk shed for the last ten years, Google Maps imagery shows.
“Any chance you stay open?” the Rag asked again.
“No. No. No,” the manager responded.
In the past week, the Rag received multiple tips from locals who said that employees had mentioned during recent dining experiences that the Upper West Side pizza shop would be closing at either the end of December or in January.
“We’re devastated!” Erin Gilbert wrote in an email about the impending closure.
Patsy’s Upper West Side outpost has served customers for the last 28 years on West 74th Street. The pizzeria’s original location opened in Harlem in 1933, which makes it one of the oldest, still-running pizzerias in New York City.
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