17 hours ago
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An iconic Meatpacking District diner featured in the movie “Taxi Driver” will shut down as part of a deal with the city – as locals said the “spirit” of old New York is slowly vanishing.
Hector’s Cafe and Diner, a 76-year-old eatery tucked under the High Line, will shutter on Friday after the local butchers that supply the eatery struck a deal to pack up so the city can build affordable housing and public space on the block.
“If we were making money, we’d be kicking and screaming,” owner Nick Kapelonis told The Post, “but we’re just barely surviving.
“We know everyone by first name, last name, the kids, their parents,” Kapelonis, 55, added. “People come by in their 60s and 70s and say, ‘my grandfather brought me here.'”
Butchers from the Gansevoort Market co-op, which Hector’s is a part of, “elected” to vacate last August as part of an agreement with the city and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
The city is looking to make way for its Gansevoort Square development, a 66,000-square-foot project complete with mixed-income housing, public open space and an expansion of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the High Line.
The EDC plans to select a developer for the housing site by the end of 2025, and for the city’s land use review process to be completed by 2027, a rep told The Post.
A City Hall spokesperson said the administration has “worked closely with the site’s current tenant who decided it was time to leave and make way for what’s to come — a 24/7 community and cultural hub where New Yorkers will come to live, work, play, and learn.”
Even though Hector’s has an active lease until 2033, the owner said the business never fully recovered from COVID — and a decline in tourism and reduced foot traffic from both daytime butchers and late night partygoers all served as writing on the wall.
But locals couldn’t believe the old-school spot would soon be no more.
“There’s really no [other] breakfast around here,” said diner regular Tony Melis, an electrician who has worked at the High Line for five years.
“We always come here for lunch … sometimes they give you a discount if you bought a meal,” he added. “Every time a store has a guy come fix something, where do they go to eat? Right here.”
Hector’s Cafe & Diner opened in 1949, joining more than a half-dozen coffee shops around the neighborhood servicing hundreds of local butchers, before it was sold in 1984 to Kapelonis’ family.
The site remained a local staple for decades and even appeared in Martin Scorsese’s classic “Taxi Driver” as well as “Perfect Murder” and multiple “Law & Order” episodes.
“We’re losing the spirit of New York,” said diner patron Jane Aiello, 45, who grew up in the neighborhood. “It’s completely gentrified. Affordability is out the window. Places like this, are a dying breed.”
Kapelonis noted Hector’s story may not be over yet — and, after a much-needed “break” during the summer, he will be scouting locations in Manhattan for another outpost.
“We’re going to take a break and we’re trying to find another location,” he said. “Rents are horrendous, so it’s a whole different ballgame to get acquainted with.
“Just give us a little time.”
English (US)