SAD  BUT TRUE! 

The legendary  gay 24/7 Florent Restaurant in New York Citys  meat packing disctrict will close it’s doors  on Gay Pride June 29th!

High-end boutiques, high-end hotels, and the soon-to-be unveiled high-end high-line park have forced Florent’s rent up from $5,000 to $45,000 a month. They are currently holding auctions on EBAY of
Flo-morabilia, with proceeds benefiting the staff.

The bistro’s  goodbye  is in the final weeks;  each week was dedicated to one of the Kubler-Ross stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

Each theme week has special dishes, decor and performances by familiar faces like burlesque star Dirty Martini, all leading up to a big sad send-off on June 29th, Gay Pride Day.

The quirky French bistro – housed in an old diner that was a speakeasy in the ‘20s and a favorite greasy spoon for longshoremen and meatpackers in the ‘50s – has become even more cherished in recent years as a corrective to the fratastic Bridge and Tunnel scene dominating the neighborhood.

Owner Morellet, however, refuses to be maudlin about Florent’s fate. “I used to be the light in the middle of the darkness, and now I suppose I am the dark spot in the middle of the light,” he told me. “Of course I have prayed that maybe I would be saved at the last minute by a collapse of the world economy. And when it became real? Yes, I drove out to my lake house in New Jersey and wept for three days straight. But,” he quickly added, “only three days!”


READ MORE IN NY MAG!