Sex and the City-Famous N.Y.C. Landmark City Bakery Has Closed

Shay Spence
Sex and the City-Famous N.Y.C. Landmark City Bakery Has Closed

On Sunday, it was announced that Manhattan’s landmark City Bakery was closed after nearly 30 years in business. The establishment, which opened in 1990, was located in Union Square and famous for its decadent hot chocolate and flaky croissants.

“It’s true. City Bakery has closed,” they posted on Instagram. “What a loss. A loss for all of us. We’ll miss this forever. Thank you New York.” In the caption, they added: “This is not what we wanted. Not what we expected. It’s where a bad path has led.”

For New Yorkers, it’s just the latest casualty in a restaurant scene fraught with constant turnover. Weeks earlier, City Bakery had posted that they had “too much debt, debt which is like quicksand.”

City Bakery/Instagram
City Bakery/Instagram

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[2/2] .... There has been an exhaustive search for a fix for more than a year. We have too much debt, debt which is like quicksand. Incredibly, no matter that we are a two-generation NY favorite, normal debt relief from a normal bank has not been an option. People believe rent is the ultimate NY retail killer, but worth saying that if a normal bank loan had been available to City Bakery a few years ago, we would not be anywhere near the danger we're in today. We've been here since the start of Union Square's revival. We pioneered good food on 17th Street in 1990, then a block of discount perfume stores, a hardware store and check cashing. We were proud backdoor neighbors to Union Square Cafe on 16th, already the standard bearer for making Union Square a destination for great food. Greenmarket was just a dozen farmers. Lower Fifth Avenue storefronts were half empty. The offices above were mostly architects and photographers and artist studios. It was nascent, but already a wonderful place. We've been baking and making hot chocolate and Mac & Cheese in this neighborhood ever since. We're on our fourth lease. We're a few weeks shy of turning 29. We're nowhere close to being ready to pack it in, given our love of this work. We're hoping for an ending that keeps City Bakery being City Bakery for many more years. What is lost if City Bakery disappears? I happen to believe that New York City and the world need places like City Bakery right now more than ever, but that’s just one view. The real answer is in the hearts and minds of the tens of thousands of people who consider City Bakery extended family. We are intertwined with so many lives. The measure of a moment like this resides within all of those people, the people we feel bound to. Heartbreak. Pure and simple. #citybakerynyc

A post shared by City Bakery (@citybakerydaily) on Oct 9, 2019 at 9:40pm PDT

Those outside of N.Y.C. might also recognize the bakery — from Sex and the City, of course. In episode six of the HBO show’s fifth season, Carrie takes Samantha out for brownies at City Bakery. While there, they run into Nina Katz (a.k.a “Face Girl”), the Saturday Night Live booker who dated Aidan right after Carrie.

Since the show has been off the air since 2004, predictably many of the hot spots they visited are no longer around. Tortilla Flats—the iconic West Village Mexican restaurant where Carrie and Aidan went on a double date with Steve and Miranda—also closed its doors recently (and Sarah Jessica Parker bid an emotional farewell to it.)

HBO
HBO

RELATED: All of the Sex and the City Hot Spots Where You Can Still Dine in New York City

There are, however, quite a few restaurants from the show that fans can still visit. Magnolia Bakery, where Carrie and Miranda famously chowed down on pastel pink-frosted cupcakes, remains in its original West Village location. Other long-standing establishments like 21 Club, Raoul’s, and Cipriani also still stand.

If you’re planning a SATC eating tour of New York, check out our full list of places to visit.