For the past 25 years – since the divorce – I’ve lived a good part of my life in diners. Without them I might be slimmer, but also crazier and more unhappy. Judging by the crowds at the Metro Diner, on 100th Street and Broadway, my current haunt, I suspect that other New Yorkers feel the same way. To say that the Metro has become my second home would be too vague and sentimental. Better to use the 5 sociological term “the third place” (home and work being the first two), or to quote Robert Frost, the place “where, when you have to go there/ They have to take you in1.” American coffee shops, like English pubs, Viennese coffee houses and Greek kaffenions, tend to engender klatches, informal clubs. At the old Key West Diner on 94th Street and Broadway, now known as the Manhattan Diner, the laughter of the comedian Anne Meara2 and her friends used to fill the room. And where would the 10 sitcom classic Seinfeld3, the idea of which was conceived in a coffee shop, have been without the regular scenes at Monk’s Café? The best days of the New York City diner, however, appear to be over. Among the 2016 casualties were the 1 from a poem by American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963) 2 Anne Meara: (1929-2015) famous American actress and comedian 3 very popular American sitcom (1989-1998) 1 METRO DINER METRO DINER Lyric Diner in Gramercy and the 40-year-old Del Rio in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, while La Parisienne near Columbus Circle and the 53-year-old Market Diner in Hell’s Kitchen closed in 2015. Then there was Cafe Edison, a 15 34-year-old coffee shop that shut in 2014 to much sadness in the Broadway community. Manhattan has certainly seen more diner closings than other boroughs. That said, with rising costs in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, classic diners like the Neptune and Bel Aire, both in Astoria, Queens, could soon be under threat. In Downtown Brooklyn, the building that has housed the original Junior’s Restaurant since 1950 was almost sold. But after considering several offers, the owner Alan Rosen decided that the community still 20 needed cheesecake more than luxury high-rises. Urban renewal, astronomical rents, changing eating habits and the preponderance of no-refill coffee places like Starbucks have all contributed to the demise of the New York diner. There are roughly half as many as there were 20 years ago, according to records from the health department. Losing New York diner culture would probably be a watershed in the city’s history. How will New Yorkers get 25 along without these antidotes to urban loneliness? “The coffee shop orients us here, in this city and not another,” Jeremiah Moss4, of the blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, said. “If we are regulars, we become known, connected, to a network of people who remain over the span of years, even decades. In the anonymous city, these ties can be lifesavers, especially for the elderly, the poor, the marginal, but also for all of us. Without them, the city becomes evermore fragmented, 30 disorienting and unrecognizable.” The Metro is a treasure trove of local history. It is in one of the few wood-frame buildings left in Manhattan. Built by the grocer Henry Grimm in 1871, it was bought in 1894 by the brewer Peter Doelger. He turned the ground floor into a restaurant and saloon, with families entering through the back while gentlemen drank beer in the front. (Around the same time, Mr. Doelger’s cousin Matilda married a prizefighter, John West, whose 35 daughter Mae – yes, the Mae West5 – may have picked up some of her unconventional performance style from hanging around the Doelger bar.) Over the course of its existence, the Grimm building also housed a milliner’s shop, a tearoom and, in the 1950s, the rehearsal studio and offices of the avant-garde Living Theater. The sociologist Ray Oldenburg6, in The Great Good Place, a book about diners and taverns, suggests that the 40 past is an essential element of all third places, which are usually in older sections of cities, and in those areas “exists the fading image of the city itself and the kind of human interaction, the easy and interesting mixing of strangers that made the city what it was.” But not only what it was. One of the charms of the Metro, and of many other diners in the city, is that the employees’ backgrounds are 45 as varied as the languages spoken by the tourists who have found their way here. Costa Rica, Ecuador, Greece, Mexico, Poland, Romania – these are just a few of the countries where staff members come from. Together they constitute a microcosm of the immigrant groups that continue to arrive in New York – who not only made the city what it was, but the best of what it is and could be. My first diner nesting place was Harvey’s Coffee Shop on 78th and Broadway, in Manhattan, where I would 50 order matzo ball soup and a Coke after seeing my therapist across the street. Harvey was known for his Yiddish- speaking Puerto Rican countermen and for serving deliciously seasoned chopped

I de sidste 25 år - siden skilsmissen - har jeg boet en god del af mit liv i spisesteder. Uden dem er jeg måske slankere, men også skørere og mere ulykkelig. At dømme efter skarer i Metro Diner, på 100th Street og Broadway, min nuværende hjemsøgelse, formoder jeg, at andre New Yorkere føler det på samme måde. At sige, at metroen er blevet mit andet hjem, ville være for vagt og sentimental. Bedre at bruge det 5 sociologiske udtryk "det tredje sted" (hjem og arbejde er de to første), eller at citere Robert Frost, stedet ”Hvor, når du skal hen dertil / De skal tage dig ind1.” Amerikanske kaffebarer, ligesom engelske pubber, wiener kaffebarer og græske kaffenioner, er tilbøjelige til at fremkalde klatches, uformelle klubber. På den gamle Key West Diner på 94th Street og Broadway, nu kendt som Manhattan Diner, latteren fra komikeren Anne Meara2 og hendes venner plejede at fylde rummet. Og hvor ville de 10 sitcom-klassikere Seinfeld3, hvis idé blev udtænkt i en café, have været uden de regelmæssige scener på Monks Café? De bedste dage i New York City-spisestuen ser imidlertid ud til at være ovre.Blandt de skadede i 2016 var 1 fra et digt af den amerikanske digter Robert Frost (1874-1963) 2 Anne Meara: (1929-2015) berømt amerikansk skuespiller og komiker 3 meget populære amerikanske sitcom (1989-1998)   1 METRO-DINER METRO-DINER Lyric Diner i Gramercy og den 40-årige Del Rio i Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, mens La Parisienne nær Columbus Circle og den 53 år gamle Market Diner i Hell's Kitchen lukkede i 2015. Derefter var der Cafe Edison, en 15 34-årig kaffebar, der lukkede i 2014 for meget tristhed i Broadway-samfundet. Manhattan har helt sikkert set flere lukninger af spisestuen end andre bydele. Når det er sagt, med stigende omkostninger i hurtigt gentrificerende kvarterer, kunne klassiske spisesteder som Neptun og Bel Aire, begge i Astoria, Queens, snart være truet. I centrum af Brooklyn blev bygningen, der har huset den originale Junior's Restaurant siden 1950, næsten solgt. Men efter at have overvejet flere tilbud, besluttede ejeren Alan Rosen, at samfundet stadig var 20 har brug for ostekage mere end luksushøjhus. Byfornyelse, astronomiske huslejer, ændrede spisevaner og overvægt af kaffepladser uden genopfyldning ligesom Starbucks har alle bidraget til bortgangen af ​​New York-spisestuen. Der er omtrent halvdelen så mange, som der var for 20 år siden, ifølge poster fra sundhedsafdelingen. At miste spisesalskulturen i New York ville sandsynligvis være et farvande i byens historie.Hvordan kommer New Yorkere med 25 uden disse modgift mod byens ensomhed? ”Kaffebaren orienterer os her, i denne by og ikke en anden,” sagde Jeremiah Moss4 fra bloggen Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. ”Hvis vi er faste, bliver vi kendt, forbundet, til et netværk af mennesker, der forbliver i årenes løb, selv årtier. I den anonyme by kan disse bånd være livreddere, især for ældre, fattige, marginale, men også for os alle. Uden dem bliver byen stadigt fragmenteret, 30 desorienterende og ikke genkendelig. ” Metroen er en skattekiste af lokal historie. Det er i en af ​​de få bygninger med træramme, der er tilbage på Manhattan. Bygget af købmanden Henry Grimm i 1871 og blev købt i 1894 af bryggeren Peter Doelger. Han vendte stueetagen til en restaurant og salon, med familier, der kom ind gennem ryggen, mens herrer drak øl i fronten. (Omkring samme tid giftede Mr. Doelgers fætter Matilda sig med en prisvinder, John West, hvis 35 datter Mae - ja, Mae West5 - har muligvis hentet noget af hendes ukonventionelle performance-stil fra at hænge rundt i Doelger-baren.) I løbet af sin eksistens husede Grimm-bygningen også en møllershop, en tesal og i 1950'erne repetitionsstudio og kontorer i det avantgarde Living Theatre.Sociologen Ray Oldenburg6 i The Great Good Place, en bog om spisesteder og kroer, antyder, at fortiden 40 er et væsentligt element i alle tredjepladser, som normalt findes i ældre bydele og i disse områder ”Eksisterer det falmende billede af selve byen og den slags menneskelige interaktion, den lette og interessante blanding af fremmede, der gjorde byen til den, den var.” Men ikke kun hvad det var. En af metroens charme og af mange andre spisesteder i byen er, at medarbejdernes baggrund er 45 lige så varieret som de sprog, der er talt af de turister, der har fundet deres vej her. Costa Rica, Ecuador, Grækenland, Mexico, Polen, Rumænien - dette er kun et par af de lande, hvor medarbejderne kommer fra. Sammen udgør de et mikrokosmos af indvandrergrupperne, der fortsætter med at ankomme i New York - som ikke kun gjorde byen til, hvad den var, men den bedste af hvad den er og kunne være. Mit første spisested med indlejring var Harvey's Coffee Shop på 78th og Broadway på Manhattan, hvor jeg ville bestille matzoboldsuppe og en cola efter at have set min terapeut på tværs af gaden. Harvey var kendt for sine jiddisk- taler Puerto Rica modmenn og til servering af lækkert krydret hakket