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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It is infuriating that the sidewalk shed has been up for nine years… and the landlord still keeps raising the rent. Great way to kill a small business.
And Gale Brewer continues to ignore the problem, no matter how many times we call. As usual, she’s useless.
Gail Brewer needs to go.She doesn’t care about the city. Ugh
I’ll tell you what’s worthless, Kirby: people who shoot their mouths off while too timid to put their names on their bullshit comments. Gale Brewer runs unopposed for whatever position she feels she can provide the best representation because her voters know her and love her.
How many bills has she cosponsored in the Council to address sheds? She doesn’t control that. I looked at the legislation page on her website and there are at least four bills to improve sidewalk sheds. Try it out.
A sidewalk shed for the last nine years. A great way to encourage customers. Like many other initiatives, Local law 11 as it works in practice has many negative consequences for a neighborhood but provides an income stream, in this case to the now entrenched sidewalk bridge industry.
I hope Patsy’s other locations are doing good business.
funny how the reaction to falling bricks killing people was the extreme of local law 11, yet cars kill and maim people every day in the city and we can’t even get daylighting or more cameras or enforcement by the nypd.
And exactly how many pedestrians have been killed by falling brick over the past half century? Seems like a preposterous overreaction. Almost as ridiculous as the lead paint requirements.
It’s the “taking off shoes in the airport” over reaction…
If you wanted to sneak a blade or a small weapon into the airport, hiding it inside of your shoe would certainly make it easier.
The answer is “one”. One pedestrian got killed by a falling brick in midtown like 10-12 years ago. And the result is this facade-examining scam ….
How would you feel if your child was that one killed?
Wow, that’s your argument? Well in that case, we should have permanent sidewalk sheds over every inch of sidewalk forever! Oh, and all children must be wrapped in 2 feet of bubble-wrap.
How many assaults and robberies have aided by the cover of unnecessary scaffolding?
How did this get to people being killed by cars. My guess is that deegee is an entrenched follower of Kersh Kuntzman. All of NY’s problems start with cars, lack of bike lanes, daylighting and more dedicated bus lanes. It’s funny not once have I heard that pedestrian crossed against the light, was on the phone, crossed in the middle of the street or any myriad of reasons. This also is the same problem with bikes. Going through red lights, riding on the sidewalk and the wanna be Tour de France riders.
Exactly. Pedestrians are a huge factor
another fine example of motornormativity,
“Motornormativity”? Ouch!
And a family member of mine almost died when swerving to avoid a pedestrian who was walking in the middle of the street. Should we ban pedestrians too?
The anti-car crowd here is off the rails. I totally agree that laws regarding cars should be enforced. But the childish hatred of cars is ridiculous and incredibly provincial. It makes all New Yorkers look like ignorant idiots.
IAm NOT anti car I blame the pedestrians that can’t wait until the light turns red,and walk in the street know they do not have the light. Igh
Wanting NYC to adopt the best practices for car traffic management from other major cities like London or Paris is neither provincial nor childish. It’s common sense.
“Best practices” today might be judged to be “worst practices” tomorrow. Not only that, but for a multicultural society like America to ultimately work, you need to give people their personal space and cars allow that to occur. The reason why the far right is a bigger problem in Europe is because European countries are intended to be ethnostates where there is high social cohesion among one or a small group of ethnicities, and it is that implicit consensus that allows Europe to have things that we don’t have here and right now the amount of immigration to Europe is breaking that social cohesion (racism is a much bigger problem in Europe and actually in Denmark the reason why the left is successful there is because of nativism) and it is a bigger problem than in America where there is an implicit consensus that anyone can be an American but there is less social cohesion than Europe. In order to maintain a delicate balance, you have to give people their space. Cars allow that, not having the overwhelming majority of people living in dense spaces allow that.
fyi. There were 20,989 reported collisions in London in 2024, resulting in 110
people being killed, 3,597 people being seriously injured and 20,312 people
being slightly injured. 13 people were killed by London busses alone.
https://content.tfl.gov.uk/casualties-in-greater-london-2024.pdf
There are plenty of cars in Paris and London where, parenthetically, pedestrians are fenced in on many streets and intersections to force them to cross at only allowed crossings. It takes both law abiding drivers and pedestrians to make this thing – a city – work.
if they had been paying enough attention the pedestrian would not have “come out of nowhere”
sound like you have a nice case of motornormativity
Love that neologism, dontcha? Ouch!
So a pedestrian has the right to just stand in the middle of the street and block traffic? Really? I believe the term to describe your mentality is moronnormativity.
Sir, I believe the Transportation Alternatives-approved slur you are looking for is “car brain”.
Only the car owners.
God forbid they step on the brakes, right?
If only our community leaders put the same energy and focus on fighting the insidious scaffolds and the mafia behind them, as they do in meddling in the private business of some minor church and its building…
100% TRUE.
No big loss in my opinion! The UWS does not have good pizza, the best pizza in Manhattan is in Greenwich Village and the West Village, sucks having to pay the congestion pricing fee for large pizza orders!
You’re gonna have to name your pizza place that’s worth driving to the West Village for.
l’Industrie + John’s. Even Bleeker Street Pizza and Joes.
Made in NY, Sal + Carmines, Motorino, Mama Too’s are also much better options than Patsy in the UWS. Upside Pizza not bad also. Patsy shifted to low quality cheese (not fresh mozzarella) and sauce many years ago.
Also the Pizza Box at 176 Bleecker Street! They are a new pizza restaurant with farm to table pizza and it is an amazing family owned business owned by a UWS couple!
UWS has solid pizza, silly to compare all UWS pizza to a few spots known for being the best in the city. Any non-chain pizza place in the UWS would be the best pizza place in 90% of american cities.
Eugene this is unnecessarily nasty. This was somebody’s dream and now part of it is folding.
She can’t critique a business? Patsy’s is a large franchise chain at this rate, not some small business. I do disagree with her comment that ONLY the Village has good pizza but it is the best overall. UWS has some good alternative options
Whoever’s dream it was died a long long time ago. They’ve been in business since 1933.
Patsy’s has multiple locations and even has franchise agreements to use its name on restaurants in Queens.
Huh? The entire Patsy’s Pizza chain is franchised, except for the original on E 116.
Song E Napule is terrific and Motorino is great too.
Don Antonio is not technically in the neighborhood but it’s close and the best IMHO.
Agree enthusiastically about Song e Napule. But I’ve had terrible luck with Motorino, at least the delivery version. One crust burnt to charcoal; one strewn with canned mushrooms after baking; one “Don Dom” pizza that was limp and soggy, and topped with a thin smear of tasteless tomato sauce plus something that resembled wet cottage cheese. All delivered cold even though I live close enough to see their building from my window. Maybe it was just coincidence, but three strikes and they’re out of my rotation.
Give Motorino a try in person. I also get frustrated with their delivery but this style of fresh pizza is much better right out of the oven.
Try Song’e Napule or even Parla or Motorino.
Patsy’s is the best by far. Parla is fancy, flavorless garbage. Song’e Napule and Motorino are OK.
This is a devastating loss for the pizza-loving UWS community.
Have you been to Patsy recently? Went completely downhill. Song + Motorino use fresh cheese, sauce and dough. Patsy no longer does…for many years now, used to be great.
Lots of great pizza in the west village for sure – but give Motorino a try on the UWS or Mama’s Too.
There are UWS residents who own a great pizza shop in the village!
Honestly…. while never great see a local business close, I went a few years ago and the pizza just wasn’t good and was $20+ for a plain pie to boot. I’m sure the scaffolding isn’t helping either.
With Parla opening so close by, I’m betting plenty of former customers went there instead.
We loved Patsy’s, and so did all our friends. It was great for families and had good quality pizza and salads.
Parla’s is completely different. We will definitely miss Patsy’s.
Totally agree. Patsy’s is calm and family friendly. Always thought their pizza was the best. Sometimes “fancy” is not the standard.
We will seriously miss Patsy’s.
I agree with this. Patsy’s is far more family friendly. Parla is much smaller (and doesn’t have high chairs) .
Both are good, but will miss having Patsy’s in the neighborhood.
I live on 74th and am very sad to hear this about my neighbor. The scaffold? Nine years? Feels like 90. It’s horrendous. And all this time I think I’ve seen actual workers working on the building twice, and that’s the truth. I can’t imagine what the building residents are feeling/doing to no avail. To the owner and staff at Patsy’s, I’m very sorry to see you go.
Completely different and irrelevant.
Their pizza and salads are excellent.
Patsy’s is one of the few affordable sit down restaurants in the neighborhood. I’ve been eating there for years. I’ve seen celebrities there a few times. Very sad to see them go!
Patsy’s is well-suited to the stroller set who don’t really care what they eat, so long as the kids like it. It’s the kind of place where children throw their food and scream while the parents scroll on their phones and nobody gets scolded for it. There’s a market for places that ignore bad parenting and abysmal behavior. As far as the food goes, it tastes like you’re eating in Minnesota.
I don’t know if I fully agree with this, but this was a hilarious take. Taste like Minnesota is an amazing quote.
It’s discouraging and depressing to see so many unnecessarily nasty people on the upper west side. Comment is so unneeded and no help to anybody, Dino. Minnesota?
No one is beyond criticism. That’s where the whole “free speech” thing comes in. Criticism comes with the territory. Accept reality and move on.
And you, Dino, are being criticized for being unnecessarily nasty.
Too many people wrongly think freedom of speech means “you must listen to what I say and not criticize it.”
But at least you get a taste of Minnesota
Go to Minnesota’s in Long Beach for a real taste of Minnesota!
Ate there once about a year ago and never wanted to go back. There are better pizzas all over the neighborhood.
Or outside the UWS entirely!
I’ve forgotten it was still here. Agree with posts about scaffolding, and then on a side street that doesn’t otherwise get much food traffic, it makes it hard. Also, the old pizzeria model just doesn’t feel as fresh anymore as compared to the newer gourmet pizza wave. I went a few years ago when relatives were visiting and they had read about the brand. They felt it was a let down. It may just be time. But hopefully something good and different comes in.
Once again, the scaffolding and side walk sheds have ruined a business. Please fine buildings to take them down.
Frankly, and judging from the comments here, I think it’s the upscaling of the Upper West Side that ruined this business. The whole culture has changed.
Patsy’s is on a side street. They would not have gotten much walk-in business even without the scaffolding.
So sorry to hear this. Pizza preference is a very perosal thing, but Patsy’s was the rare, relaible family restaurant on the UWS. What explains NYC’s ridiculous obsession with sidewalk sheds, other than corruption? How is it that one can go to European cities with buildings much, much older than ours yet not be assaulted with the ugly monstrosities at every turn? I’m very sorry that a Columbia coed died from a falling brick in 1979, but does that mean that all of us are sentenced to suffer with this craziness forevermore? Could this be an overreaction? Why are other cities able to handle this, and so much else, so much better than NYC does?
One death is one too many. The problem isn’t that the scaffolding is there to protect people — the problem is that nobody’s getting the work done so the shed has to sit there out of necessity. The city should put a mandate and a Time deadline to get work done.
if one death is too many, why do we allow car drivers to kill and maim every day with no law like LL11 to protect us?
The permit process is what takes the most time, it stops work.
City resources are directed to other issues.
In 2015 a 2-year-old child was killed by falling stone from a building on West End Avenue. LL 11 is a necessity.
every single day people are killed by cars. can we get a law equivalent to LL11 to help protect us from killer drivers> please?
Can we build the Mid-Manhattan Expressway, LOMEX and rebuild the elevated West Side Highway to make the urbanists happy?
Back to the cars again?
Yesterday a woman was killed by scaffolding that collapsed onto her.
Maybe “Barnard student” rather than “Columbia coed” but yes, otherwise agree. LL11 is way extreme.
Why l Barnard? Woken go to Columbia College as well as Barbard,
Not in 1979. The first coed class at Columbia graduated in 1987
Same thing at Pembroke
The student who was killed in 1979 by falling masonry was a Barnard student.
Because Neighbor785 is trying to be historically accurate. The student who was killed in 1979 was a Barnard student.
Grace Gold was a Barnard freshman.
The person who was killed, Grace Gold, was a Barnard student — Columbia College was not co-ed at the time.
I think Local Law 11 requires buildings to be inspected, not scaffolding to be erected and left in place for months or years.
Re lkcal law 11, the problem is, you need to put up the scaffolding to do the inspections. Then they leave it there if they expect you’ll need repairs. So it stays while you bid out the repairs and then do the repairs, ans when you are all done, you need a city inspection before you take it all down. The city plays by its own timeline. So even in the best cases, it’s up for years.
Wow. There seem to be a lot of grinches out who got coal in their stockings. I can take or leave Patsy’s. Not somewhere I have a great desire to go, but I have nothing against it. But the irrational hatred towards it seems very over the top. If you don’t like it, don’t go. But don’t be so angry about it. I wish I had such problems.
I haven’t seen any irrational hatred.
Eyes wide shut, Sal?
My family has been going to Patsy’s for many years. The pizza as well as the salads and pasta dishes have ALWAYS been to notch. Affordable prices and great service. I will MISS this restaurant, very sad that it is closing.
The prices that Patsy’s charged for mediocre pizza was too beaucoup!
Compared to C-Rats, sure. Compared to the rest of the food in the neighborhood…not so much. Oh well. Take what you want but eat what you take.
Ok, I’ll bite: What on earth is “C-rats”?
I’ll keep their name out of my mouth.
Unfortunate. Just had it a few days ago for the first time and it was really good.
Try the Pesto and Goat Cheese or try the Margarita.
Freddie also uses much better flour than Pizza Collective or NY Made.
I kinda like Patsy’s Pizza, unfortunately one of their bicycle delivery guys nearly killed me back in 2017, utterly his fault; he was peddling the wrong way at 20MPH in the Columbus “bike” lane and ran a red.
Manager refused to acknowledge any fault. So, they need to have gone out of business long ago.
Can we get another CVS there??? PLEASE!!! if not, a bank or nail salon will be fine.
Nail polish salons emit the most toxic horrific fumes. You wouldn’t want that in the building that has residential apartments. Very dangerous to breathe in and very dangerous for infants. Careful what you wish for!
I agree about the fumes, but Ped’s comment was clearly sarcastic.
Pat — I think that was a joke.
Pat W, you forgot to turn on your sarcasm detector when you woke up this morning.
corporate and commercial and residential rents need to be capped – take the cinty back!!!!
Cap commercial rents and you will end up with the same mess which exists for residential apartments. Nobody built for decade, maintance declined s and rents skyrocketed.
The manager said “everything is so expensive now” as the reason for the upcoming closure.
He did not specify rent as the reason.
Don’t rant nonsense about landlords as you clearly don’t have all the facts.
Their plain pizza is…. weird imo, but their specialty stuff is fantastic. Whole wheat crust, blanco pizzas with spinach, ricotta, broccoli, garlic…
Patsy Pizza ( COAL OVEN-117 @2NDAve.)
JUST The BEST PIZZA I have ever eaten & I have Eaten more than a few Pizza’s in my life
That’s not the same one
Patsy’s was the perfect family restaurant. Food kids would eat and parent could eat too and noisy enough the kids weren’t an intrusion. It is rare these days to have a place that is a family restaurant on the UWS. They will be missed.
The amount of time we talk about scaffolding being up YEARS AND YEARS, you would think the city council members would finally DO SOMETHING about it. But all they do is talk….and talk….and talk….and nothing else. Only their pet projects get real attention. You have Paris and London with 1000 year old buildings. Do you see scaffolding on every corner? They have figured out a way to take care of their buildings and not allow 11 years of scaffolding to be up. Poor leadership and action, once again.
I didn’t know there is a Patsy’s on the UWS.
Not any more.
I consider myself a pizza expert and as a long time resident in that neighborhood, have had their pizza weekly for years. Made in NY Pizza is the best pizza on the Westside fyi hands down, but not a restaurant, this is brick oven pizza. (Patsys) another animal. I’m beyond sad. The service is fast, always efficient, and professional. The food consistent and excellent. If it’s good enough for the Flamingo kid, it’s good enough for me. I’ve seen Matt there several times. Why, why can’t they just relocate like the Mermaid Inn did when scaffoling
in evidently caused their move out?
This place is an institution, like John’s Pizzaria was years ago on West 66th. Say it isn’t so. I will miss every single slice of you Patsy.
You were some slice of heaven! I will miss you, you saucy gal.
The owner of the building where Mermaid Inn used to be sold it to a developer, who tore it down and is building what doubtlessly will be more condos for the nouveau riche. Mermaid did not move because of scaffolding.
It was downhill for the pizza there when they switched from coal to gas. Sorry to see any business go down. Many birthdays were spent there pre switch.
Coal-fired pizzas taste like early 20th century locomotives.
Locomotive breath made for a great Jethro Tull song!
Is there no legal recourse that they can take for being under a shed for over 10 years blocking potential customers who didn’t notice them?
Cheesy pizza on Broadway and 100th Street (99 Street?), (northeast corner) has the most terrific pizzas.
The tomato sauce is scrumptious!
The sauce tastes fresh and homemade. This is in no way to disparage Patsy’s. I’m merely mentioning how good cheesy pizza is.
After you eat it once, you crave it!💕
Freddie & Pepper’s on Amsterdam between 74th and 75th is very reliable and the proprietors are always friendly.Unfortunately, there are very few places to sit. I’m heading up tp try Cheesy Pizza, thanks for the tip!
Freddy & Peppers desperately needs to refurbish the seating area.
Pizza is good…but eating atmosphere is filled with uncomfortable seating and beat up tables and chairs. It greatly needs a remodeling that improves the shabby eating atmosphere.
Their competition has much nicer eating environments.
Maybe F&P’s can get Patsy’s tables and chairs at fire-sale prices.
Patsy’s has had a “coming soon” sign on a store in White Plains NY for about 2 years.
best pizza in ny and uws — MADE IN NEW YORK PIZZA, generous squares; on Amsterdam near west 73rd st.
No surprise and, sadly, no longer a great loss. The service, quality of food and portion sizes have been steadily declining over a number of years.
Yikes! I haven’t eaten there in a decade. It’s all my fault! Once the kids grew up, kinda forgot about it. So mebbe it’s the fault of the forgettable food? Just sayin’.
The railing here against scaffolding is interesting. The path to removing them is clear—the landlord just needs to do the work required. Proper facade maintenance is both sound public policy and asset management strategy. But yeah, limit it to six months unless extenuating circumstances and then you only get a year. Unless all the crews get deported….
And this Patsy’s is only tangentially related to the one in East Harlem—the wife got the naming rights in her divorce settlement with Mr. Patsy, who kept only the original. She opened up all the other locations and they’re quite different.
It’s not that clear at all. The work literally takes years and is held up frequently by Landmarks, DoB and an ever shifting series of city regulations that change all the time.
Sidewalk sheds cost lots of money too because there’s so much demand. No one is winning here with these regulations besides the contractors who profit off these laws.
Under a shed for 10 years!?!?
That should be illegal!
So sad to see Patsy’s go. Definitely a NYC establishment. Another business lost to realty greed.
I wish the absolute worst to ALL of the dirty selfish commercial real estate owners who take the vibrancy away from our neighborhoods by charging profiteer level commercial rents, and thereby causing many shuttered storefronts.
City tax policy targets setting real estate taxes at 40%+ of imputed commercial revenue, and they have raised assessments above inflation for the last 15 years.
The city is profiteering on commercial rents.
Not surprised by Patsy’s closing. We liked Patsy’s food and atmosphere but stopped going when their “WE DON’T DO GARLIC ON PIZZA” policy was put in place for their pizza toppings list.
Patsy’s is one of the few pizza and Italian food establishments on the UWS that has been a great family destination for visitors to nearby Central Park and the AMNH.
And it’s so much more affordable than other restaurants that are not very suitable for families with small kids. And those kids have adored Patsy’s pizza and pasta dishes for so many years!
Sadly, another great loss for the once very family friendly UWS neighborhood.
More like a trifecta of poorly behaved children, bad parents, and lousy pizza.
Enough. We’ve been going there for years. Our kids have been grown (and out) for a long time, so we’re not the mean evil grown-ups with nasty loud little ones with which you seem to be obsessed.
I’ve never seen “poorly behaved children” at Patsy’s , unless you consider *all* small children to be “poorly behaved”. Maybe that’s your problem, in which case why project it onto a perfectly fine restaurant?
Bad parents? I’m not sure what that means. All I’ve ever seen there have been adults eating and feeding their families.
And lousy pizza? I don’t know what you’ve been ordering there, but I never found the pizzas we’ve ordered to be “lousy”.
I get it: You don’t like kids. You don’t like good pizza if it’s not frou-frou. But why do you have to be so nasty about a popular place that has served many people for generations, to the satisfaction of many?
Freddie and Peppers is worse!
Worse for pizza or badly behaved children, or both?
Freddie’s is a very different pizza place.
You won’t believe this, but Edgar’s on Amsterdam Avenue around 89 street, better known for salads and light meals, , makes FABULOUS pizza
Our family loved eating at Patsy’s as well as take out from them. We are two generations of Patsy lovers… strong feelings here.They will be sorely missed., they offer much more than pizza.
Oh well another ugly vacant business located in our neighborhood.
Why can’t we outlaw the horribly ugly and neighborhood degrading scaffolding on every block? Someone’s made a fortune with these 👁️ sores.
This is intolerable, as they are a great place for dog walks and homelessness. It’s so obviously made our city so ugly, there has to be a solution our elected representatives can come up with, it’s not rocket science . PLEASE!
I’ve only been to the Harlem location and their pizza is one of my favorites. When I read Patsy’s was closing I was devastated. I am relieved by this clarification. Whew.
This is sad.
They will be missed by many people. I love their pizza, I think it’s my favorite in the neighborhood.
Interesting that a second slice-style pizzeria just opened on the east side of Amsterdam between 83rd and 84th. Marinara has been there for a couple of years and this new one just opened a couple of doors down. I wish them both well.
And I’m surprised that, in all of the discussions here of UWS pizza, no one has mentioned the long gone Big Nick’s. While I’m sure that the gourmet snobs would not have liked it, it defined both good pizza and the disappearing down-to-earth Upper West Side.
I will miss this place. Seems the charming, neighborhood type places are all gone – restaurants, unique stores, cafes . I miss the upper west the way it was when I moved here 1995-now.
I guess You’ve Got Mail was peak UWS!
NOOOO! I am so sad to hear this. Patsy’s is our go-to for pizza delivery. I’m sorry to see you go, don’t blame you with the lease + endless sidewalk shed scam, and wish you all the best at your other locations (while holding out hope that you’ll come back to the UWS!) NYC is not friendly to small business and it only gets worse over time – never better.