By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Side elected official is leading the push to rename a neighborhood train station after the late Saul Zabar.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal has introduced a bill to co-name the West 79th Street 1 train station in honor of Zabar, the beloved, longtime owner of Zabar’s, who died at the age of 97 on October 7, 2025.
If passed, the official name of the station would become the 79th Street – Saul Zabar station.
“Zabar’s embodies the Upper West Side,” said Rosenthal in a news release. “And for decades, Saul Zabar, with his exacting standards, culinary acumen and fierce loyalty to those who worked for him, was the heart and soul of his family-run delicatessen on West 80th Street and Broadway.”
“Saul’s memory will forever be cemented in New York City history with the renaming of the West 79th Street subway station in his honor,” she added.
It would not be the first time that Zabar’s and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority [MTA] partnered with one another.
This past October, the MTA held a press conference and ceremony outside of the Upper West Side grocer in honor of Saul’s passing, and also unveiled an official temporary tribute poster to the longtime patriarch of the family within the 79th Street 1 train station.
“This tribute is the MTA’s way of honoring Saul, Zabar’s, and this special family that I’ve known my entire life, at the 79th Street station, where thousands of New Yorkers can be reminded every day of his impact,” said MTA Chair and Upper West Side native Janno Lieber at the time.
Additionally, in the fall of 2025, the MTA partnered with Zabar’s, along with other “iconic culinary vendors” in the five boroughs, to celebrate the end of the MetroCard; during that time, the Upper West Side store made limited-edition MetroCard black and white cookies.
West Side Rag reached out to the MTA to discuss the possibility of the Upper West Side train station being renamed for Zabar, and an official from the agency explained that its renaming stations policy is generally geographic-based, and happens when the new name better describes the location of the station for riders.
Nearby examples are the 116th Street – Columbia University station or the 110th Street – Malcolm X Plaza station.
Annie Zabar, Saul’s daughter and the assistant vice president at Zabar’s, said, “Renaming the 79th Street subway station in his honor would be a lasting way for New Yorkers to remember his devotion to quality, community, and family.”
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I guess there’s not a lot of important stuff to occupy the time of our elected officials.
Ridiculous.
No thanks. Zabars can sponsor the station if they want though.
Love Zabar’s. I dislike this idea and the zeal with which Rosenthal and Brewer have been pushing to rename streets and now subway stations.
We can’t keep renaming things after great or beloved people who have passed. There will always be great and beloved people who pass away. There are not enough subway stations or streets to rename for all the people who are great, beloved or famous.
This whole renaming zeal is an absurd use of municipal/state time and resources by politicians who should be focusing on more important things.
I agree. With all due respect to Mr. Zabar, who would bear the cost of re-printing or changing the name on all of the subway maps? There are ways of honoring someone from the Neighbourhood – such as a poster or mosaic in the station – without changing the name of a subway station that is used by the entire city and visitors.
if Zabar’s donated say $5 million I would be open to it. But I agree with the MTA – station names are based on streets or city-wide landmarks.
I think Zabar’s Station is completely appropriate. Been calling it that for years anyway.
Great idea.
Except the man who made Zabar’s a special store was Murray Klein; the store has declined significantly since Klein sold his 1/3 share to Saul and Paul Zabar in 1996.
In 1957, before Klein was brought in as a partner by Saul and Paul, the store was about to go under.
now that is interesting!
WHo knew?
Is this honestly what our elected officials spend their time on? was he a big donor or something?
Hard pass. No offense to a great man. But I do not see why we need to change the name of a station. Keep it simple. There are many ways to honor someone. This is not a good one.
One would think these people would have better things to do with their time.
Make it happen. Mr Z was an awesome person
So is everyone
maybe not a rename, make it an additional name. it will always be 79st
What’s the precedent for this? When has a subway station ever been named for anything other than the street or avenue where it’s located or a major landmark that’s adjacent to that station?
The word Respect was permanently added as signs inside the Franklin Avenue #1 subway station in honor of Aretha Franklin. The same signs are in the A/C Franklin Avenue station in Brooklyn. Mr. Zabar deserves a similar honor.
The correct name of the Franklin Ave. station is “Franklin Av Medgar Evers College”. It was never renamed. And the 1 train does not go anywhere near it. Or did you mean the Franklin Street station? The 1 train does stop there, but it was also never renamed.
That being said, if we wanted to install a sign that said “Pickled Herring” in the 79th St station to honor something that Mr. Zabar was known (as was done for Ms. Franklin) for, I’d be all for it.
There are no current “person”-related co-namings, but several place-related namings. This would be the first to be co-named for a person.
Wouldn’t that be free advertising for Zabar’s the store? Maybe long time UWSers will know the history but soon it will just mean the Zabar stop by the Zabar store. And then we’ll rename 34th St Macy’s.
Ha ha!! Good one!
I have a lot of respect for Mr. Zabar. He built and ran a wonderful Upper West Side institution that became a real neighborhood landmark and an important part of our community. His passing is a real loss.
That said, I believe our electeds are pursuing the idea of renaming the subway station for the wrong reasons; again to deflect and distract from the real issues than to address them.
I honestly think the best way to remember Mr. Zabar is through his store. That’s what he built, that’s what people love, and that’s the legacy that really keeps his memory alive.
“Could the 79th Street 1 train station be renamed to the 79th Street – Saul Zabar station?” You can’t rename something “to” something else. Cue the editors!
It is a real benefit for stations, streets and avenues to be designated by numbers only. Changing the numbers to names or just adding names to the numbers is a bad idea.
Yup. I ride the 1 downtown every day. While Stonewall is a very important place in American history and deserves to be recognized, the renamed, longer name of that station confuses tourists who are already very confused. Same goes for this station. There are plenty of other ways to honor people and I don’t want to start a trend. How would we feel if Trump forced us to name the station near one of his buildings after him?
Stonewall, WTC, etc. are not the worst-named destination/landmark stops. But, as you say, personal names/co-names set a bad precedent: you know psychotic Rump would “persuade” the MTA to plaster his name (and more) on most stops and institutions.
I’d actually be OK with that, because it would violate the Tenth Amendment (I think – I’m not a lawyer or anything like that), and give the House yet another impeachable offense to vote on after the midterms.
Every time I try to click “like” on a comment, I’m blocked and the website says I’m trying to vote for my own comment (I’m not). Anyone else having this problem?
That said, I like the idea of renaming the station after Saul Zabar.
I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time; we can change the name and still have enough time and resources to complete the rest of the laundry list of things the MTA needs to work on. I’m not sure why there’s an echo chamber of eerily similar comments under suspiciously different names, but whomever is going to the trouble of working so hard to argue against the name change surely has something personal against Zabar’s. God only knows what that could be. The store is almost a century old.
Many real people are against changing the name. What if Zabor’s goes out of business?
It’s entirely possible that many neighbors share a viewpoint.
Or maybe it’s all a conspiracy.
Suspiciously different names, lol? I recognize all but one name here. Surely it’s possible for more than one person to disagree with this idea, and you can add me to the list. As you said, the store is almost a century old, so let that be Mr. Zabar’s legacy.
Why don’t they make an effort to fix and clean the tile in the station instead.
excellent idea
Renaming the station seems excessive to me. Why not an art installation such as a mural inspired by the wonderful tribute poster—celebrating Zabar’s history and including the great Saul Z.
I like Zabar’s as much as most people. But, this is a ridiculous waste of municipal time and resources. Unless of course, Zabar’s wants to pay for a complete overhaul of the station and set up a foundation to guarantee weekly deep cleaning of the station. That would be civil responsibility…in action.
What a ridiculous idea. Time to replace Linda Rosenthal.
What did he donate or do for the area?
Nothing
If I owned a competing business, I might not be happy about this unless I could get one like: 86th st-Barney Greengrass station. 103rd St, Sal and Carmines, etc.
Terrible idea. Pandering. Distraction. Inappropriate to put Zabar’s on the same level as say, NYU.
Linda Rosenthal def lost my vote. Maybe her successor will find a way to be actually useful.
Saul is dead. Zabar’s is his monument. He neither needs nor would he want any other.
Usually the named spot is responseable for cleaning. How about including that aspect into the offering. You will have a better chance.
Really? This is true for subway stations? So, AMNH is responsible for cleaning the 81st St – Museum of Natural History station?
How about re-naming West 80th Street instead of the subway stop? I believe that the current resident of the White House has dibs on re-naming stations.
Ceremonial co-naming, not renaming
Great idea!!!!!
What’s next, 86th Street – Greengrass station? I love Zabar’s, but there’s a difference between a beloved shop and a university!
I think there are more important things for our elected officials to spend time and resources on. Personally, I think standards at Zabar’s have declined, but that’s just opinion, Naming a station after Saul is just free publicity for the store. It sets a bad precedent.
This effort all makes sense once you understand that Rosenthal doesn’t care about making measurable improvements to her district.
It’s much more about what sounds nice, not improvements you can measure.
Love Zabar’s. Love the subway. This is not appropriate and should be a nonstarter. As David notes, we only name stations after places or landmarks, not people. If they really want the station named after him, let’s start with converting the area around 79th and Broadway into a large plaza/pedestrian mall or park, then name the station Zabar Park. Or, replace all the buildings between Amsterdam and West End Avenue, 79th to 82nd, with a new stadium. Name that after him. Then you could have “Zabar Stadium” as the station name, akin to Yankee Stadium. Before anyone freaks out over these ideas, THESE ARE NOT REAL SUGGESTIONS, they are just examples of times a station name might be merited. All of New York is filled with great people–local legends and world changers alike–who have contributed so much and are worthy of acknowledgment. If we go this route, every station in the system could justifiably be named after someone, and we should not get started down that path of endless arguments and confusion.
We name things after people all the time. Get over it.
This should definitely be approved. Saul was a west side institution, a perfect representation of what the Upper West Side is and represents
Saul lived close to the shop and walked to work and probably never took the subway but invite me 2 the installation ceremony especially if there are black and white cookies
I am surprised at the hostility toward this, which, based on the AWFULLY similar comments, seems “coordinated” to some degree.
First, it does not take a great deal of time, energy or money to rename streets, subway stations, etc. (The cost can be as low as the $100s of dollars, though it’s usually in the low $1000s – hardly a king’s ransom.) Second, and related, elected officials can walk and chew gum at the same time; i.e., they can do this and ALSO do all the other “important” things they need to do. So those two “complaints” are as phony as a four-dollar bill.
As for the precedent it sets, while there are no current stations co-named for people, there are many co-named for places. Yet we rarely hear any negative feedback when THAT occurs. So it seems like the objection is to using a person’s name.
But really, what’s the big deal? For those of us on the UWS – the ones who would be using the newly-co-named station the most – Saul Zabar did A LOT more than just serve great lox and do some small things that supported the neighborhood (including preserving the UWS’ original Banksy.) Saul is largely – even primarily – responsible for keeping the UWS “proportionate.” The Zabars family owns well over a dozen buildings on Broadway and nearby, and all of them are 2- to 5-story buildings. Saul was absolutely hellbent on NOT allowing developers to change the “nature” of the community by selling his properties so that they could develop much larger, even enormous, buildings. He actually turned down a $100 million offer for the P.C. Richard’s space on 79th because it would have led to a possible 50-story (or higher) building.
Arguably more than anyone else, Saul is responsible for keeping the UWS “the UWS.” If ANYONE deserves the honor of a co-naming, it is him. No ifs, ands or buts about it.
I say, go for it. If some sort of issue occurs, or a more worthy person appears, it can always be changed back to just “79th Street” or co-named for a different person. Let’s do this.
Echo the comments that the Zabar family can sponsor the station if they so wish.
Saul’s focus on stifling development of new housing is a negative for me, while maybe he has had no problem finding housing for his family members, I’m sure it’s a challenge for many of his employees. The PC Richards space in particular could easily support hundreds of homes instead of just a couple story retailer.
Yuppie homes that only stand to benefit upper crust developers. Does nothing for the neighborhood. The era of the capitalist in NYC is over, Mamdani will see you out now.
Au contraire, even our wise new mayor understands that building new housing helps keep rents affordable for even the lowest income in the city
This comment made me laugh so hard
It isn’t a conspiracy by one or a handful of people, Ian: probably MOST of us oppose the renaming idea. Create a small local park or “square” to name after Zabar. Occasionally the City honors someone by naming a subsection of a street and posting a second street sign.
– – I say, go for it. If some sort of issue occurs, or a more worthy person appears, it can always be changed back to just “79th Street” or co-named for a different person. Let’s do this.
Ian, please snap back to reality.
It is reality. Or do some people get really confused that 79th Street would follow 72nd Street? The argument that people will get confused is bizarre, because the same people have to know where Columbus Circle is, and Houston Street, and Canal Street, and the Metro Tech station, and all the other stations — and there are many — named for streets and buildings. Penn Station? Times Square? World Trade Center? South Street Ferry? I agree with Ian, something is odd here — and it’s not the idea of renaming the station.
It’s like the Protocols of the Commenters of West Side Rag.
“AWFULLY similar comments, seems “coordinated” to some degree.”
Correct.
We convened a secret council specifically to leave you out. Venue: Zabar’s.
We rarely hear any negative feedback about subway stations being named after places because it MAKES SENSE. A huge percentage of the people exiting at 34th St-Penn Station are going to Penn Station. The Flatbush Ave-Brooklyn College station is called that because it’s adjacent to Brooklyn College. Unless they’ve actually buried Saul at that intersection, I vote nay.
And Barney Greengrass is what? Chopped liver?
LOL. The difference is that the owners of BG have done little or nothing for the broader neighborhood, community and UWS., while Saul and Zabars were (and continue to be) consistently active in UWS “affairs.” See my comment above.
A big mosaic Z might look nice.
C’mon everyone…rather that gilding the lily here..let’s take this at face value. Zabar’s is such a vital part of the UWS for so many years, a business that has touched all of our lives in some way, in films, books…why not name the subway station after him? And yes, agree with the family here on this being a lasting way to remember Mr. Zabar and what he has given to all of us all these years.
Acknowledging those who have significantly served the local community, like Saul Zabar, is appropriate. I’ve lived a block from Zabars for 50 years. I appreciate not only the business, but the efforts the Zabar family has gone to help preserve the integrity of our neighborhood,
If renaming the subway station is a bridge too far for some, as another comment suggests, renaming the 80th street block between Broadway and WEA may be appropriate as well.
As for wasting time, public officials can walk and chew gum at the same time.
I appreciate all those civic-minded people who contribute to the community I call home and it is hardly inappropriate to publicly acknowledge their accomplishments. It is part of our history and an example for others to follow,
Let’s stop all the renaming, especially after politicians—RFK Triborough Bridge, Ed Koch, 59th St Bridge, David Dinkins Municipal Building and on and on. And now train stations after neighborhood store owners. Zabar’s is certainly a landmark UWS business but its founder can be honored in numerous ways other than changing a train station name. This is getting out of control.
Absolutely — and Jackie Onassis Reservoir, ugh.. Let’s re-rename most of those landmarks.
“better describes the station… for riders” Wow, that’s a high bar, but go for it. MTA is certainly reluctant to field eight different requests per station tho. More work. Consider how high the fares would increase!
Make the station less of a dank pit and we’ll talk.
Just focus on making the subways safer. Naming it after a shopkeeper, no matter how delicious the lox was, is absurd.
ABSOLUTELY NO, THEY DONT DO ANYTHING FOR THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY ONLY THINK OF LINING THEIR POCKETS WITH MONEY. 16.95 A POUND FOR EGG SALAD ARE YOU KIDDING ME ? WHAT HAVE THEY DONATED TO THIS NEIGHBORHOOD ? NOTHING
You’ve not lived here very long apparently and don’t know the (Saul) Zabar family and their history in the neighborhood,
Would you prefer the prices at Citarella?
That is NOT true. Not everything is about money.
No. Owning an overpriced delicatessen is not worthy of such honoring.
I see criticism of Brewer and Rosenthal continually in WSR. They stay in office, though.
Great idea! Not that image of him, however.
No. It’s ridiculous, unhelpful, and unnecessary free advertising. In no time, other people will be contending for stop-names; that makes for a more confusing, frequently-changing map. For a very few stop-names, it’s acceptable to include a long-term destination institution, such as W. 81st/AMNH, or Columbia; naming after individuals or particular events is annoying, not useful.
No we should not rename UWS subway stops and streets after people. Terrible precedent. If the family wants to help the MTA and NYC they can make a multimillion dollar donation in his memory and receive recognition for that! They have a thriving business with their name already on their store front!
Much as I loved Mr. Zabar and his shop (until, following his passing, his daughter jacked up the prices dramatically on many items), I’m not sure that New York should go overboard in naming subway stations for distinguished New Yorkers.
Make 79th Street “Lox Lane”
Zabar’s is on 80th street