Prime Burger, a classic Manhattan eatery, closed last week

Earlier in the year I shared a lovely short film about Prime Burger, a midtown Manhattan institution.

For many of the guys that work here, the restaurant is like a second home — some of them have been slinging burgers, making shakes, and waiting on customers at this location for decades. Opened in 1938, the place hasn’t been altered since the early ’60s, and it looks all the better for it.

Sadly, as of Saturday, Prime Burger is no more, booted out by the new ownership of their building.

Prime Burger, the 74-year-old coffee shop and restaurant, run for 36 years by the DiMiceli family, is closing. And though Michael DiMiceli spoke hopefully on Friday of finding a new space in which to reinstall Prime Burger’s futuristic “Jetsons”-era d’ecor, the family has scarcely had time yet to look or to strike a deal. The small building in which Prime Burger is a tenant was sold recently, and the new owners sent the restaurant packing.

• food
• NYC
• Prime Burger
• restaurants