WOW! Tavern on the Green is closing
 

I just got an email from them saying they are closing their doors on Dec 31st. Thats so sad. Tavern is a great restaurant but from what I've heard their "aura" has been going down for years. Used to be very upscale and last time I went I saw dudes in jeans.

Sadly this is happening to a lot of places all over.

True. This was our (my wife and I) spot. We started going in like 06 for our anniversary. Too bad we can't make it back before they close.

(WIKI'd)

With 2007 gross revenues of $38 million, from more than 500,000 visitors, it is the second highest-grossing independently-owned restaurant in the United States (behind The Venetian's Tao restaurant in Las Vegas, at $67 million).

In June, 2008, Tavern on the Green agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a sexual and racial discrimination lawsuit over claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of "pervasive harassment" of women and minority employees.

On August 28, 2009, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that it had declined to renew the restaurant's license, granting it instead to Dean Poll, operator of the Central Park Boathouse. The LeRoy management was required to cease operations and remove all furnishings from the location before January 1, 2010.

In September 2009, the restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, located in New York City, citing the 2009 national financial crisis and the August 28, 2009 loss of the restaurant's operating license. The rights to the name of the restaurant became an additional source of contention between the LeRoys and the city of New York during the bankruptcy court procedures in October 2009 after the LeRoys claimed the trademark was theirs while the city challenged them.[16] At the time the trademark was appraised at $19 million. In November 2009, Poll registered a backup name with New York State: Tavern in the Park

I wonder why the city didnt renew their license.