Bakery in old Vesuvio spot closes on Prince
BY GABE HERMAN
Birdbath Green Bakery in Soho, at
the former site of the legendary
Vesuvio Bakery, closed on Aug.
9.
Birdbath, which is owned by City
Bakery, moved into the space at 160
Prince St., between Thompson St. and
West Broadway, in 2009. The bakery
still sports the original Vesuvio storefront.
Maury Rubin, founder of City Bakery,
said in an Instagram post that the
shop’s 10-year lease was up. When Rubin
was asked by Gothamist for details,
he reportedly said the same thing.
Rubin’s Instagram post included
memories of being in the Prince St.
space for 10 years, and thoughts on the
location’s historic signifi cance.
He wrote about opening there in
2009, “after Vesuvio’s sat empty after
the death of Anthony Dapolito, the 2nd
generation of the family that created
Vesuvio’s in 1920.”
Anthony Dapolitio, known as the
Mayor of Greenwich Village, sold the
bakery in 2003 because of health issues
and died later that year at age 82.
Known to all as “Tony,” he was a local
activist, with a focus on parks, especially,
and served on Community Board
2 for more than 50 years, including as
Birdbath Green Bakery on Prince St., which kept the original storefront
and canopy from Vesuvio Bakery, closed on Aug. 9.
its chairperson for many years.
The park around the corner from
the bakery, at Thompson and Spring
Sts., was renamed Vesuvio Playground
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PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
in the 1990s in honor of Dapolito. A
Parks Department policy did not allow
it to be named for a living person, so it
was named after his bakery. In 2004,
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the nearby recreation center at Carmine
St. and Seventh Ave. South was
named after him.
Like only a few other Village spots,
the bakery still was using a coal-burning
oven during Dapolito’s days.
Rubin added in his Instagram post,
“There are few places like Vesuvio’s left
in New York, a sad, diminishing reality.
To a bakery lover, it’s an heirloom. To a
New York lover, it’s history.
“We had ten special years behind that
storefront. We kept the facade exactly
as time delivered it… I always felt this
was the perfect evolutionary handoff:
last century baking yielding to a new
generation. In material terms, Semolina
Bread and Pepper Biscuits turned to
Pretzel Croissant and Rice Milk Muffi
ns with Red Beans & Ginger.”
Rubin noted that many people had
thanked him for not changing the
place’s exterior, “a compliment that
settles in my heart. Same time, have to
admit that that was no grand decision:
I simply wasn’t going to be the schmendrick
who desecrated a city landmark.”
Rubin ended his post by writing, “In
these days of ‘retail apocalypse,’ we ran
an old-fashioned neighborhood bakery.
We knew each other’s names and felt
part of a continuum. It was neighborhood,
community and friendship. Vesuvio
Bakery is magical, and I’m grateful
I got to swim in that magic.”
#DownIsWhatsUp #GetLow2019
10 August 22 - September 4, 2019 DEX Schneps Media