It's a dirty job ...

... But somebody's gotta do it, so let me be the jaded native New Yorker who shrugs and says "good riddance" to Tavern on the Parking Lot. It was shoved into the park by Robert Moses to spite a bunch of sheep, and that was more or less its high point. Real New Yorkers only went there for someone else's bar mitzvah. The one time I went there on purpose, I was a little disappointed that the food was actually somewhat north of ptomaine, but at least it was overpriced and the service stank.

News of the demise of Tavern on the Green (and the auctioning off of its gaudy fixtures) has spawned a wave of cyber garment rending, but really, it was just one of those things spoken of as quintessentially New York that was almost completely divorced from the reality of New York, even for New Yorkers who like to splurge on kitsch. It was no more than a confection for tourists, like carriage rides (or nowadays pedicab rides) in the park. Which is not to say that there aren't touristy things in New York that aren't really great, and which the natives enjoy without embarrassment, but this wasn't one of 'em. Bring back the sheep I say.