There was a nice piece about the El Quijote in Chelsea Now last week, pointing out that the restaurant has been a fixture of the Chelsea Hotel family for 80 years, and celebrating it’s antique décor and affordable prices. Though the article, written by Dean P. Wrzeszcz, also notes that the El Q has 39 years left on its lease, and so will presumably be safe even if the rest of the neighborhood continues to gentrify, it fails to get at the real crux of the matter, which is that the Chelsea Hotel management would like to see the old timer out of there so they can open a trendier slop trough for rich scenesters. We hear that the new "brain trust" have been pestering the august eatery with a barrage of dirty tricks apparently designed to get them to throw in the towel and vacate. In the meantime, be sure to support El Q by giving them your business.
Oh, another thing: Wrzeszsc says that the casualties of the hotel’s recent drive to vacate its storefronts include include “a comic book store and fishing store.” Well, the comic book store has actually been gone for about 8 years, replaced long ago by a Container/Box Store. And the “fishing store” was none other than the famous Capitol Fishing Tackle, a fixture of the building for over 50 years, and the only fishing tackle store in Manhattan. (They have relocated to 36th St., taking their iconic neon sign with them.) The other stores purged are Balabanis Tailor (the family moved back to Greece ) and Chelsea Healing, the acupuncture shop (relocated to 321 West 24th St.). — Ed Hamilton
Living with Legends 
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