Vintage NYC restaurant closes shop

There will be fewer calamari lunches and red sauce suppers in South Street Seaport now that the 107-year-old Carmine’s Italian Seafood Restaurant has closed its doors.

Carmine’s -- known more as a vestige of vintage New York with its kitschy décor that included a giant ship’s steering wheel, wood paneling and hand-painted fish, than for its food – stood at Beekman and Front streets since 1903.
 
Before it was shuttered last Wednesday, the restaurant, which was not related to the Theater District’s Carmine’s, was one of the few remaining old school neighborhood eateries. Its passing has been the talk of the tight-knit neighborhood, with the chatter focusing on how the owners didn’t want to pay higher rent.

“It didn’t close because of business,” said the manager of a neighboring restaurant, who didn’t want to be named. “The people around here are wealthy. It’s not that there is a change in the neighborhood.”

Neither Carmine’s owners, nor the landlord, could be reached for comment Monday.