Goodbye to all that

This week in the SundayArts blog, I hail the downtown luminaries getting together to say goodbye to Florent, the meatpacking district restaurant that for almost a quarter century was a haven for a freak scene now gasping for air.

Typically, the restaurant's closing is due to rising rents, and coincides with the Sex and the City movie—the moment the SATC gals went cruising W 14th Street was the moment that neighborhood went south. Today, it's a vile emporium for luxury goods, an altar to the conspicuous consumption of overpriced objects. The sight of people lining up outside the Apple store first thing in the morning, so they're first to get in when it opens, is enough to make me choke down some bile.