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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

H&H Bagels is Toast, Evicted By City Marshal

By Leslie Albrecht

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — H&H Bagels is officially toast.

After 39 years on the corner of West 80th Street and Broadway, the bagel capital of the Upper West Side was evicted Wednesday by a New York City marshal, neighborhood blog My Upper West first reported.

The financially troubled business — whose owner went to jail last year after pleading guilty to tax fraud — owed more than $300,000 in back rent to its landlords, a company representative recently said.

Outside the store on Thursday, a passer-by stopped in his tracks and peered into the darkened space, where Upper West Siders once lined up to get piping hot bagels at any hour of the day.

Some said the bagels were the best in the city, reportedly because H&H used a pinch of sugar in its dough. Others complained that they were too sweet, and too expensive, at $1.40 per bagel.

"Unbelievable," the passerby muttered.

News that the beloved bagelry was closing sent shockwaves through the neighborhood last week, and one local resident even tried to organize a grassroots movement to "save" the store.

But H&H Bagels representatives said the business could no longer afford its $67,500 monthly rent.

Two "For Rent" signs hung on the West 80th Street store on Wednesday. Landlord Friedland Properties reportedly wants to move a bank into the space.

H&H's West 46th Street and 12th Avenue bakery and retail outlet remain open.