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Park Slope's Shuttered Tea Lounge Sells Off Couches to Highest Bidders

By Leslie Albrecht | December 18, 2014 8:27am
 High chairs went for $1 a piece at an auction liquidating the now closed Tea Lounge.
Park Slope's Tea Lounge Sells Off Couches to Highest Bidders
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PARK SLOPE — Pieces of Park Slope history were auctioned off to the highest bidders Wednesday as the Tea Lounge liquidated its assets, from armchairs to a Zumex juicer.

The longtime cafe at Union Street and Seventh Avenue closed for good on Dec. 14 after 14 years in business, prompting anguished cries from legions of freelancers and other keyboard tappers left without a comfy place to work.

But nostalgia took a backseat at Wednesday's auction, where the Tea Lounge's famed couches, chalkboard menus and espresso machines fetched bargain prices. High chairs were snapped up for $1 apiece and fire extinguishers were sold for $3 each. Everything seemed to be for sale, including the cash register, amps used during live music performances and an unopened box of garbage bags.

Most of the auction attendees were professionals in the restaurant supply business, but one or two memento-seekers showed up. Dorothy Franco, a 25-year-old grad student, stopped by to scoop up a souvenir from her high school days, when she whiled away hours at the Tea Lounge while ditching class.

"When I was 14 years old, it was my favorite place," Franco said. "To me, it felt like home."

She had hoped to bid on a teapot, but she had to leave before the auction got started.

Among the buyers was John Grasimo, who has owned Big John's coffee shop at 32nd Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park for the past four years. He was eyeing a cappuccino machine.

"We sell regular coffee," Grasimo said. "But now the neighborhood is changing and they're asking for cappuccinos and espressos."

Regulars at the Tea Lounge are in negotiations to open a cafe and co-working space in the shuttered spot.