A beloved White Castle location in Queens has closed after 90 years in business, and locals are dealing with some serious grief at the thought of having to go to another White Castle for their slider needs.
Get a box of tissues ready, folks.
If you’ve ever suffered the loss of a beloved fast-food joint, this one’s going to dropkick you smack dab in the feels.
The White Castle on 57th Avenue spun its last shake recently, and that led to some emotional reactions from locals.
One came from Karen Bartolo, who might be in the running for my favorite person to ever appear on local news.
“What are you gonna do?” Karen said. “They’re gonna build more condominiums here? It’s just one of the last things that you wish they’d have stayed. But that’s it, God bless their journey, and I’m gonna miss White Castle.”
Is someone cutting onions in here… because we know it’s not that White Castle.
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If you’ve ever lost a favorite establishment, you know the feeling. It’s like losing a family member. A distant one, but still.
You go through the same range of emotions in dealing with that grief, but kudos to Karen for having such a grounded, level-headed reaction to such a loss.
I can’t say I’d handle it the same… unless she went home and uncorked an angry email to White Castle corporate.
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But Karen’s memories of that White Castle are what really hit me.
“When there was the metal arena over there, going to see bands, we’d come here all drunk and silly and get our White Castle. Not making any trouble, just having fun.
“It’s nostalgic, it’s sad, but things change.”
Karen, you rule.
Imagine, if you will, it’s 1985 and you’re in Queens catching Night Ranger and Cinderella (or whatever two hair bands you want to plug into this equation; Dokken, Kix, Winger, etc.) you have a good time and then you go cram nice, greasy sliders in your dumb face with Karen and her gal pals who I’m sure all had heads of giant, crispy ’80s hair.
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If I get access to a time machine, I’m altering a few major world events, and then heading to Queens, because that sounds like the time and place to be.
What a video, but it might still play second banana to the greatest mourning of a fast-food joint on the local news ever.
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That, of course, is the folks paying tribute to the Dunkin’ in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.
True story: I say “cold coffee” like Edna Faust more regularly than I’d really care to admit.