Continental Drift

Eater (www.eater.com) reports the sad news that Marion's Continental may be for the drop.

Reporters there spotted a commerical real estate listing that said a buyer who had $3.5 million that wasn't doing anything could get the suave old eatery and the building it lives in "Delivered Vacant." No closing date yet, but in this market there's bound to be somebody who'll take that bait.

The place is often listed as one of the oldest operating restaurants in New York City, though that's something of a fib. It did open in 1950, true. But it then closed in 1973 (just before all the fun ended, right?). Founder Marion Magy's son reopened it in the same space in 1990, crafting the interior to match photographs of the old Marion's. He did a good job. The small room has always had an elegant, bygone feel to it. A bit fake, but a bit real too. The cocktails are excellent; it's almost as if the joint was decorated to make cocktails look good. And it's incongruous location on the Bowery has always lent it extra charm. That, and the fact that Amy Sedaris waitressed there from many years, even after she became famous.