Farewell to Fanny's
If you haven’t been down East 152nd Street lately, you might not know that they’ve torn down Fanny’s Restaurant. Shuttered for the last 11 years, it closed due to a huge back tax debt. It was this debt and the lien on the property that also complicated any purchase from potential buyers.
Fanny’s was started by Frances “Fanny” Boldin and her daughter Frances “Fanny” Kollar in 1947 in a small storefront at 406 East 152nd Street, which would later become Fontina’s Restaurant. Frances Boldin had prior ran the King Cole Restaurant on Lake Shore. In 1961 they moved to the southeast corner of East 152nd Street and Arcade Avenue into what was once an old farm house they would expand with an enclosed front porch and an L-shaped wrap-around addition. It would become a local landmark serving hearty comfort food fare to a cross-section of the city for three generations. It closed in April of 2007 after 60 years.
William McCulloch
Amateur local historian