Sarah Jessica Parker says the closure of popular Greenwich Village sports bar Riviera Cafe is a “freaking bummer.”
The actress posted a video of the shuttered bar to her Instagram Saturday, writing that “it’s one thing to know it, another to see it.” After 48 years in the Village, the bar — known to fill up on game nights through the NFL season — served its final beer on Aug. 31.
Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick live in the West Village with their three children, James, Marion and Tabitha. It’s not clear if SJP was actually a regular visitor of the bar, but still, its closure hits home for the “Sex and the City” actress who says she used to pass by often.
“It’s painful to watch happen,” Parker says. Her video spans the empty streetside dining space. “I’m not even a big football fan, but I loved hearing the cheering, hooting and good times as I walked by.”
The space’s former manager, Steve Certell, told Gothamist in August that the end of the road was near for Riviera, but failed to give a reason. “Things open, things close . . . We’ve outlasted tens of thousands of restaurants in New York. We’ve had a successful run and now we’re closing.”
Parker’s post was flooded with hundreds of comments from New Yorkers within an hour.
“So sad. Was our go-to place for a burger. Could look out our window at Sheridan Square to see if “our table” was available,” one Instagram user writes.
“It’s happening too much in the Village,” another writes. “Almost as many empty stores and restaurants as there are open ones. So sad to see.”
