East Village Taco Shop Closes After 30 Years Due To 'Unsustainable' Rent Increase

EAST VILLAGE, NY — The East Village taco shop San Loco is closing on Tuesday after 30 years in the neighborhood due to an "unsustainable" rent increase, its managers said in a Facebook post on Monday night.

The restaurant, located at 124 Second Ave., first opened in 1986, the flagship location of the mini-chain. Now, 31 years later, San Loco's original location is shutting its doors. The family-owned business said in a Facebook post that the Second Avenue location was closing "due to a rent increase that is unsustainable." The chain's remaining locations, on the Lower East Side, in Williamsburg, and in Bushwick, remain open. (Want more local news? Subscribe here for free breaking news alerts, features and community updates from Patch.)

The Second Avenue Tex-Mex joint was opened by brothers Craig and Darrell Nelsen because, as they wrote on their website, "In the 1980’s, New York City’s East Village was a wasteland when it came to Mexican food. It was practically impossible to find a tasty ground beef taco, so in 1986, the two brothers opened San Loco on Second Avenue and St. Marks Place." Craig Nelsen later left the business, but Darrell remains at the business along with his sister Jill Hing and her husband, according to the restaurant's website.

Hing spoke last year of the pressure their family-run restaurants were facing.

"We have been feeling unbelievable pressure caused by the increased cost of doing business for quite a few years now," she told Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, a blog that documents institutions as they leave, or are priced out, of the city. "At this point, we are not sure how much longer we can hang on."

The November 2016 blog post from Jeremiah's shows the dire straits the business has been in the wake of soaring real estate prices in Manhattan. "Rent is a constant source of stress," Hing told the blog. "In our case, as with many long-standing businesses, we are at the mercy of the landlord and live in fear of our next rent renewal."

Patch was not immediately able to contact San Loco's landlord on Tuesday.

An East Village advisory board is currently considering a measure that would help protect and support mom and pop shops, like San Loco, in the neighborhood. Community Board 3, which includes the East Village, is weighing creating a "special zoning district" in the neighborhood, which put limits on the size of businesses and restrict the number of chain stores that could open on a single block.

Lead image via Shutterstock.