Two very different closing announcements, but both indications that New York City is getting less and less like New York City.

In Williamsburg, the announcement that Galapagos is moving to Dumbo makes it clear that it is not just residents that are being displaced. Galapagos was only 12 years old, but it in itself represented an early transition of the neighborhood – from roving art rave to some sort of establishment. That hey day was short lived, though, as it was almost exactly 10 years that Utne Reader proclaimed Williamsburg officially hip. Now, through rezoning, the city has added so much value to the real estate of Williamsburg that property owners would be foolish not to cash in. The result is that places like Galapagos need some sort of subsidy to survive in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, with Kurowycky’s gone, yet another one of the East Village’s connections to its ethnic past is lost.

This will certainly start a ham panic among some people we know.