Mori's Restaurant

Mori's Restaurant (1884 - 1938) was a landmark Greenwich Village eating establishment which featured Italian cooking. It became bankrupt during the aftermath of the Great Depression. Founded by Placido Mori^[1], the business had been located at 144 - 146^[2] Bleecker Street (Manhattan) since it opened in 1884. It survived the Prohibition era and the worst years of the depression, when it was temporarily padlocked. The restaurant began as a small bar and eatery and expanded to fully occupy a "rambling, old-fashioned" five-story^[2] building near Sixth Avenue (Manhattan).^[1]

Placido Mori filed a petition for bankruptcy in January 1938, stating that the corporation had no assets and liabilities totaling $70,000.^[1] The building formerly occupied by Mori's Restaurant was sold by Caroline Bussing through A.Q. Orza, broker, in October 1943.^[2]

In 1920 Mori gave fledgling American architect Raymond Hood room, board, and the job of re-decorating the restaurant, critical help to the young Hood. Mori's gravesite in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is marked with a sculpted memorial designed by Hood and sculptor Charles Keck.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Mori's In Village Is Forced To Close, New York Times, January 5, 1938, pg. 23.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Harlem Building Gets New Owner, New York Times, October 12, 1943, pg. 40.