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Williamsburg Remembers and Mourns its Dearly Departed White Castle

Chicken rings and burger "suitcases" to be replaced by condos.

RIP White Castle
RIP White Castle

Early yesterday morning, Williamsburg's 22 year-old White Castle, an icon on the Eastern edge of the neighborhood, closed unceremoniously. That shouldn't come as a complete surprise, since the property was sold to a new owner last summer. As the Brooklyn Paper reported then, the location of the gritty but (to some) beloved burger joint will most likely make way for some fancy new condos. A spot check of the space yesterday revealed an empty storefront, a parking lot circled in yellow police tape, and a sad skeleton of the old sign. Passersby stopped to take photos so they could earnestly or ironically mourn the chain's demise and remember their last suitcase of burgers on social media. Here, some reactions.

As the Bedford area of Williamsburg attracts an increasing number of upmarket retailers — note the anticipated J. Crew just opened this weekend — the affluence is beginning to trickle further afield into the eastern regions of the neighborhood, including Graham (where the White Castle plot sold for $6.72 million) and Grand where a discount department store was recently leveled to make way for a 63,000 square foot rental complex designed by architect Gene Kaufman.