Coliseum Books, at 57th and Broadway, is being replaced by a Fleet Bank and a Daffy clothing store.

Across the street, Lechter's housewares has already been replaced by a Payless Shoe Source.

But the real 57th Street shocker for me is the closing of the Russian Tea Room near Carnegie Hall. That place had been closed for renovations for what seemed like years. It finally re-opened, but recently closed down completely, evidently for good.

When I moved to New York in 1990 I had a dream about the Russian Tea Room. I dreamed that after living in New York for many, many years I would become very wealthy and established. People would know me by name at all the fanciest places in town. My entourage would regularly eat lavish meals, but I would make Page Six in the New York Post for my habit of eating only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a glass of milk at the Russian Tea Room and at other crazy expensive restaurants around town. Someone would even make a movie based on my regular ritual of shocking wait staff at the Russian Team Room by saying "I'd like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, please, and a glass of milk." While others ate fabulously expensive steak and seafood concoctions, I would stay true to my love of peanut butter and jelly.

Alas, I never even saw the inside of the Russian Tea Room. I have a hunch, which is probably nothing more than mis-led optimism, that the place will open again someday, and maybe then I can pursue my dream. But I may not be able to sustain the interest. Because among many things I have learned about myself these past many years, one thing that stands out in my mind is the fact that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches make me kind of sick. They upset my stomach and sometimes nearly make me barf.

So maybe I would eat only baloney and American cheese sandwiches at the Russian Tea Room, and at the Tavern on the Green and at the Petrossian Restaurant on 58th Street. The dream lives, but it is altered. I'll even consider Velveeta.

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