Patrons overjoyed at Junior's Manhattan reopening

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cheered alongside New Yorkers Thursday, as Junior's Restaurant on Times Square celebrated the reopening of its doors post-COVID.

The restaurant's third-generation owner Alan Rosen welcomed Schumer, patrons and employees after the location suffered one of the toughest shutdowns alongside its theater district neighbors.

"None of us could have ever imagined a worldwide pandemic would close this city. The city that never sleeps, sleeping in for 14 months," Rosen said.

"Nor could I have imagined our employees put out of work. Our theaters closed. Restaurants closed; hotels closed…Junior's 70-year legacy in jeopardy. Would we make it to 71?" he said.

Schumer, a Democrat from New York, has been a fan of Junior's famous cheesecake since he was a child.

"All of Times Square is coming back and here we are to say now that there is in Times Square, there is light. There is liveliness. And there is cheesecake, the best cheesecake. As we say, in Brooklyn in the world," he said.

And patrons like Linda Gordon, an ex-New Yorker who now lives in Southern California, couldn't agree more.

"I'm thrilled that Junior's is open because they have the best food, the best cakes. And what more can you ask for?" she told The Associated Press Thursday.

Gordon was joined by her friend Scott Nemerson, who is visiting from Ventura, California.

"And we're about to have cheesecake for breakfast, lunch and dinner," he joked.

"It's really a delightful, uplifting, hopeful time that people can enjoy each other, enjoy society, and the cities and countries and get back to living life the way we once knew it," Nemerson said.

For Pablo Canon, a tourist visiting from Miami, Florida, it was his first time tasting the famous cheesecake.

"The food is really good. And now we're going to try the cheesecake, we never try it before. So, it will be a really good experience," he said.