My Florist Cafe near downtown Phoenix closes its doors

[Source: Howard Seftel, Arizona Republic]

Once a hot spot on the corner of McDowell and Seventh Avenue, My Florist Café has seemed to be on life support for years.

Now the plug has been pulled: The restaurant’s phone has been disconnected. Equipment was being pulled out of the kitchen Friday morning. And word has gone out to performers scheduled for upcoming events that the venue is not available.

Back in its 1990s heyday, My Florist Café attracted a cool crowd of bohemians and suits, folks who had almost no downtown Phoenix-area hangout alternatives. Here you could get decent grub, and a vibe that could make you plausibly pretend you were in a big city.

But over the past decade, as downtown grew, My Florist Café couldn’t keep up, and lost its cachet. By 2010, it had pretty much become irrelevant. The restaurant also seemed to suffer when a second location was opened in Ventura, Calif.