Ah, Madge ... the memories of Florent! Mine go even further back than the clocking of your post-Click-n-Drag 6 a.m. mascara runs. I can still remember performing at Florent's Bastille Day celebration in 1992 with my old band Louis Quatorze (we went on right after Sherry Vine as Edith Piaf in granny orthopedic shoes and support hose).
If it does close, can we really call it 'the end of an era'? Seems to me the era of the Meatpacking District already ended some time ago. But Florent's closing would mark it officially I guess, since they were the first ones there.
For a spell I had a studio apartment right next to the Old Homestead Steakhouse, circa 1993-95. It was such a kick when my mom and her brother came to visit me once and I took them to Florent one night for dinner. They had no idea where we were going as we trudged through darkened streets in that foul-smelling air with trannie hookers switching past and giving my uncle the eye. The cobblestones were so slick with lard and grease that my mother almost fell but managed to steady herself against an overflowing dumpster. Naturally I loved every second of the walk. Finally we turn the corner and see the light at the end of Gansevoort with limos outside and fun people going in and out. Home at last!