Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,

No escape from reality.

Open your eyes,

Look up to the skies and see.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

The goodbye party ended at midnight Sunday, but the memories remain as Fry Street businesses begin tearing down the remnants of an eclectic business district on Monday.

Packing boxes in the now still kitchen, Becky Slusarski, who co-owns The Tomato with her husband, Mike “Ski” Slusarski, stopped to chat with a few former employees who stopped in to say goodbye.

Tom Gill, a former assistant manager at the pizza restaurant in the 1990s, flew down from Colorado to commemorate The Tomato’s last day of business at 1126 W. Hickory St. directly across from the University of North Texas.

The L-shaped shopping center is expected to be demolished, and replaced with a new development by United Equities Inc., which bought the property last summer.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Alberto Hernandez removes a table from Bagheri’s on Fry Street on Monday. Businesses must vacate the L-shaped strip on Fry and Hickory streets. Bagheri’s reopened Monday as a hookah lounge at 1125 University Drive.

Scanning the pages of customers’ signatures in a scrapbook, Slusarski said she was still overwhelmed from the turnout. All weekend, people crowded into the restaurant for a final meal before it closed for good Sunday. Lines at the counter led back to the door and out, she said.

“It was hard last night,” she said.

Mike Slusarski said the restaurant ran out of pizza around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

“It was the best three days we’ve ever had,” he said.

The couple hopes to finalize a lease at a new location in the Denton Crossing Shopping Center near Best Buy. But before then, they are planning a silent auction around 5 p.m. Tuesday to give their longtime customers a chance to buy a memento or two from the eatery.

As she turned out the lights after a final day of business at the corner of Hickory and Fry streets, Slusarski remembers hearing the refrains of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen — the last song playing on a jukebox inside the restaurant.

The memory still sends chills down Slusarski’s spine.

“It was weird,” she said.

“People always play it [the song] here. Everybody would always stop [eating] and sing it,” Slusarski said. “It’s like our theme song. It’s weird that it was the last song playing.”

The past three days have passed in a blur for Tim Stoltzfus, owner of Treasure Aisles. Employees have walked from its 1220 W. Hickory St. site to a new one around the corner at 118 Fry St. to the same space once occupied by Alter Ego.

“We’re really happy to stay here,” Stoltzfus said. The comics and book store will reopen Wednesday.

Sid Bagheri arose at daybreak Monday to start the process of tearing down a restaurant he created 10 years and 10 months ago — not that he has kept count, he said with a smile.

Several friends helped him move tables and chairs from his restaurant at 110 Fry St. to the new Bagheri’s Hookah Lounge at 1125 University Drive. He planned to open the Hookah Lounge at 8 p.m. Monday with the hours expanding later this week. Bagheri decided not to re-open the restaurant portion of his business.

The restaurant equipment — an $11,000 oven, a $7,000 mixer and a $2,500 stovetop — are being disconnected and stored by another friend, Sabit Fera, owner of Bari’s Pasta & Pizza, located around the corner at 1407 W. Oak St.

“He’s my neighbor, my friend,” Fera said. “I’ve known him for a long time.”

Jeff Harrison, another friend helping to oversee the dismantling of the old Bagheri’s, said he remembered stopping by the restaurant when it was Jim’s Diner in the 1960s.

Upset by the area’s demise, Harrison said, in his opinion, the shutdown of businesses along Fry Street has been a longtime goal of the city.

“They’ve done everything they could to shut this down,” he said.  “They [Fry Street] had tradition here, and they [the city] killed it. It’s a shame, but that’s progress, I guess.”

Bagheri, standing still as he surveyed the almost empty shell of a once-thriving restaurant, shook his head.

“Trust me,” he said. “They are the loser.”

DAWN COBB can be reached at 940-566-6879. Her e-mail address is dcobb@dentonrc.com .