NEW YORK (AP) -- The restaurant survived rioting and looting, but it could not survive New York City gentrification.

Copeland's held its last brunch Sunday, closing for good after 50 years and bringing an end to one of the greatest restaurant runs in Harlem history.

Owner Calvin Copeland, who opened the place on 145th Street in the famed black neighborhood with $850 in savings and saw it overcome hard times such as the riots of 1964, said the neighborhood's changing demographics no longer made it viable.

In recent years, middle-class black and white families have bought Harlem's handsome brownstones and fixed them up. They just did not crave his savory fried chicken, cornbread, potato salad and collard greens anymore.

"The transformation snuck up on me like a tornado," he said.

Copeland's end brought out many elected officials including the dean of Harlem politicians, U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel. Proclamations were presented from Congress and Governor Eliot Spitzer.

"You are more to us than a restaurateur," Rangel said. "You're a legend. You're hope. And you're inspiration."

"It's a sad occasion," diner Gloria Jackson said. "You feel like a celebrity when you come here. They always cater to your every need."