After the termination of the grill, the scrubbing and packing began. The employees threw cocoa, Campbell's chili con carne and ketchup into boxes with the haphazardness of the post-finals storage process.
A round of Tasty souvenir T-shirt sales started at 5:45 a.m. with the last-minute arrival of students.
"It's a legend. It's a tradition. We had to show our respects to the Tasty," said David Amerikaner '01, who set his alarm clock for 4:45 a.m. to he could come to the Tasty.
At 6 a.m. the last cup of coffee at 2 JFK St. was served to a true Tasty diehard. Bob Richards, a Cambridge resident who has been going to the Tasty since he was a high school student in 1951, had the honor of imbibing the last mug of coffee.
"It's sad to see an institution like this go. I've been coming to the Tasty for half the years it's been open," he said.
At 6:05 there was an effort to humor an impatient local television news camera operator. The counter staff simulated the Tasty closing for film by shutting off the bright neon sign and locking the door.
However, they met with one stumbling block.
"There's no key. That's why we're open 24 hours," quipped Tasty employee Bob Martin.
As Harvard Square was waking up to a grey sky on a sleepy Sunday morning, the Tasty slowly wound down.
After a final breakfast featuring cheese omlettes with Tasty employees, the owners and their friends, the restaurant equipment was hauled away in a truck in the early afternoon. White signs were plastered on the windows announcing their temporary roosting place at 35 JFK St.
Even after the doors were locked, the Tasty was still the object of curiosity. Throughout the day, passersby stood on wooden boxes to peer over the white signs into the Tasty's empty shell.
"The faucet is still running," one woman remarked.
The sign in the Tasty window shares the restaurant's proud 81-year legacy: "29,565