NEW YORK - A soul food restaurant that survived rioting and looting could not survive 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.

“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.”

Owner Calvin Copeland, who opened the place on 145th Street 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 didn't crave his savory fried chicken anymore.

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

Copeland's denouement brought out many elected officials including the dean of Harlem politicians, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel. They all paid tribute to Copeland.

Rangel and others heaped praise on Copeland as high as their plates were piled with chicken, cornbread, potato salad and collard greens.

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

The Rev. Calvin Butts, the influential pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, thanked Copeland, 82, for his dedication and hard work and prayed “that this will be a new day for him, a day of relaxation and enjoyment for the rest of his years.”

Proclamations were presented from Congress, from Gov. Eliot Spitzer, from the City Council and from the state Senate and Assembly.

“It's an institution,” said Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, a 30-year patron of Copeland's. “It's important to come out and say thank you and let Mr. Copeland know that we appreciate all he's done for the community.”

As Copeland thanked his customers Sunday, he left the door open for a Copeland's rebirth or for starting another restaurant somewhere else.

“With what you've showed me and how you feel about me, I think there's another chapter,” he said. “Going home with no place to go and no purpose, I don't think that could work for me.”