New Yorkers are the most nostalgic people in the world. Mention AZUMA and they start having orgasms.

Azuma was great. What was the name of the other Japanese store that was right next to it? I can't remember.

here we go....

That's because they keep destroying anything good in that city in favor of turning it into every other piece of shit in America.

Fuck you OP Azuma was great but I am not im perpetual mouring over It. It was a place you vould buy cute knick Knacks and cheap gifts. Now everthing is overpriced or tourist shit in NY. I go the the Japanese Mall im Edgewater now btw.

I used to buy the Chinese slippers at Azuma.

There was always a basket full of them for about $4.99 each.

& I actually wore them....out and about.

I wore them also they were very minamalist but offered zero support. They also sold them at Pearl River in China Town.

Was Azuma Chinese, in fact?

I suffer from old NYC melancholy tremendously. I know it makes me an asshole. But I really do miss the one of a kind great places that organically were a part of my life. Born and raised in NYC and still there.

[quote]I suffer from old NYC melancholy tremendously.

here you go, gurl >>

What was the name of the Asian store right next to Azuma?!

Speaking of NYC nostalgia, how about Charivari, Franklin Simon, Arnold Constable, Best and Co., Ohrbach's , Korvette's, Abraham and Strauss, Crazy Eddie's, and of course Gimbels.

For R8

Been here 40 years. I miss the quirky little businesses, hate the uglification of 57th Street, with the needle buildings. Every block has a Starbucks, Duane Reade, etc. Many bookstores gone. On the other hand, I don't miss the drug dealers who used to thrive on the Upper West Side.

Bring it New Yorkers, this is going to be a good thread. I used to stay with my sister in the summers of the early 70's. New York was heaven to this midwestern kid. I didn't know school children even knew the word "fuck" much less used it. Oh my gawd the bookstores were wonderful.

Bump

The ----- Avenue Bazaar Stores

Christine's, Theresa's, Marie's Polish restaurants

Mumbles

Love Cosmetics

Woolworth's

B Altman's

Independent movie theaters

Tons of kosher delis

Pasta Presto

First Wok

Hunan Balcony

The Wiz

Tower Records/video

HMV

Champagne Video (RCA Video, Video Vroom amd tons of independent video stores).

Greengrocer on every corner

Shakespeare Books

Small Pottery Barn stores all over the city selling tons of cutlery, drinkware, linen,

Conran's

Strawberry's

Brentano's

Odd Lot

Conway's for cheap stuff

Scandinavian Gallery

Tons of card shops - Christmas stuff 50% off Dec 26, 75% off Jan 2.

Lox Around the Clock

Dojo's

I hear Tio Pepe is still there. I keep forgetting to go there when i visit the city

[quote]First Wok

Is that the same as Wok On First?

No. First Wok did not have to be on First Avenue. My local one was on third ave

Soooo many Mexican restaurants

I was glad to hear Tortilla Flats is still there.

[quote]Christine's, Theresa's, Marie's Polish restaurants

There was a place in a corner - maybe 7th & 2nd Ave - all night - famous for French Toast.

Do you know what it was called?

El Teddy's

Wow, I didn't know Teddy's closed.

Is Walker's still open?

gurl, don't forget

Doubleday's

&

B. Dalton

Jerry's in soho

Florent in meatpacking

R23 Are you thinking of Kiev? Long gone...

Walker's is still there.

That used to be a dangerous neighborhood

Yes. I am.

Thanks, dollface,

Oops

I get wet over the Hippodrome.

The Cupping Room is still there.

Always loved it.

Used to see David Letterman in Walker's at brunchtime

Man, those were the days

The Riviera on 7th.

Still there.

Best burgers in town.

Kiev!!! Thx. Man, many drunken 4am meals there.

Riviera! Damn. Lived around corner on Grove Street. Boring uptown now.

Whitehorse Tavern

Remember this?

I still have my little blue teapot I bought at Azuma it doesn't get much use now. The restaurant I get nostalgic over is Zum Zums German fast food.

The Magic Pan.

P.J. Clarke's is still there.

the " real list " :

Mineshaft The Saint The Trucks The Pier Badlands St Marks Baths Everard Baths Egon VonFustenburg Tom McBride

>>>>

[quote]I hung with that crowd

How come you're still alive?

Au Bar in midtown anyone? Eurotrash but fun.

What was the preppy homo bar on UWS? like Columbus in 70s sorta behind Am natural Hist Museum?

OK. A tough one here. 50 points to anyone who remembers. Trixie's just above Times Square? A flash in the pan but beginning of wacked out fun restaurants.

R49, was it Waterworks? (Wasn't there a neon faucet logo?)

I'm fascinated by areas that have so far resisted change and gentrification, like Canal St and Fulton St in downtown Brooklyn.

R49 I had lots of fun in their Back Room which was down 1 flight. I think it was The Candle Bar.

Luchows. At least Grays Papaya on 72nd St is still around Anyone remember The Eclair ! It was on 72 between Bway and Amsterdam. It was part of my 70s childhood and they had a wonderful breakfast. It was owned by Austrian Jews and and alot of the patrons were concentration camp survivers. It had a bustleing bakery in front and the cafe in back. There was a tall Chinese waiter who i now realize was gay that facinated me. He was quite out of place among all the German Jews and had a quiet dignity. They closed it sometime in the late 80s I believe it became the Buttercup Bake Shop which is also closed even though their cupcakes were better than Magnolias. I am unashamedly sentimental about my 70s NYC childhood. My mother was a friend of the owner of Charivari they became friendly when they met at same Health Spa/ Fat farm she was a very nice Jewish lady. Charivari was fabulous.

The Shake Shack is still there.

>>>>

Wertheimer's department store.

I bought my first houseboy there.

When I moved to NYC I lived on 112th & Bway down the block was St John the Divine Cathedral the largest Gothic Cathedral in North America. Across the street from the cathedral was the Hungarian Pastry Shop and Next to it was a Hungarian restaurant I and my partner would go the Hungarian restaurant on Friday for their special 1/2 roast duck then we would go next store for an espresso and a Hungarian pastry. It was like being in Budapest.

It was The Works, R49. With Sunday night beer blast.

R51. Yes!!! Thx.

Chock Full O'Nuts on the corner of Broadway/116th---across from Columbia. R59---I spent enough semester hours in the Hungarian Pastry Shop to earn a doctorate! There was a cute Greek guy behind the counter...

Manatus in the Village. I never thought that they would close.

[quote] down the block was St John the Divine Cathedral the largest Gothic Cathedral in North America

They used to do a special service/concert once a year when everyone brought their animals - it was beautiful.

"Preppy homo bar"--The Works

Candle Bar was on Amsterdam at about 75. Closed maybe a year ago.

I miss the Coliseum book store on 57.

For a while the Regency theater on Broadway at about 63 was a good revival house. I remember seeing double bills there in late 70s, then going next door to a neighborhood bar for a gin and tonic, in the summer.

The New Yorker bookstore on Broadway and 91 or 92.

The old Thalia (now the Leonard Nimoy Thalia) on W.95 off Broadway had great double bills of noir, etc. They would give out program notes about the films. Richard (Schwartz?) headed it up. Cute guy who died young.

R64 They still do. Its called the blessing of the animals.

I miss ALL the bars!

The Gaiety

THE 68TH STREET PLAYHOUSE.

Anyone know the name of this small bookstore on 89th between Broadway and Amsterdam---the owner had a parrot there. Found loads of good books!

The loss of The Soupburg on Madison (& 73rd) pains me.

& The Left Bank.

R63. Thanks!!!!

R71. Killing me!!!!! Miss soupburg. For a dive it had its fair share of blue haired WASP old ladies.

R65. Loved Coliseum. By any chance do you remember the old old old gym above it? Separate men's and women's areas to work out.

never even heard of Manataus & I lived in the Village for years.

Remember Mitalli West?

Is Elephant & Castle still open? First meal I ever ate in a NYC restaurant.

R75. I remember mitali west. I know you would remember Manatus. It had an odd way of not being noticeable although it was right on the street. It was an odd combo of gnarly diner but nice and upscale. If that makes sense. Across from condomania.

really obscure -

coffee shop

about 65th & Madison.

Just a counter - no tables.

Ring a bell? Probably THIS block - on the left.

I mean - on the right >>

La Bon Bonniere? For you Village dwellers.

[quote]Is Elephant & Castle still open? First meal I ever ate in a NYC restaurant.

On Greenwich Avenue?

R79. Fuck yes!!!!! Tiny narrow. Been many times and still don't know name!!!

[quote][R75]. I remember mitali west. I know you would remember Manatus. It had an odd way of not being noticeable although it was right on the street. It was an odd combo of gnarly diner but nice and upscale. If that makes sense. Across from condomania

No. ZERO.

R82. I havnts been to Village in awhile but I was there about two years ago. Still open then.

[quote][R79]. Fuck yes!!!!! Tiny narrow. Been many times and still don't know name!!!

YES! What was it called?

Remember Nectar (I think) on 67th & Madison.

Are any of the gay bookstores still open?

R84. Oh. Ok. I just dreamed it. Fuckin' chill.

R89. For the life of me. Can't recall.

McNulty's tea

I don't think Manatus could have been there that long.

I left in '88.

R70 Pretty sure you are speaking of The New Yorker book store. Thats really sad there were so many wonderful book stores that you coulld just lose yourself in and the books were obviosly chosen with love and care by real book lovers not just by best sellers lists.

There was a Greek diner with some booths called the Gardenia on the east side of Madison at 67. I used to go there after seeing my therapist. Once I was in there and heard from the next booth a familiar voice, ordering I guess. When that person left, I heard the owner say, "That was Claus von Bulow!"

Nice little Bookstore in the West Village - Three Lives?

Run by two dykes.

Excellent shop.

My friends and I all got our hair cut at Ramones' in the village. Same cut every time.

F.I.T. freshman. Worked at Xenon. So much fun.

[quote]There was a Greek diner with some booths called the Gardenia on the east side of Madison at 67.

Yes, that's it!

I think The Nectar was 79th & Madison

Claire - gay restaurant in Chelsea. 7th Ave.

I went into the Oscar Wilde book store all the time when I was a teen. The first gay book I bought was The Coming Storm.

Thanks, R92. I loved that book store. Friendly place, too.

There's a whole NYT article about The Gardenia >>

>>>>

The old fun 24 hour Brasserie. They had revolving doors and this really good hamburger with chjese inside and dare I say it warm potato salad lol. I had my first alcoholic drink there my mother let me have a strwaberry daiquiri i was probably 12 but no one cared or batted a lash.

“Venus & David Ian Xtravaganza, c. 1986 — The original Club Kids.”

That's the caption to this photo. I simply remember seeing young people like this during 1980s NYC.

I remember The Brasserie.

In the Seagram Building. Very 60s!

Remember Dino's/Gino's? With the zebras on the wall.

here's Gino's

closed in 2010 after 65 years, it seems.

Thanks for the Gardenia article, and also to OP for starting this.

Theater 80 St. Marks! A nice cave of a place, with a strange projection setup.

R93. I know the place. Claus and Cosima lived at Fifth and 76th. Knew Cosima well from Brooks and Brown Univ. claus used to go to that diner fairly often. I guess when he was slumming. Haha.

The Soup Berg.

I could weep.

There were two Soup Burgs.

They suddenly push up the rent in these places. Same old...

R102 and r104. Old Brasserie was awesome. I now work in Seagram Building. New one is crap. Oh. And I guess that reminds me of Four Seasons on other side. Julian Niccolini was the best. Treated all well. Encyclopedic knowledge of patrons' names. Asshole Aby Rosen fucked him on the lease.

I miss Jefferson Market and up the block, the real, actual original Ray's Pizza (Sixth Ave @ W. 11).

Whoever mentioned McNulty's Tea, if that's the same as McNulty's Coffee on Christopher, it's still there.

Rumplemeyer's

is Balducci still there?

R111. McNultys was me. Thanks! I live uptown now. Haven't been to Village ina long time. But now that you mention Jefferson Market (and RIP Balduccis down the block btw), I had a great fling w a butcher from Jefferson Market. His bf found out and got my number at work. Called and called. Scary. Lol.

Sorry, RumplemAyer's

Those butchers carry sharp knives, R114.

you were in danger, gurl!

Butcher was sweet. His bf was from queens. Crazy weirdo

Cafe Brigitte, little greasy spoon on Greenwich Ave near 7th ave.

Dix's Coffee Shop on 21st and 8th. Now it's now a nail salon.

Mary Ann's restaurant off of 7th Ave in the village, with the Angie Dickinson Banquet Room.

Anyone remember The Autopub?

I went to the primary school down the block from The Original Rays it was called PS 41 . In fifth grade all the cool kids would eat a slice from theire with extra cheese of course. 1978 me and my little friends would go into the news stand directly across from Rays to see what a adult penis looked and naked women in Playgirls magazine then we would run out hysterical laughing.

R113. Balduccis long gone. Major fight within family. This was a decade ago. Grace Balduccis didn't want to sell. She was the matriarch. Kids did. Kids won. She opened Graces Market on UES but not same.

R119. Mary Anns!!!! Mexican place right? Great friend lived down the block

there were so many fucking Rays

the first one I knew was 76th & Second >>

actually, I think it was 76th & 3rd.

The first Ray's was on 6th at the NW corner of 11th Street. This was in the 1970s and before. This pic is supposed to be from 1978, but I think it looks older.

I love this thread. Really bringing back memories. And so cool that other New Yorkers have their loves. I am sure some asshole will get on here and make fun of us soon. Until then, I see all of the above and raise you all a glass

& to you, gurl.

& to the memory of Harry's

Christopher and Seventh, October 1970.

Christopher Street, 1970s.

Dauber & Pine in the 60's I think on Fifth avenue. Wonderful old book store. I think it's now the New School.

And then there were none.

Ray's on Sixth has gone?

I don't believe it.

I was always staring/dazed at the photos on the wall of the time they sent their pizza to London.

When there was still Ray's, R133.

1969

R128. God bless you. Harry's. wow. Also the old fashioned phone number. Dating myself but as a very young kid our exchange was GRamercy-4231. Yup. Still remember my parents using it by the old exchange name.

I've realized that these places were miniature universes for people to enjoy and get to know over time.

Film Center Cafe

R137. Well said. NY might be massive city but in many ways it is very parochial. Your block(s) were your world.

R138. Yes!!!!!!!!

The Regency movie theater below 72nd street and bway maybe it was like 68 street. It was fantastic. It was tiny and they showed retrospectives of old movies that my beloved now deceased aunt used to take me too. It was the 70s and it was the first time I saw men hissing at the screen when the baddy came on screen it might have been The Woman. It was really fun and I learned to love old movies. They had a janky old popcorn machine and a soda machine that dumped out a cup and the Pepsi and popcorn would slop around everywhere. It was probably stale but I loved it.

This was the theater before it became The Regency.

My first "real date" (with a girl, still had no idea I was a homo) was at Bemelman's Bar at The Carlyle. Tenth grade. The bartender, Tommy, had been there for decades. He knew my parents so we were ok to order drinks. Still love that place.

More. More!!!!!!!!

Cher lived around corner from Balduccis. My mom saw her there once.

Bemelmans Bar is named after the guy who wrote the Madaline childrens book and I love it also.

R145. Yes!! 50 points. Ludwig Bemelman. The drawings on the wallpaper are by him.

Interesting NY Times article from 1995, which speaks of the loss of 1980s NYC, and how the then 1990s version paled in comparison. Here's the first few paragraphs of it:

"THERE are those who believe that the only thing more splintered and tribalistic than nighttime New York in the 1990's is the former Soviet Union. A crawl through the city on a Friday may prove them right.

At the Cub Room in SoHo, administrative assistants in khakis and pearls order Rolling Rocks and exchange office war stories. Not far away, at the Crowbar in the East Village, shirtless young gay men sweat to Gloria Gaynor in a tiny, steamy space. A slightly older crowd of men, some of them in wild wigs, dance across town at Don Hills. The Palladium is jammed with black and Hispanic youths who move to a raucous hip-hop beat, and at the Limelight, a crowd that is mostly white college students in cropped sweaters from Urban Outfitters sways barely discernibly.

It was not so long ago that the fabulous people were as one.

The downtown celebrity scene once defined New York night life: Wall Street lawyers were happy to share a table with transvestites, who in turn rubbed shoulders on the dance floor with East Village artists, teen-agers from Queens, waiters in false eyelashes, celebrities and a professional tennis player or two.

Together, they tossed back beers at bars where live snakes squirmed under the glass beneath their elbows. They would pile into the back of a rented meat truck illuminated with a single disco ball and shuttle from Greenwich Village to the the Tunnel nightclub on 12th Avenue, or to the Williamsburg Bridge, where they would stop traffic with their partying until the police carted them away.

Decked in feathers, fibers, silk, lame and occasionally plastic, they left their apartments long after the sun had set and danced wildly, sniffed drugs and pontificated. They dressed up like King Neptune. They juggled in the nude.

Those days are gone."

In later years I saw Eartha Kitt sitting in the hallway that leads from bar to hotel/residences. It was daytime. She was prob performing at cafe Carlyle that night. Said hello and what a pleasure to see her. She was so nice. And yes, THAT voice.

Le Cirque when it was still at Mayfair Hotel. Not the second or third versions. ALWAYS saw famous people there. Day or night.

Cliche but went to so many birthday parties at Serendipity growing up.

I first came to New York in the 70s, as a kiddie from London.

& in many ways it was much more old fashioned than London, in that many old fashioned places still survived, which was surprising.

It seemed to have retained so much from the earlier decades of the century. They were just sort of still there. It was surprisingly charming.

I remember in the hotels - bell captains in their little uniforms - holding blackboards with bells -" Mr. Jones - telephone call" & The Palm Court in The Plaza Hotel - it was like the 20s. A violinist would come round to all the tables. Chicken Vol Au Vents! - Places like Harry's - they'd bring a phone to your table if you got a call. Like in the movies.

It began to change in the 80s.

& the last 15 years it's all being torn out and it's a shock to people.

Anyone belong to The R&T growing up? The Raquet and Tennis Club. Yes I spelled it correctly. Uptight WASP club years ago. Park betw 52 and 53. Across from Seagram building. I saw my first naked grown man there in locker room lol.

[quote]Le Cirque when it was still at Mayfair Hotel. Not the second or third versions. ALWAYS saw famous people there. Day or night.

You always saw big stars at P.J. Clarke's as well.

R151. All too true

R153. Yes true. SAt next to Eric Clapton there once. Like a month after his kid died. He was alone. Serious. Weird huh?

Boy George lived on the same block as The Works in the 80s, and would stop by a lot.

Any lifers willing to 'fess up where they went to school growing up in the city? I will go first. Collegiate. Cmon.

Does R157 humblebrag on the regular?

R158. I was the financial aid kid there. So. No. But I did learn how to survive as a homo in a straight world there.

The original One Fifth Avenue bar. As I recall, it had been there since the 20s. Some of the decor came from an old art deco ocean liner. I remember lots of white tile, porthole windows, a grand piano - maybe some etched glass. It was elegant and anyone could feel comfortable going there. I think Mario Battali redecorated it for one of his restaurants. I try to take comfort in knowing that cooking in a restaurant increases his chances of dying in a grease fire, but he probably doesn't even work there.

I went to PS 41 then I went to a funky private school called The Gramercy Park School. Then I went to a shitty High School called Rhodes High School on the UWS that was for kids whose parents didn't want them in public but they had lousy grades and could not get into a better private school. I did meet my best friend during middle school and 35 years later we are closer than family so I will take my shitty education that did not prepare me at all. We had so much fun cutting classes and doing stuff like going to the movies in the 80s and sometimes getting questioned by ushers why were we not in class. I remember getting really pissed at the usher refusing us entry into The Outsiders especially since I had a raging crush on Matt Dillon. I fucking miss my 80s NY damn it!!!!! lol.

Another thing I remember from the 70s (as a foreigner) - all those great New York movies - which everyone talks about now. They were often very much about living in New York. It was odd being in New York and watching these films and walking out onto the street afterwards and there it was in real life.

I used to think, I wonder if these New Yorkers feel odd seeing their city in these films.

I miss the Big Cup and Splash - when it was all on ONE floor.

Cafe La Fortuna. The UWS is nothing without it. It was the last hanger-on from an earlier and glorious era.

I miss the Dance Belt. That was the name for the area around Lincoln Center that used to be packed with ballet studios. Broadway was festooned with beautiful boys and bun-headed girls in leotards and jeans, walking from class to class, dance bags slung over their shoulders.. Musicians, singers, dancers, actors. The UWS was an important American cultural enclave and now it's nothing but over-priced apartments wedged together and filled with hateful people. The Carnegie Apartments lost. Patelson's lost. The Ballet Shop lost. Even Steinway Hall which is in some ways the most unbelievable loss of them all.

And in the place of these cultural gems? Shit. Nothing but pure shit.

I'm sure you remember Victor Daniel from Splash Bar, r163.

Cecil Beaton wrote a great book in the 30s about being an Englishman in New York.

& he took tons of photos.

The reading is pretty heavy going, but the photos are fun and some of his observations capture the time well.

but he was a Prisspot

Look at this photo of the skyline >

Dojo is gone? After a day of shopping in the Village, my female shopping buddy and I would always stop there, the one which was diagonal to the club The Bottom Line, that closed years ago.

Is the Dojo on St. Marks gone too? I haven't been to the Village in awhile. I miss the record shops, the funky stores on Broadway such as Canal Jeans, Unique and I. Buss, I especially miss National Wholesale Liquidators. I got some incredible bargains there.

So much of the real NYC is long gone, NYC will never have the ambiance it once had. How many Starbucks and Duane Reades do we need, not to mention 35 million dollar condos?! When I retire, I'm debating leaving NYC. My partner wants to stay, me, not so much.

Did anyone here go to The Roseland?

Remember the movie?

Where would you go?

The Claremont Stables, where they filmed scenes from Eyewitness, with Sigourney Weaver. On West 89?

The inexpensive cafeteria at the Met, where there is now a beautiful installation of Greek and Roman art.

Gotham Book Mart

The Donnell library on West 53 , where I taught art classes and had a couple of shows.

Claremont stables are gone? Wow . I havnt been to the west side in awhile. wow

The Modern, when people called it "the Modern" and not "MoMA."

R173 >

Thank you, R174.

Not really R165 - BUT I vividly recall Queens-born bartender and then porn star Johnny Hanson.

Where did he tend bar, R176?

Regent East. My favorite bar ever.

Molfeta's Greek Restaurant on 47th street, west of Eighth Ave.

Thanks, R178. I never made it to the East Side, at least not any farther north than Uncle Charlie's and the Barefoot Boy. Johnny Hansen was one of my favorite porn stars, though. I probably left before he started working in a bar, though (1978).

Where is a decent Mom and Pop place to eat in NYC now?

So Azuma was a Chinese grocery store?

I miss going up or down an escalator in a department store, smiling at everyone with my fabulous new hairdo and pearl necklace.

Oops. Sorry, R180. I didn't mean the Regent East mention to respond to your question. I have no idea where Johnny Hansen tended bar. (Though he could have tended mine, had he just asked.)

R181, Mom and Pop are Latino these days. Try Milanes on 25th Street, just east of Seventh Ave. The food is seriously terrific.

Beans and rice? Terrific? Looks horrible.

It's not.

Thanks R184

Azumas was a Japanese store that soldl low priced goods from Japan and China . Paper umbrellas , kimonos, insense holders, chop sticks it was colorful and bright and cheery they had knick knacks and stuff to cheer up a dreary apartment or you could buy cheap last minute Christmas gifts if you didnt have alot of many to spend.

New York has never been a great city because the American political system invests all the local power in Albany and Trenton. That's just a fact. The truth is that the system would need to change for America to have great cities like those that exist in the rest of the world.

When I was there in the 80s there was a long narrow little joint you could barely squeeze through with decent food, I think in the Village - the Soup Pot? Coffee Pot? Sometiing Pot.

R103's photo is everything.

Where in NYC do I go now when I need a kimono and paper umbrella?

R50, Dana owns a few yoga studios now. She's just moved to New Orleans to open her latest.

Chinatown r192

There was a very narrow, 7 seats at the counter, French place on Greenwich, near 7th Ave, called something like Babette's. Just a few things on the menu. Don't know if it's still there.

Could someone please tell the name of the other Japanese store that was right next to Azuma on the upper east side?! I believe it started with an i, but not sure my memory serves me correctly. I'd go to those stores once a week with my mom & grandparents.

Oh please, R189, there are so many things wrong with that post it's hard to know where to begin. (Starting with the "American political system" ignoring state politics).

New York is one of the great cities of the world. It's probably the most quintessentially American in its ugliness, its ruthless capitalism, its multiculturalism and when it survives tragedy after tragedy, the uncanny way it chugs along and people actually pull together. It has become so expensive it is its own downfall, where artists, restauranteurs and innovators have moved on. But it has more going for it than most cities in the Western Hemisphere.

I remember Twigs in Chelsea it had modern Italian food I love to go there and have the mixed grill, 3 type of Italian sausages with grilled polenta my favorite dish on the menu.

It's damned hard to find a good paper umbrella at a good price in Chinatown. NYC has really priced itself out of the paper umbrella business. Too bad. They used to be quite commonly seen and were a refreshing change from the dour, drab, British-style oh so traditional black umbrella. I always knew when I saw one of those paper umbrellas that I had encountered a person with a rebellious streak and a bit of individuality. Always welcomed.

One can no longer find a good rubber dog turd in Times Square. Time was, you could buy one, and rubber barf, too, in almost every block from 42nd Street to 52nd Street. Now what have we got? Olive Garden. Thanks, no. I'd prefer the rubber dog turd.

If you go to Penn station you can take a 25 min bus ride to Edgewater NJ. There is a Japanese mall called Mitsuwa and besides selling Kimono and chopsticks. They have a giant super market with all manner of food and personal items all from Japan. They also have a really cool food court. All the workers are Japanese . It feels kind of like you are not in Jersey. Sometimes I drag a friend there and they are amazed. There was another store called Pearl River near to Canal Street in Chinatown ( don't get me started on Chinatown and what is now a tiny tiny Little Italy) that my mother who had a worked at 100 Center Street (criminal court house)showed me in the 80s and they sold all this stuff that appealed to me as a teenager. It was kind of dreary and run down but great and then they moved to Tribeca and are semi high end now. They do sell paper parasols though and those round paper lanterns that so many people love in NY and use in their apartments. The cutest and toughest Italians that I knew would sell firecrackers around Chinatown during Chinese New year during the 80s all that firecracker business was all mob controlled. That is all gone now.

[quote]The cutest and toughest Italians that I knew would sell firecrackers around Chinatown during Chinese New year during the 80s all that firecracker business was all mob controlled. That is all gone now.

Those things they used to throw into the subway stairwell as you were walking up to the street?

[quote]That is all gone now.

One good thing.

Really do not know what you are talking about maybe they throwing them specifically at you , you killjoy.

Wasn't Fiorucci's from OP's photo on east 59th Street? I worked near there during the mid 1980s and used to go there on my lunch hour sometimes and browse.

[quote]Azuma was a Japanese store that sold low priced goods from Japan and China. Paper umbrellas , kimonos, insense holders, chop sticks it was colorful and bright and cheery they had knick knacks and stuff to cheer up a dreary apartment or you could buy cheap last minute Christmas gifts if you didnt have alot of many to spend.

Azuma was so much fun. They also sold items from India. I still have a small brass incense burner and a brass jewelry box which I used as an end table decoration. For an artsy teen, the store was rather exotic!

I went to Art & Design high school, a few times a month, on a Friday after school, a few friends and I would take the RR downtown to shop on 8th Street, there was an Azuma there. Pretty much all the stores of that era are long gone. We used to call the RR, now the N, the Rolling Raunch, the subways were pretty vile back then.

Azuma had such great and affordable items. I still have the three saki bottles I bought as a teen. I actually bought them for my mom, she put dried flowers in them. She gave them back to me a few years ago, they still had the Azuma labels on them. I also came across a few small paper bags from Azuma, as a person studying art, I kept a lot of interesting paper bags for reference.

a killjoy - someone who doesn't like having firecrackers thrown at him...

Next time you go to New Jersey on one of your little trips - why don't you stay there? You WON'T be missed.

You are an uptight sad little priss. I will be more missed that you that is for sure ,calm yourself you have become hysterical go splash some water on your face.

is that you sitting with the retards watching this bullshit?

So there's a Chinatown but no Japantown?

Did Giluiani kill the paper umbrella trade?

Where do I go now to meet a cute, tough Italian?

Little Cute Tough Sicily? Or Staten Island?

[quote] OP: New Yorkers are the most nostalgic people in the world.

My parents were born in Brooklyn. They left Brooklyn in 1950, and 50 years later, their computer passwords were all "Brooklyn".

I went to Brooklyn for the DataLounge convention last Spring, and I enjoyed seeing signs for all the place-names that I've heard all my life, and I'd look at the skyline and try to picture it in the War Years before modern construction.

[quote]and I'd look at the skyline and try to picture it in the War Years before modern construction.

right - because the Lower Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn isn't very impressive anymore. Short stodgy buildings

Bummed about the Love cosmetics discount store on W 72nd shutting up shop.

I hated the Coliseum bookstore on W 57th but forget why.

The ones you could use in the rain had this weird smelly shellac on them that made them waterproof they really stank but were really cute for summer use. You would see really chick NY women on occasion.

I really miss Coliseum book store but the staff was kind of snotty and they made you check all your stuff at the entrance maybe they had a lot of shoplifting .R211 If anyone remembers this really wonderful bookstore around 90ish and Bway. It was really small and they had a very small but thoughtfully selected kids section. They also had interesting cards and homemade wallets. I think there was a book store next to it the sold books on crime and mystery , That might have been named Murder Ink. Not sure though. On my way uptown If I had time I would always stop and browse.

Here's the thing about New Yorkers: they are the most competitive people. They HAVE to be first. So their nostalgia is not about remembering a great time, it's about being better than everyone else because THEY WERE THERE.

[quote]When I was there in the 80s there was a long narrow little joint you could barely squeeze through with decent food, I think in the Village - the Soup Pot? Coffee Pot? Something Pot.

David's Pot Belly on Christopher Street, r190?

[quote]So there's a Chinatown but no Japantown?

Didn't NY Magazine do an article on the "Japanning" of Scarsdale in the '90s?

Got to go to LA for that.

NYC is dirty, even today

It's a filthy, smelly city

Some letters to NY Magazine about their "Japanning of Scarsdale" article. The article itself seems not to exist online.

Yes, R213, that's why I hated the Coliseum. The staff was incredibly snotty. There was one guy there who I wanted to hurl against the wall.

Maybe, R215. I looked at pictures of Havana Alma de Cuba, which is there now, and it looks bigger. The place was really dark and narrow with tables on at least one side which were jammed next to each other. The aisle down the center was really tiny. Does that sound like the Potbelly? Oh well, it was 30 years ago.

Dallas Barbecue

Stromboli's Pizza

St. Mark's Place Pizza

!Carumbas!

Canal Jeans

Shakespeare Books

Great Jones Place

Princess Pamela's

Larry's Lemon Ice (if you could find that motherfucker, usually near the natural history museum but not always)

The Polish diner on Ave A, Odessa?

H&H Bagels

The falafel place on the south west corner at 103rd and Broadway open all night. It was said this place was the inspiration for the SNL skit back in the Belushi days cheeseburger, cheeseburger, chips, Coke, no Pepsi.

Yes r169 my friends and me used to go to Roseland.

That was a great pastry shop r59. Saint John's is one of my favorite places, also the Cloisters. When I wanted a day excursion for myself I'd go up to the Cloisters stay for a couple of hours then in the 180's there was a Museum of the Native American (I think that's what it was called) . I'd stop there as well and make a good day of it.

Anyone remember the great discount bookstores on 8th Street, Bookmasters and I think there was even Barnes & Noble.

I bought some great books for $1-$3, one was Warhol's The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, when I got home, I discovered Andy had signed the book. Apparently he pre-signed many copies never figuring they'd end up in discount bins! By the time I got back downtown to get more, they were sold out.

[quote]Anyone remember the great discount bookstores on 8th Street, Bookmasters and I think there was even Barnes & Noble.

I remember the first Barnes & Noble, 5th Avenue & 18th Street. Was it called Chelsea then, that far east? I know it was when Chelsea was still considered an unsafe neighborhood, but 5th Avenue was okay.

[quote]That was a great pastry shop [R59].

It's still there.

Barnes & Noble used to be awful pre-1990s. Like a discount warehouse.

There was one on Fifth / East 40s. A shithole.

Colosseum was shitty too. Totally unmemorable.

B Dalton was a much nicer store - so was Doubleday.

& there was an especially good bookstore on St. Marks.

Kims Video. The one near Columbia closed about 10 years ago.

Then again, looking at this picture, if this room were painted darker that could be it. I recall it being dark red.

There used to be a nice sheet music store in the West 50s (I guess to be near Carnegie Hall). I loved going in there because it seemed like all the artist people in NYC were there looking through sheet music.

I miss going to Nathan's & Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips on East 86th st. in the late70s, early 80s with my family.

I'm old.

228 I had many friends who are musicians. I remember them talking about that sheet music store.

That made me think of the Russian Tea Room is that still there...it closed in the 90's?

[quote] The restaurant I get nostalgic over is Zum Zums German fast food.

We had a Russian fast food shop called The Pie for a while on 86th street. Speaking of 86th St, all the German places are gone. Kleine Kondotori, Bremen House, Cafe Geiger, Ideal Restaurant, Salamander Shoes and the little corner drugstores that sold German greeting cards.

Did Pincess Pamela host those small dinners in an apartment? I went to something liike that about 30 years ago. It was above Houston Street, and Southern style, I think. P P was very theatrical.

[quote]That made me think of the Russian Tea Room is that still there

The Russian Tea Room has reopened, but it's not the same thing. That happens with a lot of places. The original owner retires or dies and the people who take it over don't seem to be able to produce what was wonderful about the original.

There were many "famous" restaurants in NYC that were just simple people doing what they did best. I think they became famous because people came to NYC and didn't have that type of restaurant where they lived.

What I miss about NYC is the medium priced restaurants. Today, there are still diners and McDonalds at the low end, and then of course all the chef-inspired high end restaurants, but I don't see very many mid-priced restaurants like there used to be.

And also, I hate when nice restaurants are "discovered." I used to go to Veselka all the time. It used to be a nice hangout place on Saturday morning. Now it's full of the "brunch" crowd. I really miss those quiet restaurants where you could just sit and chill out.

R59 here I forgot to mention that across the street on 112th & Bway was Toms coffee shop the front was used in the old Seinfeld show. I used to go there with my partner and friends for breakfast and occasionally dinner.

[quote]And also, I hate when nice restaurants are "discovered." I used to go to Veselka all the time. It used to be a nice hangout place on Saturday morning. Now it's full of the "brunch" crowd. I really miss those quiet restaurants where you could just sit and chill out.

I'm nodding my head and weeping into my soup as I type.

I miss Dosanko Japanese fast food restaurants - those were great. There was one on 5th Avenue near 53rd that I used to eat lunch at a lot. They were my introduction to Japanese food; great noodles, dumplings and fried chicken. Is there any place that is similar in NYC?

I used to love Azuma and those X Avenue Bazaar stores.

R231 The Yorktown area was originally German & Hungarian immigrants. All those great places you mention....ahhhhh...

My cousins still go to St Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic church in Yorktown.

My Dad took us to Zum Zum as children. Great knockwurst, sauerbraten & beer. The dinner plates were metal. And the staff were mostly Germans.

[quote]and those X Avenue Bazaar stores.

My mother was always buying me Spatterwear bowls from that place. Even the dog got them.

[quote] I remember the first Barnes & Noble, 5th Avenue & 18th Street.

I had to buy my textbooks there.

My old neighborhood had 3 Barnes and Nobles with 2 blocks of each other at one point. First there was a small B&N where I could always find a good book to read. That shut down and eventually became Barnes &Noble Jr. Then a big one opened on 86th &Lex -- there was a tv crew there when it opened. I guess it was the largest B&N at that point. Then they opened a 2 story one with a cafe further down 86th (can't remember if it was the former Circuit City). Eventually they shut down the B&N Jr and the one on 86th and Lex.

Man, 86th St has had some incarnations. When I moved there it was still Germantown, had Woolworth's Pathmark, Pathmark Drugs, all the German Stores, Little Finland bar, a Greek restaurant and a bazillion of those Israeli owned electronic stores. Koreans had a hole in the wall shop where they sold gloves, scarves and winter hats and in warm weather sold sports team logo clothing, sweat pants and shirts. I called the police from Love Cosmetics' landline phone one Friday night when a guy with a baseball bat was chasing someone. The era of crack and "wildiing" made 86th dangerous on weekend nights. Shopkeepers put very heavy doors on their shops making it difficult to run in, grab stuff, run out and jump on the subway. They hired security guards to take your bags when you walked in.

And the Third Avenue bar crawl used to keep me awake on Friday and Saturday nights. I don't think there are any bars on Third Ave up there anymore. Even the little Indo/Pak shops that sold candy, magazines, newspapers, cigars, cigarettes and lotto tickets have been torn down and skinny high rises are taking their place.

I would love it if anyone remembers the name of a metaphysical book store on the East Side. It was downstairs in a brownstone.

TIA

New York City Blues-

in order to win - you gotta lose!

R231 do you remember what Asian store was right next to Azuma on E. 86th st?

I caught the tale end of the German wave in Yorktown. I lived a few years on East 88th Street. The reason the area was German was because years ago there was a brewery in the East 90s and so they settled up there.

I remember the Woolworth's up there. I'd often stop in after work. The Barnes & Noble. Also, remember the HMV record store? I went in there one night and went into the basement where the Broadway section was. I was flipping through cds and lo and behold there was a misfiled "Judi Dench A Little Night Music." I grabbed that thing so fast because it was the last one there. It very quickly went out of print.

Anyone remember Bon Marché on 13th & 6th? it was the American equivalent of Azuma. They sold precut slabs of marble I still have one that I use as a coffee table.

OMG! No one's remembering Lamston's?

Woolworths and Lamstons were my places back in the day.

Classy!

I used to eat at Woolworth's lunch counter, at the one on 33rd Street near Madison Square Garden. I liked it because it was simple.

And I liked to stop in at Chock Full Of Nuts every so often.

I really miss old New York.

R243 I want to say Ishiyama, Ishiyoku, something like that, next door to Azuma.

I used to shop at Balducci's in GV on Fridays after work there was usually someone famous shopping there such as actors or NYC personalities. The place had narrow aisles and was crowded and noisy everyone was talking. A few occasions James Beard and Julia Child were there, when they were next to each other talking all of the other conversations stopped so that theirs was the only one to be heard.

Is Zabar's still there?

New York City, where college tuition was free to well-performing high school kids from the 1840s to 1969, when they made it free for all graduates and blew their budget in the process. Even today they half a million students enrolled, half seeking degrees, the rest continuing and professional education.

A level of "socialism" that would not be tolerated anywhere else in America, but in 150 years only assisted New York economically and was well worth it.

[quote]Is Zabar's still there?

Yes, and it's as insufferable as ever.

To [R160]: The One Fifth Ave. bar wasn't there until the late 70's. Before that it was a genteel restaurant for ladies of a certain age, called Patricia Murphy's, which seemed to specialize in such dishes as chicken croquettes.

You can see it in the film Summer Wishes Winter Dreams, when Joanne Woodward and Sylvia Sydney as her mother have lunch.

The One Fifth Ave. building was an NYU dorm, where I lived for 3 years in the early 70's.

It was also used in the film An Unmarried Woman.

I think whatsisname, Mazursky lived upstairs.

There were big beer halls in Yorkville run by Germans years and years ago. Ruppert Beer company was torn down and Ruppert Yorkville Towers, a Mitchell Lama project for middle income NYers went up. It turned into luxury condominiums in 2003. An old apartment of mine recently sold for $1.4M and very little renovation had been done. It used to be so dangerous that they had security riding around on a cushman at night. We made it safe again, so the city rewarded us by taking away our housing. But you know that story very well.......

90-92nd from 2nd ave down a few blocks used to have horrible mosquito problems. It turned out they were coming from the abandoned drainage pipes the brewery left behind.

[quote] Is Zabar's still there?

They opened up a bunch of other places -- E.A.T.S, Eli's, Vinegar Factory, Yura Cafe and Yura Bakery. I know Yura Cafe is no longer there, and I'm pretty sure the bakery is gone, too. There was a E.A.T.S in Sag Harbor, too.

Whoever said Dallas BBQ -- there are still plenty of them around. I popped in the one on 73rd and 3rd last month when I was in the city. I love their chicken and took one home with me.

R257, Mazursky lived on 10th or 11th between Fifth and University.

[quote] want to say Ishiyama, Ishiyoku, something like that, next door to Azuma.

Was it a noodle shop?

I think Azuma became Pathmark Drugs which became PC Richards. I don't know what's there now. I only remember an Asian noodle shop in that area.

There used to be a pool hall on 86th.

[quote] [R23] Are you thinking of Kiev? Long gone...

I think it was at 9th on 3d, not 7th on 2d.

R246, Lamston's is the first thing I thought of when I read the word "AZUMA."

I once saw David Geffen in the HMV on 86th.

When it first opened, they would make party tapes. You would give them a blank cassette, write down the songs you wanted and they'd make it for you.

r259 I guess I should have said the one on CPW and 72nd. That one was a regular meet up spot with friends.

Does anyone remember an Italian bread bakery on the Lower East Side/Little Italy that looked--as late as the late 1980s/early 90s--as though it were still the 1910s? I remember its plate-glass window with the name and products painted on it, but I can't remember the name. I feel like it was very close to Chinatown...

I know Little India is in the 20s now, but are the Indo Pak restaurants still downtown? I swear you could not spend $10 for lunch there, everything was so low priced.

The Dallas BBQ near the Dakota closed. It used to be the Swiss Chalet before it was BBQs

[quote] I think Azuma became Pathmark

There, in a nutshell, is why some of us are nostalgic New Yorkers. Once the greatest city on earth, now for bland boring rich people.

I really would be surprised if anyone remember Williams Fried Chicken it was on 86th street and Broadway. They had the best fried chicken and other deli style food you had to pay at this little booth and then give your receipt to the man. My mother brought me in there all the time and the counter man would always hand me a free chicken leg I guess I was cute. Now it is Shitibank.

[quote]I guess I should have said the one on CPW and 72nd.

The Dallas BBQ at that location closed a few years ago due to outrageous rent. The store has had nothing in it since BBQ closed. It's really a cavern of a store and I don't know what would go in it it's so huge.

I miss that location because it was great to get something there and take it into Central Park. Back when "Shakespeare in the Park" made you wait all day for tickets, I would sit with my friends and often one of us would make a BBQ run.

[quote]I would love it if anyone remembers the name of a metaphysical book store on the East Side. It was downstairs in a brownstone. TIA

Was it on East 35th Street? A friend lived on that block near 2nd Avenue. There was a weird occult bookshop in a brownstone on that block. The owner literally looked like a troll doll, what a creepy looking dude. Wish I could remember the name of the store.

Soupy Sales lived in one of the apartment buildings on that block.My friend said he was very friendly to everyone who recognized him. Edward Gorey also lived around there, I remember seeing him walk around in his brightly dyed almost floor length fur coats. Celebrity sighting in NYC is always fun. Have the time my friend who lived on 35th Street had no idea who I was pointing out to him!

[quote] Does anyone remember an Italian bread bakery on the Lower East Side/Little Italy that looked--as late as the late 1980s/early 90s--as though it were still the 1910s? I remember its plate-glass window

Yeah, I remember it. I think it started with a C. Friends took me there one night. There was no air conditioning and it was about 99 degrees in there. I remember I ordered something and the waiter came back with everyone's order except mine. He said they couldn't make it because some equipment wasn't working. So I ordered something else and he came back and said they were out of it. Just then a huge waterbug came cruising across the floor straight at our table. I said, "I'll see you guys when you're done!" and left. I bought a Coke from a deli.

I had friends who lived in Independence Plaza on N Moore St downtown. It was still kind of a deserted. dangerous neighbourhood at night back then, until DeNiro opened a restaurant across the street. They paid $1000 a month for a huge 2BR with a windowed kitchen and a balcony. They were subletting The leaseholders paid $600/month. This was in the late 80s/early90s.

Alberta Hunter coming out of retirement, singing My Man is Such a Handyman at the Cookery on 10th and University.... Melvin van Peebles sing-speaking pop at Five Oaks, was it Tuesday nights? No one brought out lyrics like these two did in my experience.

Yorkville not Yorktown. Frigging autocorrect.

Turn off your auto "correct," R274. It's what the smart kids do.

I remember some incredible jams at the avant garde jazz loft parties thrown by jazz musician Sam Rivers and his wife. His space was called RivBea, it was at 24 Bond Street. That was when Soho and most of downtown was over run with real artists and musicians, not rich poseurs. Back then, an artist friend bought a loft for just $25,000!

I'm sure multi-million dollar lofts are now on Bond. Robert Mapplethorpe's photo studio was also on Bond.

Does anyone remember a French bakery on Third Avenue a couple of blocks north of Bloomingdale's? It was the first place I ever had a fruit tart. I would stop there nearly every time I went to Bloomingdale's.

It was on the same side of Third Avenue.

Who needs old New York, when you have...

THIS >

I used to practically LIVE in Bloomingdales when I was 13 & 14. Also the museum of natural history.

Anyone remember the macaroni factory on 8 ave? Great Italian food restaurant in the back.

I worked at a hospital in midtown and when I told people I lived on 90th St they were horrified. "I would never go above 86th St! That's Harlem!"

It was very uncluttered back then, not a lot of traffic. Now, forget about it. They're tearing down all the 5 story buildings and putting in high rises. Not only has it become unaffordable for the middle class, it has also become choked with people and traffic.

They keep building more and more high rises, but they can't build more subway lines fast enough. The 2nd Ave line only goes to 72nd St.

I was looking at apartments last November/December. I was thinking of buying a 1 BR in my old Yorkville neighborhood. I liked a few but they were in coop buildings. I'd only lived in condos before and didn't realise how fucking exhausting their paperwork is. I said, "Look, I have to go to my accountant and he will get all my finances in order so I can fill this stuff out."

I am not lying -- the 1 BRs I was looking at have gone up by $100k since the subway opened. Now I'm wondering if I want to buy there. All my friends who lived there were priced out. I don't go to the theatre all that often. The 1BRs were a lot smaller than my old apartments. I think I might look outside of Manhattan. I would never move to Washington Heights because my sister-in-law lives there with her husband and her pit bull and I wouldn't have an excuse to avoid her.

The same thing is happening in southern california 281. The fever to build in any space available and charge insane money.

Just a brief bit of housekeeping - Johnny Hanson tended bar at Splash and the post at r175 is meant for r165.

I don't know what the annoying r178/r184 is talking about.

Back to the thread, I miss the lovely fountain at Lincoln Center, as seen in The Producers (the Mel brooks film.) The ridiculous fountain now is an exercise in hubris and a waste of money.

I used to go to Central Park to watch the fireworks and the Midnight Run on New Year's Eve. The next day we would walk to Times Sq to see the amazing sight of a totally clean area which had had over a million people there just hours ago.

The Midnight Run used to start at Tavern on the Green with all the pretty pastel Christmas lights, but they moved it.

Thanks R184 always wanted to try Milanes. Live right near there but never gave it a chance.

174 post is Patricia Neal as rhe "patroness" of George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffanys. Very East Side chichi and brittle.

This thread is making me realize how shitty my memory is. There was a great Spanish restaurant in Chelsea that made an insanely good paella. I think it was on 9th? 8th?

I left when I was 29, that was 28 years ago and it's astounding how foggy my memory is.

Yes, I was a drug taker.

[quote]There was a great Spanish restaurant in Chelsea that made an insanely good paella. I think it was on 9th? 8th?

That narrows it down.

[quote]Yes, I was a drug taker.

gurl, you is crazy!

Remember the low rent cousin of Woolworth and Lamston's.... McCrory's. We went to the one on Fulton Street in Brooklyn when I was a kid. My mother would stop there and we'd get a treat: ice cream sandwiches which were freshly made waffles with a square slice of Neopolitan ice cream in between. My mother would buy herself pistachios that were dyed red; we'd all have red fingers by the time we got home.

^^ Cafe Madrid?

I used to like The Biography Bookstore on Bleecker.

Places stay empty because landlords can deduct lost rent from their taxes. So if you own an apartment building with a Dallas BBQ on the first floor and you were charging 20k a month in rent, you get to deduct $240k from your taxes while still getting rent from your apartment tenants.

Down on Bleeker St they wee charging $45k a month for tiny shops that were rented by designers like Marc Jacobs. The shops are all empty now. That landlord can deduct a half a million dollars a year in taxes. NYC landlords tend to own other property, so he gets a big tax break and keep more of the profits on all of his other properties.

Thanks. I'd known that there was a tax break, but that amount is obscene. Anyone know offhand if that percentage was always the case for landlords? Did it start before Emperor Bloomberg?

The commercial real estate tax deduction should cease after one year. It's awful that stores can be vacant year after year. There are so many empty storefronts in the West Village. Not only on Bleecker Street, but several along 7th Avenue as well.

Does anyone remember that fabulous 1960s time-capsule cafeteria that was in the garment district at the edge of Times Sq? I think it last until about the mid-1990s.

Remember Teacher's on the UWS?

And that great bagel place near the Ansonia?

The dancing chicken in Chinatown?

Lin's Garden?

There was that great place with outdoor eating in a courtyard next to the Waverly cinema.

Arnold's Turtle in the Village?

I miss Tower Records.

[quote]I bought some great books for $1-$3, one was Warhol's The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, when I got home, I discovered Andy had signed the book. Apparently he pre-signed many copies never figuring they'd end up in discount bins!

A friend gave me his copy as a gift. I thought that it was rather cool that Warhol had signed it. I then read in either the DIARIES or one of the many Warholite autobiographies (it may have been the one that Bob Colacello wrote) that other people signed them for him.

Another vote for the Gaiety.Best sights in town.

There was a video game parlour on Mott St in Chinatown they had a live chicken in a sort glass booth and it was trained to play tic tac toe . I was always around there i would go in a few times a month after having Dim Sum at 20 Mott. This was 25 years ago.

Have I missed a mention of

The Adonis

The Ice Palace dance club on 57th & 6th.

Best damn Sunday tea dance evuhhhh !!

When I first moved to NYC, I sublet an apartment on the Upper West Side. My downstairs neighbor invited me to a posh cocktail party within the first two weeks. I was talking to some guy and I asked where he worked. And he said the Gulf and Western Building. Well, I'd only been here two weeks and I had no idea. And he kept saying, "The Gulf and Western Building ! THE GULF AND WESTERN BUILDING!!"

If he'd just said Columbus Circle, I would have known.

Anyway, I loved Diane's Burgers. And then running across the street afterwards to Steve's Ice Cream with the mix-ins. I had a fun conversation with Mary Tyler Moore at Steve's during a rainstorm.

The Door Store was good for cheap furniture when you'd just moved into the city and needed furniture until you had time to look for nice stuff.

Until you had time to look for nice stuff? I still have my bed from The Door Store, 18 years later.

I loved Mitali Wesr

Mitali West is now a 5 Guys Burgers.

Does anyone which came first? Mitali West or Mitali East?

Mitali East was on 6th St for 42 years

I liked Top of the Tower at the Beekman Hotel on First Ave near the UN. Genuine Art Deco at the Beekman.

It's corporate housing now.

Little India on 6th street - where do I go nowadays? Great places I enjoyed: Holiday Cocktail Lounge, Dew Drop inn, down the hatch on w4th , boxers on w.4th. Canal Jean Company, unique boutique , zoot Love saves the day, all the good shoe stores on 8th street El Teddys, Kiev, Harry's burritos.. chez Brigitte, beard papa on Astor

Katagiri, I think was the other Asian store near Azuma.

Chez Brigitte! That's the tiny place on Greenwich that had about 7 stools at a counter.

Little India on 6th Street no longer exists. It's very sad. Almost all the Indian restaurants are gone, replaced by Japanese ramen joints and the like. At least Curry Hill (Lexington Avenue) is still pretty much intact.

Reminiscence, Manic Panic, Betsy Bunky Neeny, Betsey Johnson (before she was famous)...East Village clothing stores. There were a ton in the 8th St/Bway area in the early 80s

Fiorucci, 58th & Lex

Remember O'Henry's?

That was a great place.

Broadway was full of clothing stores. And not this H&M shit either. Clothes that you didn't see anywhere else.

I *loved* Canal Jeans. I still have a jean jacket I bought there 30 years ago. Even when I didn't want to buy anything, I would go and roam around the store. Shoes, army/navy and vintage in the basement. Jackets on main floor, and all types of jeans on the second floor. I loved walking across their wooden floors. It was like a store that you would see in a movie about NYC, except it was real.

My friend used to drag me into Unique Clothing Warehouse all the time. Nothing in there interested me though because so much of it was unisex clothing. It was all weird stuff and European stuff, which I wasn't interested in. I had no need for a full length black cape. I used to wonder how they got around fire laws because that store was jammed with clothes. You could barely move for all the racks they had stuffed into that store.

& Henry's on East Houston.

Nice pic of Ray's

I lived around the corner from the old Empire Diner in the summer time when I kept my windows open I could hear them washing the dishes and sometimes smell them cooking steak which always made me hungry. I loved going there for breakfast on Sat. and Sun. and watching people and drag queens who had been in the clubs and backroom bars come in for a meal.

[quote]I lived around the corner from the old Empire Diner in the summer time w

always seemed a bit kitsch to me, that place.

I left 13 years ago. The 1BR fifth floor walkup apartment in the village I used to rent (stabilized) for $1650 for 10 years before that is listed at $2.2 million.

Yes things got completely out of control ^^^

Canal Jeans was wonderful, especially after it was cleaned up and renovated it. The original TWO stores, yes, there were two, were very funky! The stores were set up like Unique, very sloppy and unorganized.

The original Canal Jeans was on Canal Street. When the one on Broadway opened, the original store on Canal Street stayed open for awhile.

Years after it was opened, the Broadway store was renovate , prices were raised, but not that much. While still maintaining their selection of LEE, Levis jeans and other lower cost items, they started carrying Calvin Klein jeans, underwear and other more expensive items. I have to figure the store closed because the rent became enormous. The store was always packed on weekends, I'm figuring they didn't close because they lacked customers.

Are any moderately priced stores or restaurants still open on that stretch of Broadway? I know Unique, I. Buss, Canal Jeans, NWL, Street Life, Bayamo, Tower, Cactus Cafe (excellent Mexican restaurant!), Broadway Panhandler (think that's what it was called), Antique Boutique and likely most of those stores are long gone. I still have my Canal Jeans buttons, which were free with purchase.

Reminiscence was great too, they moved around so much, I lost track! I reckon they're gone too.

Just checked eBay, people are selling one Canal Jeans button for $7.99 and up!

[quote]The original Canal Jeans was on Canal Street.

That stretch of Canal Street used to be so interesting because it was block after block of stores that were jammed with stuff. In addition to Canal Jeans, there was an electronics parts store where you walk in and everything was just in tubs, stereo parts, etc. I think if you paid them, they would put together a transistor radio or a stereo for you. There were one or two "junk" stores where you walk in and whatever they had that week is what you bought. They had a foam mattress/futon store. They had a store that had all different types of goods just depending on what closeout store they hit. One week sneakers, one week pots/pans, one week books, etc Pearl Paint was there with every type of artistic implement. I *think* Economy Candy was originally in that stretch of Canal Street, just rows and rows of all types of candy, they've now moved to Lower East Side. And when you kept walking, you hit Chinatown which was a whole different experience.

Remember Uncle Steve on Canal Street?

& this >>

The good old days >

I moved to NYC when they still had those red subway cars that were traveling bullets of germs and graffiti. Red was an appropriate color because in summer, being in them was like being in hell. But I still preferred them to buses. I needed to get places in less than an hour.

The subway cars gradually became better. The first day I walked into one of the modern cars with AC, functioning LCD signs giving the time and the next subway stop and "Ding dong, stand clear of the closing doors," I burst out laughing. I seriously thought a movie was being filmed and somehow we got onto the movie subway car instead of the real one. Only a few other passengers got on and they were all staring at the cars with mouths agape. It was like we went from a Gremlin into a spaceship.

[quote]I moved to NYC when they still had those red subway cars that were traveling bullets of germs and graffiti.

The red cars were designed to carry tourists along the 7 line to the 1964 Worlds Fair.

many of the best new movies were shown here >>

I went to art school near the Baronet & Coronet, sometimes a few friends and I would cut class to see a movie! Good times! There was a frozen yogurt shop next door, a school buddy used to work there after school. I remember the Bookmasters bookstore from the photo.

There was another theater on 57th Street, forgot the name, I saw "Young Frankenstein" there.

I love this thread.

It was kitchy R319 but lots of fun, they had a pianist playing music Sat & Sun. morning which added to the charm.

R324, I remember all those junk stores on Canal. I shopped at Pearl Paint, for art school supplies, they were much cheaper than the art supply stores near my school. Guess PP is gone too.

I got a Panasonic VCR at Uncle Steve's, it was supposedly top-of-the-line for it's time, think I paid around $250-$300! Years later you could pick up a VCR for $75!

Redbird trains were painted red to combat graffiti. While the outside may have deterred graffiti, the inside of the trains did not.

Then came the era of "scratch graffiti." When trains were cleaned of graffiti on the inside, Neanderthals then scratched graffiti onto the trains with coins and house keys.

[quote]There was another theater on 57th Street, forgot the name, I saw "Young Frankenstein" there.

The Sutton?

[quote] I got a Panasonic VCR at Uncle Steve's, it was supposedly top-of-the-line for it's time, think I paid around $250-$300! Years later you could pick up a VCR for $75!

Consider yourself lucky. I knew a guy who paid $600 for a Betamax.

Remember videocams? They were these huge things you had to balance on your shoulder. They were expensive. It was the era of Crazy Eddie and the Wiz. They came down in size, but not in price for years. When cellphones came along with cameras, the prices started to come down.

Do they even sell them anymore? Can you buy a camcorder? I remember pocket videocams like The Flip. They came and went pretty quickly.

57th St Playhouse I saw my first Casey Donovan movie there, I also met my first partner who was married to a woman in that theater we stayed in the balcony until closing time then we went home to his place. His wife was house sitting for a friend and was not home.

[quote]Remember videocams? They were these huge things you had to balance on your shoulder. They were expensive.

Yes, I had one. State of the art - 1988. Used the new Video8 tapes - so it was a little smaller.

Amazing when I look at the old tapes, they were a complete novelty in 1988 - from the reactions of people looking back at me on the street.

just worked it out - my camera cost $2,500 in today's money. It was a Cannon.

R335, yes, that's it, the Sutton. Is that gone too?!

This is thread is bringing back memories of places I'd long forgotten about. A few places I don't think I've seen mentioned yet...

Nedick's - My dad would take me there from time to time. He loved that place. I don't so much remember the food (I probably always ate hot digs there) as the multiple horseshoe counters. Fun for a kid.

Barton's and Barricini's - My dad's folks lived on West End Ave in the mid 90s. We'd always pick up a box of chocolates for them on our way over there.

I could weep.

yes - I think The Sutton has gone.

There used to be a movie theater on 57th street near 7th Avenue. I saw Barton Fink there.

[quote]Nedick's - My dad would take me there from time to time. He loved that place. I don't so much remember the food (I probably always ate hot digs there) as the multiple horseshoe counters. Fun for a kid.

The Chock Full O'Nuts coffee shops had the same horseshoe counters.

I remember when I was very small, my dad took me to Horn & Hardart. I'd have the baked beans and for dessert, hot chocolate and blueberry pie. In retrospect, it doesn't sound very appetizing. lol I enjoyed putting the coins into the slots then having the little door open so you could get to your food.

[quote]Guess PP is gone too.

Pearl Paint building was turned into high priced apartments. Why anyone would want to spend a lot of money for a place on noisy Canal Street is beyond me.

[quote]There used to be a movie theater on 57th street near 7th Avenue. I saw Barton Fink there.

The Playboy? They had some great double bills for just $1.00! No, it wasn't a porn theater.

I think it was called the 57th Street Playhouse.

[quote]Pearl Paint building was turned into high priced apartments. Why anyone would want to spend a lot of money for a place on noisy Canal Street is beyond me.

That entire downtown area, from the LES, the West Village, Soho, Tribeca etc is now Celebrity and Model Central. The rents and prices for lofts, co-ops and condos are absurd. I wouldn't want to live down there, the entire artsy vibe is gone, it's like a high end mall.

When my friends lived downtown, they were actual working artists, they were fine artists and commercial artists working in advertising. A few were musicians. A couple of friends got deals on lofts on White Street. One uses the loft for his advertising agency business, the other has rented out the place to a wealthy couple and moved upstate.

I grew up in Bed-Stuy, Bklyn in the 70's and it was a rite of passage that when you got to 8th/9th grade that you'd go to Delancey Street and get yourself a leather jacket. You were not considered cool until you got some money from your parents, traveled with friends to this "exotic" area and hit a store and came back with this status symbol. I think we called that area "the bargain district". I remember classmate Cora showed up in an ankle-length red leather coat to our Catholic school and we were all jealous.

Does Delancey Street still have those little stores? I remember seeing pickles being sold out of barrels in some of the stores down there.

R299 Pacino references that chicken to Keanu Reeves, in THE DEVILS ADVOCATE.

I've seen that chicken in a movie.

Can't remember which one.

wouldn't be allowed now.

I actually grew up in three neighborhoods now going through massive gentrification, Bushwick, Ridgewood and Long Island City, it's clear next to nothing is being done to preserve affordable housing.

Those of us who bought low when these neighborhoods were still rough, are lucky to have a place to live. Otherwise, many native New Yorkers are leaving. No apartment in Brooklyn and Queens is worth $2000-$4000 a month in rent! Especially when it's nothing more than a converted railroad flat.

Besides the absurd rents, the gentrification of these areas has homogenized most of these neighborhoods to the point where the original neighborhood people barely recognize where they live. Does ANY neighborhood honestly need a $15 grilled cheese sandwich?! Screw that bullshit.

The sad part is, when these hipsters are done with these neighborhoods, when they figure they don't want to raise kids in an urban area in a small apartment or they can't afford a brownstone, after they've caused the prices of everything to rise, they'll all end up going back to their Bumfuck states!

And then they'll write about how nostalgic they are for those $15 grilled cheese sandwiches in their old NYC neighborhood

Does Alps Pharmacy still exist in Hell's Kitchen?

[quote]And then they'll write about how nostalgic they are for those $15 grilled cheese sandwiches in their old NYC neighborhood

Gurl, I've seen GAYS on DL reminiscing the 1980s in New York.

"Aaah - the 80s" they say.

I kid you NOT.

Here's an article about Bleecker Street's "late stage gentrification." How normal neighborhood businesses were priced out, then came the designer clothing and shoe stores which drove up the rents. Then, nobody bought any shoes or clothing there, so they shut down. Now they're empty.

It doesn't mention landlord tax breaks for empty stores, which is a grave omission. But it's mentioned in the comments section.

My mother told us that Ringling Bros Circus used to have a parade up First Ave, when they'd first come to the old Madison Sq Garden, each year.

Animals, clowns, floats.. the whole troupe.

Late 50s, early 60s. Dont know when that stopped.

[quote]Does ANY neighborhood honestly need a $15 grilled cheese sandwich?!

But it's ORGANIC cheese, farmed by a sustainable farmer in Wisconsin!!!!

I saw the elephants come through the midtown tunnel in the 1980s. I lived on 35th St and my apartment window overlooked the tunnel entry/exit area

It was impossible to sleep from Thursday afternoon in summer due to all the honking of people trying to get out of town. And it wasn't honk-honk, it was people leaning on their car horns, dozens of them.

I remember seeing a sign near the 59th St bridge saying not to honk or you'd get a fine, but I never saw one near the tunnel when I lived there.

The Koch years were THE WORST.

Remember "Billy Boggs"?

[quote]I remember seeing a sign near the 59th St bridge

Don't you mean the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge?

r360, I live along 7th Avenue and EVERY Friday the Holland Tunnel backs up and people lay on their horns. You can see for blocks and blocks that traffic is stopped, but that doesn't stop people from blowing their horns. I feel like getting some rotten tomatoes and throwing them out my window at honking cars.

[quote]Don't you mean the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge?

Or the Ed Koch Was A Big Old Queen Bridge.

These are the threads I love on DL, just the everyday details of people's past and present lives.

No, it's never going to be the Ed Koch Bridge or the RFK Bridge or the Hugh Carey Tunnel. It's too late in the game for renaming things that have been around for decades.

LaGuardia was actually responsible for developing LaGuardia airport into a public airport. JFK was named after the assassination, which was a historic incident. Its official name was something like NY airport at Anderson field, but nobody really knew who Anderson was by 1963. The FDR Drive is only part of the roadway, the rest is the Harlem River Drive.

But Paul Simon immortalized as the 59th St bridge and that's what it is, dammit. If they wanted to rename it, they should have named it after him.

Subway tokens

Phone booths

Quiet libraries

R366 JFK used to be called Idlewild Airport

Have you ever accidentally seen a presidential motorcade? I was going from Bellevue to Hunter College up on 68th St when our shuttle couldn't get off the roadway. The driver wasn't supposed to let us out but we started agitatin' like college students do. I had a chemistry exam I'd studied for and I wanted to be sure I took it because everything I'd stuffed into my brain was going to evaporate in 12 hours.

He finally let us out and we all took off. I turned a corner and saw a huge crowd of people. I added what was going on and someone said, "The president is coming." Oh, said I, is that all? I started to leave and a well dressed foreign woman grabbed my arm. "It's the president, the American president! You can't leave, how can you leave?" She was obviously a tourist and was super-psyched. I felt sheepish -- plus she was holding my arm -- so I stayed.

It was like a movie. I'd never seen so many black cars with suited men and women hanging off them, wearing radios and earpieces. It seemed like it went on forever. Then we heard noise overhead and looked up and helicopters appeared from behind skyscrapers. It really was like being in a movie. Police cars were everywhere

After what seemed an interminable wait, people started cheering and a car passed with a man waving inside. It was Bush I. I was surprised at how tall he was. More black cars with jumped up black suits followed.

That lady got the thrill of her life. She was practically crying. And here I was, an American, all non-patriotic standing there looking at my watch. "Did you see! It was HIM!" I said yes, very nice. "Aren't you glad you stopped?" I said yes, yes thank you ma'am, now if you'll excuse me I have to get to class. "This is better than school," she said.

Ok.

Does anyone remember Gordon's Books in the east 50s. It was a bookstore devoted to design and architecture. It was so chic.

And remember the MOMA when it was small and intimate?

Idlewild was the common name of the airport, not the official name. It was officially named Major General Alexander E. Anderson Airport in 1943 and was officially changed to New York International Airport, Anderson Field in 1948. It was commonly known as Idlewild due to a golf course that had been there.

They'd better not try to name an airport or tunnel or bridge or roadway in NYC after Trump or there will be sabotage, ha ha.

I still fly out of National in DC. And always will.

The Bagel

Anyone remember Alexander's department store?

That's yet another bit of real estate Trump destroyed! He bought Alexander's, I think that was sometime in the 1990s. He made the store go straight to hell. What a piece of shit that jerk is. Anyone know what the Alexander's across from the 60th Street side of Bloomingdale's became? More apartments? I remember, in the basement of Alexander's, there was an entrance to the Lex/59th subway.

The Alexander's in Rego Park became a Marshall's, Bed, Bath and Beyond and I forgot the other stores, it basically became a mini-mall.

The Alexanders across from Bloomingdales was torn down and Bloomberg built their headquarters there.

R311 I remember Chez Brigitte having just the stools and the counter, no tables.

Alexander's was a dump.

Alexander's was where I bought my working class father's christmas presents. He didn't want ties or cuff links or cologne. I bought plaid flannel shirts, white undershirts, socks, long johns. Then I'd go to a bookstore and buy a few crossword puzzle magazines.

He was a,man of few wants and needs.

So the opposite of Tramp.

Btw, my father never bought himself a piece of clothing in his entire life. He went from having his mother buy all of his clothes to the army giving him his clothes to my mother buying his clothes. Then we kids would buy clothes as gifts. My mother would take him to get a suit every 10 years or so.

[quote]And remember the MOMA when it was small and intimate?

And known as The Modern.

i get the sense that you have good feelings toward him.

The new MoMA has elephantiasis.

I remember when the Natural History Museum was open Wednesday night and practically had the whole place to myself. There was also a room with hundreds of bird specimens, great references. That's gone of course.

[quote]That's yet another bit of real estate Trump destroyed! He bought Alexander's, I think that was sometime in the 1990s.

Trump had nothing to do with Alexander's. The store was always pretty horrible. It went under just like other low to mid-priced department stores like Korvettes, Mays, Gimbels. Manhattan was changing and there was not enough market for these type of stores.

what was the art museum on Madison & 74th?

It was so cool in its day.

Not that I care too much about art museums.

I'm not a museum type of guy. They're airless places in general. They give me a headache.

But I know DLers love them. They're always bleating - The museums! The museums! - on all the travel threads.

R386 Wasn't that the Whitney Museum of American Art?

yes, it was, R387.

Apparently it's moved and is not what it was.

I remember 375, my neighbor used to call it Alejandro's, remember TSS? Loved all those dept stores. My gran used to take me to all of them from high to low Bonwit Teller, B Altman's, Gimbels, all gone now.

Downtown is sad too. I remember seeing Rocky Horror at the 8th Street Playhouse. I miss the old Waverly on 6th (now the IFC yadda yadda) too. Tower on East 4th was the end of an era for me. Spent many weekend afternoons as a teen walking there from West 4th then hit all the vontage clothing stores on Bway and loop back west to eat falafel on Bleeker. There was a store on West 4th where kids could buy fake IDs which could then be used to sneak into Danceteria lol.

Ever go to Laser Floyd at the Planetarium R384?

The Waverley has gone?

[quote]I remember 375, my neighbor used to call it Alejandro's, remember TSS?

No, what's TSS?

[quote](now the IFC yadda yadda)

& what's IFC?

You talk like a robot.

More please

The Waverly is gone. It's now the IFC center, another example of gentrification.

My mother and her boyfriend used to shoplift at the Alexander's on Fordham road in the Bronx.

[quote]Manhattan was changing and there was not enough market for these type of stores.

Isn't it interesting though that these stores were replaced by KMart and Target.

I remember going to several of those low end stores like Alexanders. Alexanders used to pile all the merchandise on a table and you'd have to pick through the pile to find things.

But what happened to all the people who used to shop in these stores? Did New Yorkers become richer and move their shopping upscale? When you think of all the stores that have left NYC, everything from Alexanders, Korvettes, Woolworths, Bambergers to Gimbels and B. Altman where did all those shoppers go? Were their customers immigrants from WW2 who died off? Most of the closed stores mentioned closed in the 1980s or very early 90s, so their closings can't be associated with the rise of internet sales.

What's interesting is how so much of what's happening in New York is the same as London.

A lot of what used to be bought at those cheaper dept stores you can now buy in the supermarket. Incl. clothes and even TVs.

[quote]My mother and her boyfriend used to shoplift at the Alexander's on Fordham road in the Bronx.

OMG R395, my grandmother was busted for shoplifting a coat there. Are we related?

R398 Up until the early 1970s, most Americans had to live within their financial means & buy what they could actually afford in what they earned.

So blue collar stores like Alexanders fied that niche. Once credit cards became widespread, people took on debt for every purchase, inc clothes, so they shopped above their economic station.

Thats when lower & mid range dept stores started folding.

Why go to crappy Alexanders when you could go to Bloomingdales across the street & pay for it later (and later & later & later)?

My mother was the biggest shopper on the planet in her day. I was dragged to every one on the weekends. Gimbles,Macys , Bloomingdales, Saks,B Altmans, Bonwit Teller and Bergdorfs The original Bendels had the coolest lobby it was funky and had mini shops. Bendels and Bloomies were my fave as their ground floors were very enticing to a child. She also shopped at smaller stores and boutiques in Soho also Charivari in the 80s. One that I have not heard mention of was May's Department Store. It was located on Union Square which was very seedy. They had a higher end department for women on one of the higher floors.

There was a J W Mays on Jamaica Avenue in Queens too.

[quote]My mother was the biggest shopper on the planet in her day. I was dragged to every one on the weekends. Gimbles,Macys , Bloomingdales, Saks,B Altmans, Bonwit Teller and Bergdorfs The original Bendels had the coolest lobby it was funky and had mini shops.

My mother too. All those.

She used to park me in The Glasshouse Coffee Shop which was in the sheets dept. at Bloomingdale's and I'd chat with all the ladies who'd come in from the suburbs for the day. Little kiddie with my English accent.

Then she'd schlepp those sheets back to fucking England - and they were fucking horrible and scratchy - full of God knows what synthetics.

P.S. The Glasshouse had the best Blueberry Muffins I've ever had in my life.

Does Lord & Taylor still have their American cafe?

[quote]Does Lord & Taylor still have their American cafe?

No. They outsourced their restaurants to Sarabeths.

I almost got molested by a perv at Cinema 3 which was in the Plaza Hotel. Good times.

R76 She is Georgina Clooney's beard.

Oops wrong thread!

Conway was immortalized in that infamous dance song by Reel 2 Real.

In about 1957, I was first brought to New York, by my father. Since we went by train from Pittsburgh, I'm sure we passed through the old Penn Station, both on arrival and departure, but I really don't remember that very well. (You have to remember that architectural splendor was something that was expected at that time as some kind of cultural convention. Train stations, movie palaces, all public spaces seemed much grander in retrospect, compared to most of the prefab stuff we see nowadays.)

My father took me to the old secondhand bookstores on lower Third Ave. All I remember is many kind of dilapidated old buildings down there, with dusty shelves lined with old books, which my father would pore over. (He loved histories about the U.S. Civil War, which was curious, since he had been born in Nova Scotia.) All I remember of that was standing around. I was 8.

Interestingly, as my whole family was bookish, I eventually became bookish too, if only by osmosis. I later ended up living in New York, from 1972-87, when I became a habitué' of several old secondhand bookstores thereabouts. I loved the Gotham Bookmart, on West 47th St., between 5th and 6th, where a sweet man named Phil Lyman was particularly helpful. I should think he probably spent the better part of his life working there. Then there was Weiser's, an occult book store, on Broadway near West 4th St. downtown. They specialized in all kinds of alternative literature, both scientific and fictional. The clientele there also seemed at least as colorful as the subject matter. And I can't forget the Argosy, up in the East 50's and about Madison or Lex. They specialized in higher end, costlier first editions and illustrated books. Even the Strand back in those days had a special Rare Book Room, up on the 5th Floor. You had to be called up there, then take an elevator at a different entrance, separate from the main bookstore, where you were met by an attendant.

The Strand still stands, but it's become more of an industry. Gone are the creaky wood floors. Now they have an elevator! But, if you are willing to dig, you can still find interesting catalogues from all kinds of art exhibitions and auction houses. I always liked looking at that stuff. And the staff still seems pleasingly alternative funky, as they always did, though now they're mostly younger.

And I loved all the record stores. 8th St. between 5th and 6th seemed to specialize in them: Happy Tunes, where practically everything was $1.99, Dayton's, which had soundtrack bootleg lp's, and had another branch over on Broadway, a block or so south of the Strand, Greenwich Village Disk, which didn't have much of anything, and Discophile, which rather haughtily dealt only with Classical recordings. There was also funky Footlight Records, over on 2nd Ave. near 12th St.; it had the best old movie soundtracks and shows, and the two owners, a gay couple named Frank (?) and Eddie sat at different sides of the room, and frequently corrected each other. (They eventually sold the store and retired to Florida. The place still specialized in the same stuff, changing to another nearby location, but eventually that too ceased to be. Now it's an online site, though it has a lot of interesting product.)

[quote]In about 1957, I was first brought to New York, by my father.

I think the thing I love most about DL is it makes even me feel young.

R385, read before you comment.

Actually, Dump had something to do with Alexander's: "For starters, the value of the company's assets, including prime real estate, greatly exceeds its debts. Its stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, is up sharply since the bankruptcy.

The filing seems linked to the departure of Donald Trump from Alexander's board. Trump left the board April 16 after turning over his Alexander's shares to Citibank in partial payment of a $70 million debt. Trump, remember, abhors the word "bankruptcy." Alexander's went broke May 15, saying it was in "the best interests" of the company."

Dump abhors the word 'bankruptcy', yet so many of his properties went bankrupt! What a piece of shit.

[quote]Alexander's was a dump.

That depends on what era you shopped there. As a kid my mom would take me with her shopping, I loved it. Alexander's had a lot of decent items. My mom bought some high quality items there, a beautiful wool coat from England, it looked like something by Biba (which was sold at Bergdorf in NYC), the coat cost a lot for Alexander's, think it was close to $200!

Alexander's also carried decent clothing from Italy and Spain, my mom has lots of nice wool turtlenecks, skirts and dress pants, the quality was not like the cheap tissue paper level crap Target now sells. Now everything mid-range seems to be made in Vietnam, Pakistan, China and India.

Alexander's also carried beautiful high quality womens boots and shoes. When my mom was cleaning out her house, she's a bit of hoarder, she came across beautiful leather boots from Italy and Brazil, they were from Alexander's. My young nieces couldn't believe she saved so much stuff from the 1960s and 1970s. All her items were in great shape. My nieces were more than happy to accept my mom's collection from Alexander's.

Sure, like any other store, the quality declined over the years, but not when my mom shopped there.

Perhaps you could still find nice things there, but by the mid 70s the place was a dump.

I believe we are r398. But then, you knew that😉

400+ posts & no mention of the most obvious loss...

THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.

Nearly 17 years ago already.

no nearly 16 years.

^^ Sorry, hit the wrong key. 16 yrs, yes.

[quote]400+ posts & no mention of the most obvious loss... THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. Nearly 17 years ago already.

No one forgot about the WTC, this thread's focus is mostly about long defunct stores, restaurants, clubs and movie theaters.

I spent very little time in the WTC area, I did once attend a private party at Windows on the World.

The only thing good down by the WTC was the John St gay party. I say Jake Shears suck cock on stage and while another stripper pissed on the crowd.

Windows on the World was my sole experience with the Financial District.

Down in FiDi, there used to be the Wall Street Club bathhouse on Maiden Lane. I went there once. In addition to admission fee, they made you pay a dollar as a towel deposit, which was refunded to you when the towel was returned.

When did they start calling it "FiDi"? And how do you pronounce it? FIE-DIE? FEE-DEE? FIDDY?

Yeah, I sure miss getting pissed on by that stripper!

[quote]When did they start calling it "FiDi"?

It's been called Financial District since at least the 1970s.

I didn't say "Financial District." I said "FiDi."

[quote]I said "FiDi."

2007

Thank you, R427.

More defunct stores, clubs, restaurants etc, please.

O'Neal's Balloon

The Gingerman

The Leo Castelli Gallery in SoHo

All the theaters the fuckers tore down: the Morosco, the Rialto, the Helen Hayes on 46th...etc and etc.

[quote]More defunct stores, clubs, restaurants etc, please.

Did the Ninth Circle count as a "club"? There was certainly no membership fee (nor such a thing as "LGBT").

The movie theater that used to be at the corner of West 12th and Greenwich Avenue in the West Village. They tore it down and built a gym. It reminded me how there used to be neighborhoods in Manhattan and people didn't need to leave their neighborhood to see a first run movie.

No one has mentioned Tad's Steaks? It offered a steak, baked potato and a drink for about $5.00 back in the 80's back when I was hanging out in the Times Square area. You picked your cut of meat and the cook would put it on the grill - they were so thin that they'd cook in minutes. You picked up your red tray and took your meal to a table. It was fine dining to my teen eyes, but as I got older, the polish rubbed off. I started to notice the clientele got rowdier and the restaurants got dingier and the steak got tougher.

I remember when the subway lines were referred to as the BMT, IRT, and the IND.

[quote]No one has mentioned Tad's Steaks?

That's because the steaks were terrible. I don't even know how they got away with calling them steaks. LOL

But it does bring up the subject of middle class steak restaurants that have all disappeared from NYC. Beefsteak Charlie's being one of the most popular. But there were two or three others which I can't remember the name of that were national steak chains. Maybe Bonanza? There was one I used to go to on 6th Avenue in the low West 30s.

God, I wish I had kept a diary or taken pictures. All of these things I remember vaguely, I wish I could recall fully.

[quote]I remember when the subway lines were referred to as the BMT, IRT, and the IND.

Are they no longer?

taking of steak >>>

I meant TALKING of steak.

Cool 1970s subway map.

R436, I never hear them referred to by those acronyms anymore. I'm sure the average New York City resident under the age of 35 would have absolutely no idea what those mean.

i see IRT, IND, and BMT on the map in R439.

Originally, the NY Subway was made up of different companies. IRT (Interborough Rapid Tranist), BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan??? Transit) and I forget what IND stood for.

The city bought these companies out and consolidated all lines under the MTA (Metro Transit Authority). For awhile, people still called them the IRT, IND, BMT, but that died out over time. Every once in awhile, I'll meet an old gay man who likes to live in the past and will say something like, "You can take the IRT to my neighbhord. Call me on Murray Hill 7-XXXX if you get lost."

that subway map reminds me of the shiny calendars you used to get in the 70s to put on the wall. Do you remember them?

R442 Here's an era-appropriate one:

For R441...watch the closing doors!

Very shiny.

Ugh, Dub version. The vocals are vintage NYC.

YES! EXACTLY those, R445 & R443! - I didn't know how to google them.

What are they called?

I googled "mylar calendar," R447. I didn't find any on eBay or Etsy, btw.

Remember Sign Of The Dove?

[quote]I googled "mylar calendar," [R447]. I didn't find any on eBay or Etsy, btw.

Never knew that's what they were called.

No wonder - who wants to buy an old calendar?

Company Restaurant.

>>>>

[quote]who wants to buy an old calendar?

Think "wall hanging."

talking of which - remember those targets made of a fuzzy material - you'd throw a ball and it would stick.

The Area Code Restaurant, 6th Avenue at 14th Street. When you sat down, the waiter gave you a quarter. You then used the phone on the table to call anywhere in the US. I think you got two minutes talk time. This was way before cell phones were popular.

There was also a restaurant in the theater district called Charley-O's. At one point, they had phones on the table where you could call other tables, like in the musical Cabaret. Hardly anyone used them because who wants to call strangers? I always thought there should be a gay restaurant that did that.

R433, there's still a Tad's Steaks on West 48th or 49th St.

I adored Beefsteak Charlie's as an 10 year. In fact when I became friends with this girl who was from Argentina and from a wealthy background , I insisted my mother take us there on one of our outings. I remember yammering on and on to her about how the baby back ribs were the best and you got a whole pitcher of your choice of soda. A whole pitcher! and just for your personal use! Can you imagine?! and you could go to the unlimited salad bar and eat as many shrimps as you like! I was besides myself with excitement at showing this girl the splendor that was Beefsteak Charlie's. 35 years later I asked her how she didn't die laughing at my losing my shit over that tacky restaurant when her parent were taking her to Smith and Wollensky. That's why we are still friends she always tolerates my silliness and still loves me. Tads Steak house was always seedy it was for like hobos.

Love your post R410 and yours too R457. Thank you both. This is a wonderful.thread.

Love this thread!

I'm fascinated why so many liquidator stores, which were ubiquitous in the late 1970s through the early 2000s, seem to be closing. Especially with the economic problems so many have, you'd think these stores would be thriving.

I worked on a block with three liquidator stores, Weber's, Odd Job and Jack's. I think Jack's is still open, I was shocked about Odd Job closing. The store was packed everyday. I got some amazing items there, Ralph Lauren sheets and towels, a ton of CDs for only 99¢ each and, well, almost anything you needed.

The items weren't the garbage you now find in local 99¢ stores, most items were high quality overstock. I even bought Chanel No. 5 for gifts! They were from Paris, from duty free shops.

r459, I think it's because the liquidator stores can't afford the NYC rents anymore. The Jacks that used to be on West 45 between 5th and 6th just recently closed.

I always thought it would be cool if all the liquidators had bought the old Gimbels building (or that other building on 6th Avenue that was once a huge department store which I can't remember the name of) and all went in together and had one huge liquidator mall. Can't you just imagine Weber's, Odd Job, Conways, Bazaar all being under one roof?

[quote]Talking of which - remember those targets made of a fuzzy material - you'd throw a ball and it would stick.

Yeah. "Throw a ball." Right.

Lifetime NYCer here, who remembers the three major blackouts. The first one is vague, as I was very young and all I remember is eating dinner by candlelit in our Brooklyn house. It wasn't scary - it was fun. Second BO I was still living at home and it happened around 6PM. This was the infamous BO that involved lots of looting overnight and changed the landscape - many stores turned to those ugly roll-down steel gates. I lived in Bed-Stuy then but our area was peaceful - we didn't experience any major damage/no roving gangs.

During the last BO I was at work, Luckily, it was the headquarters of Chase Manhattan Bank in midtown and they had backup power to the whole building. I was one of many that stayed overnight instead of trying to get out of the city. They set up cots in the cafeteria but I ended up sleeping in a small meeting room on a leather couch.

R462, do you remember if your phone was working when the lights went out on July 13, 1977?

R12 Thank you for posting that song instead of that Neil Sedaka shit.

I can't believe DL has a Neil Sedaka fan. UGGGGH.

You know you are an old NYer when you remember the black subway trains that had the woven cane seats, and when there were gum machines in train stations. You got 2 Chicklets in a little box for a penny. Also when you didn't need exact change to board a bus - the driver made change. You dropped money into this small tray, the driver counted it and gave money back if necessary.

^^ Those cars also had ceiling fans!

R463 - I don't remember what the phone situation was that night. I just remember when I realized when the lights went out in the house, I stuck my head out of the window and saw that the whole block was dark and yelling "oh no!". Everything after that moment is gone.

[quote][R12] Thank you for posting that song instead of that Neil Sedaka shit. I can't believe DL has a Neil Sedaka fan. UGGGGH.

Oh, right - because Odyssey were so cool and cutting edge. UGGGGH.

R468 Odyssey is not cutting edge, but Native New Yorker is a great, cool song.

Neil Sedaka is just cheese.

Dick cheese at that.

[quote][R468] Odyssey is not cutting edge, but Native New Yorker is a great, cool song.

Great and cool - that's hilarious.

R471 Change you Depends, hun.

YOUR Depends.

Gurl - I was around then and bought the 45.

So I guess that makes me great and cool.

What a feeling!

I also STARTED this HOT thread!

Now, run along and let the grown ups continue talking.

Bump

R463 Yes the phones worked on during the 07/13/1977 blackout. The NY phone company has it's own power and generators. That's why it's a good idea to keep a landline and regular phone that works with a phone connection without a power cord plugin.

Landlines worked during 9/11 too.

R228, the shop was Patelson's.

R280, that was Supreme Macaroni. Good, inexpensive food and a comfortable atmosphere.

R355, The Alps Pharmacy. The Gardinis were a very nice couple. I miss that place.

[quote]I always thought it would be cool if all the liquidators had bought the old Gimbels building (or that other building on 6th Avenue that was once a huge department store which I can't remember the name of) and all went in together and had one huge liquidator mall. Can't you just imagine Weber's, Odd Job, Conways, Bazaar all being under one roof?

I remember Gimbels was near Macy's. I remember Franklin Simon, but I think that was actually on 34th Street, Wish I could remember the department store you're talking about. Wasn't there an Arnold Constable in the city? IIRC, B. Altman's was on Fifth.

I remember my aunts taking me shopping as a kid, to Fulton Street, there was a Martin's there, it was a high end department store.

One big liquidator mall would be hilarious, the people who work in that area would need to take a two hour lunch! I think a number of cheap stores did actually take over Gimbels old spot, there was Daffy's on a few floors and a really crapola place called Everything $10, this was way over 15-16 years ago, I have no idea what's there now, I no longer work in that area.

I think all the Conway stores are gone, that was another place which was always bustling, even if ppl didn't go there for clothing, they sold detergent and other household items.

r482, I remembered. It was Korvettes. Macy's, Korvettes and Gimbels were all in a line on 6th Avenue. Both Gimbels and Korvettes were chopped up into various malls with individual stores. The old Gimbels store only has three floors of stores now, with a J.C. Penney anchor. The other floors were returned to office space. The Korvettes had a bunch of different stores but is now a big H&M.

I liked Conways. When I first moved to NYC, I bought bed sheets there. They were nice sheets for a cheap price.

Oh wow, forgot about Korvette's! For some reason, I thought it was near Kleins and Mays at Union Square.

There was also a smaller Korvette's, think it was on 5th and 37th-38th. When they were going out of business, I remember going there on lunch breaks to pick up LPs and 45s. The workers were so disgusted at losing their jobs, I remember one cashier threw all the 45s in my bag, she didn't charge me for any of them, she just charged me for the three Robert Palmer LPs I bought!

Do you remember Jimmy's Music World? They were on 5th, they always had a large selection of deeply discounted UK import LPs. I even got some weird Spanish LPs of The Police albums, they had slightly different covers.

J&R Music World, which had 4-5 storefronts on Park Row (across from City Hall) is gone, according to my web search. That place was a huge electronics store. Wonder what is there now.

Manganaro's on 9th Avenue.

R485 J&R Music World was the place to go for discounted albums in the 80s and 90s. But by 2000 they were branching out to electronics, cameras, books, etc, which was a smart business decision. 9/11 and its aftermath cut down their sales considerably, and they never really recovered.

I loved Manganaro's. There was a lot of family drama at Manganaro's. Something between the aunt and the nephew he opened up a rival spot on the same block. The original Mananaro's was great. The woman who was running it was great totally crabby and would not hesitate to throw you the fuck out if you got uppity and demanding. I love their rice balls.

R477 The Rockaways had power during the blackout because they got their power from LILCO on Long Island.

Orbach's 1979 - on right >>

Rockaway Playland R489!

There an amusement park in New Jersey which was being pushed as the East Coast's version of Disneyland, it was an epic failure. When the park was torn down, a bunch of Mitchell Lama buildings, or high rise co-ops, went up.

I think the amusement park was called Freedomland. I went there a few times as a kid, it was nothing like Disneyland!

It was in the Bronx, R492. Co-Op City.

Yes, that's it, Freedomland, it became Co-Op City. Then, Co-Op City became a disaster. I worked with a woman who hated living there.

I thought Freedomland was in New Jersey because I was staying with relatives in Jersey for a few days during Summer recess, we all went to Freedomland.

Andy's Cheepees

Got a couple really good jackets there back in the '80s.

I remember Andy's Cheepees, it was next to PosterMat. PosterMat was a great place for posters, pinback buttons of rock groups and other memorabilia, which later moved across tho the north side of the street for a few years.

I love this thread!!!!!

R494 You might have been confusing it with Palisades Park which was a great 1950s/60s amusement park up on the Palisades in NJ.

1975 >>

1975 >>

[quote]I thought Freedomland was in New Jersey because I was staying with relatives in Jersey for a few days during Summer recess, we all went to Freedomland.

It's only 12 miles from Co-Op City to Fort Lee, NJ. And as r498 suggests, you may be thinking of Palisades Park.

The owner of Azuma, Naboro Sato, was my landlord. Cheap little motherfucker, the Upper East Side brownstone was infested with rats, roaches and waterbugs. And his gay son lived with his boyfriend in the building. He was a pathetic old bastard, daddy was.

The sex clubs!!

Oh, the sex clubs!!!

Remember CUE?

eventually incorporated into New York Magazine.

when the 70s got itself a name >>

The Blackout

the '77 blackout

famous corner

Thx to the ppl who posted about Freedomland and Palisade's Park, it definitely wasn't Palisade's Park. found the little 'Indian' drum from Freedomland which my aunt bought me, it still had a Freedomland tag on it. I found it while going through some of the stuff I kept from my childhood, then I misplaced it again!

[quote]I remember Andy's Cheepees, it was next to PosterMat. PosterMat was a great place for posters, pinback buttons of rock groups and other memorabilia, which later moved across tho the north side of the street for a few years.

Andy Cheepees! I got a few pairs of black jeans there, like Canal Jeans, they also had free pinback buttons with purchase. I used to buy t-shirts and pinback buttons at PosterMat, there was one on 8th Street. The PosterMat on 8th always had great sales, there was a t-shirt bin a few steps from the door. I got a ton of t-shirts for $1-$2 and some $1 Gumby mugs, which I added to Christmas gifts for the Gumby fans in my life.

The first time I visited New York was in 1968 with my mother. We stayed at The President hotel and walked everywhere for days. I remember going in a shoe store just stacked with shoe boxes out in the open. The owner was in his mid to late 40's, tall good looking guy who harrassed me to buy shoes. "What planet do you come from with that accent? Earth creatures own more than one pair of shoes". I was enchanted but my mother felt he was being abrasive. We didn't have salespeople or stores like that in Kansas City.

R512, shoe stores are another dying breed.

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, I remember the shoe stores on the two main shopping drags my parents regularly shopped: Thom McCann, Miles, National Shoes, AS Beck and there were also many privately owned small 'mom & pop' shoes stores,which remarkably outlived the chain shoe stores.

Over the past few years I noticed only one privately owned shoe store is still around, which is amazing, as their prices are completely outrageous, especially for ugly 'comfortable' shoes.

The Unicorn.

Miss the Burger King that used to be in the next block. Now I have to walk all the way to 7th Ave.

Greenwich Ave & Tenth Street - 1941

One of New York's most elegant "art film" theaters was in the spot now occupied by Tao Restaurant. I saw LEAVING LAS VEGAS there. The Gene Kelly dance musical INVITATION TO THE DANCE premiered there in 1956.

For those who think their landline will work in a blackout: Verizon is working hard to move all landline phones to fiberoptic rather than copper. If you have fiberoptic service you WILL NOT have service in a blackout because the phone will only run with electricity (or you can buy Verizon's battery charger and be sure to have lots of batteries on hand).I live downtown and a few years ago my landline was disconnected because I refused to switch to fiberoptics (I was originally told that that service was down and that it would take weeks to fix, so why not agree to a free upgrade to fiberoptics service?).

In the end, I was not given a choice ( a Verizon rep finally told me that their plans were to take all Manhattan residents off of copper by 2016 or 2017 and also confessed that the copper service in my neighborhood was never going to be repaired). I fought with them for weeks and even complained about them to the BBB. I had to give in because I wanted the phone although the fact that it won't work in a blackout is a reason I'm now considering dumping it because my cellphone service has improved over the years.

I recently read where Verizon was trying to move residential phones on the Upper West Side to fiberoptic and people up there went to their city council person and other government representatives, trying to stop them.

THX fore the Verizon info, a similar situation happened to me, but this is a thread about defunct NYC stores, clubs, restaurants etc.

Years ago, my Verizon trouble was so bad, especially when I told them I didn't have the monthly surcharge for wire maintenance, they prolonged the repairs! My phone was out for nearly three weeks. I have a cell, so I didn't care.

The first repair guy didn't fully fix the problem, he replaced something in my building's basement. The real problem was outside, not in my building, I recall there were terrible snowstorms at the time which caused my service to go down. It was only my phone, not the entire building! Then, when I called to tell them my phone went dead again, the rep was trying to sell me Verizon Fios, which wasn't even down yet in my neighborhood. I cannot stand Verizon and their shitty service. I'll likely switch to Spectrum.

The Grand Ticino had great food and looked nothing like the fake Toronto one in Moonstruck. It was a cozy below-street level joint with a lot of dark wood. Paolucci's was one of the best old school Little Italy places. Sadly both got priced out and their owners made ill-fated attempts to reopen outside Manhattan.

r518, I think Verizon just did that to my landline. My landline was down and I complained. They sent someone out and he said that there was water in the cables and they would have to be replaced. (I don't know why because these lines have been through Hurricane Sandy and a lot more). For THREE MONTHS I had shitty service while they replaced the lines. I have a feeling that they replaced my copper lines. It makes me mad because during 9/11 when nobody had cell phone coverage, my landline was still working and it was how I was able to call my parents and tell them I was okay.

Little Ricky was a fun store in the East Village.

Anyone been to Gene's in the West Village? It's old school Italian circa 1950's/60's I don't think the place has changed since it opened. It's still around, great food and good prices.

I love this thread.

Who remembers Food Corner on 80th & Broadway in the late 1970s?

[quote]I love this thread.

and we love you, dollface.

Whoever mentioned Idlewild Airport (La Guardia before renamed) ....... great line in Breakfast at Tiffany when Audrey gets in the (old huge) taxi to flee from NYC and says loudly, "Idlewild, and step on it!". I say that every time I get in a cab and sometimes the older drivers understand the reference. Lifelong New Yorker here. love this thread

[quote]Whoever mentioned Idlewild Airport (La Guardia before renamed)

Kennedy was the former Idlewild Airport, not La Guardia.

[quote]Whoever mentioned Idlewild Airport (La Guardia before renamed) ....... great line in Breakfast at Tiffany when Audrey gets in the (old huge) taxi to flee from NYC and says loudly, "Idlewild, and step on it!". I say that every time I get in a cab and sometimes the older drivers understand the reference. Lifelong New Yorker here. love this thread

I hope it's not La Guardia you're trying to get to, R527, when you tell the driver "Idlewild, and step on it!"

Lifelong New Yorker, my ass.

R529 >>

Switch a lovely Italian Greyhound for the poodle, R530, and yeah, you got me.

Anyone growing up in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn in the 60-70s and maybe 80's remember McDonald's Dining Room on Stuyvesant Avenue, near Macon Street? This was a sit down restaurant that was pretty fancy when I was growing up. We didn't eat there often case there were five kids in my family and my father was cheap, but my mother would send one of us kids there every couple of weeks when she wanted to treat herself - she got a club sandwich to go.

No, I see you as a Cream Rotary Princess Phone constantly glued to your ear, Tiffany Dialler and standard poodle kind of gal, R531.

Don't spoil the image!

R533 Simply not a poodle, poodle.

r529 Apologies. I made a mistake.

Much like your mother did when she shoved a rusty coat hanger up her sweaty, loose snatch to abort you and failed. Alas, you survived and slid out of her onto your father's stomach as she was taking a huge, wet dump on your father's face. !

Come visit sometime here!

Hugs 'n kisses

R529 - you in danger, gurl!

[quote]Little Ricky was a fun store in the East Village.

Loved Little Ricky's. Besides all the fun retro items, they carried a selection of old vintage un-used greeting cards. My mom got a huge laugh when I added a vintage Birthday card with her gift.

What's in it's place these days? It's really a shame so many fun shops have closed down to be replaced by a Starbucks, Duane Reade or another high end clothing store. Do we really need all these duplicate stores?

well, they make money, R537 - so people are going to them and they keep opening more.

I think I went back to NYC in 1996 no '97 and the changes had already taken place. I stood in front of one Starbucks on Astor Place and could see two more from where I was standing and thought "What the hell is going on here?"

& many of the places I knew from the '80s were gone.

& that was twenty years ago.

I know Tower's three stores in the Village are long gone, but what about the indie privately owned records shops, there were so many in the West Village and along 8th Street.

I shopped at Record Runner, Rebel Rebel (there was an article in the the NY Times last year about how the owner lost his lease, he was simply called, no negotiations. The building owner told him someone else was taking over the space, they didn't even ask him if he was willing to pay the new rent! Think the store was there either 20 or 30 years!), Discophile, Venus, Record Factory and so many others. I assume most of these Indies shops are gone.

There was a short lived record store on Broadway, I think it took over the old I. Buss store. They had an amazing selection of import records at ridiculously low prices. I always found some great LPs there. I remember this store was on the same shopping drag as The Antique Boutique, Unique Boutique and Ricky's drugstore. Is Ricky's gone too?

Another thing I remember from that 1997 visit was all the kitschy rubbish from the 80s was still in the East Village retro-y boutiques.

I thought "Haven't they fucking moved on?"

Most of those 8th Street Record stores weren't THAT great. There were better elsewhere.

All the same, THIS is for you, R539

[quote]well, they make money, [R537] - so people are going to them and they keep opening more.

Obviously you're not native New Yorker. Who cares if ppl are going to them, they're generic and bring absolutely NOTHING to the Village, Soho and the surrounding areas. These horrible stores have ruined once exciting, vibrant and artistic NYC neighborhoods.

R540, there's no denying some ppl are still stuck in that punk mindset, but the area was a haven for the young kids who wanted to buy clothing and music from an era they clearly missed out being part of.

It's sad that these downtown neighborhoods have become as boring and generic as every other NYC neighborhood. Gentrification isn't always a positive.

[quote]Obviously you're not native New Yorker. Who cares if ppl are going to them, they're generic and bring absolutely NOTHING to the Village, Soho and the surrounding areas.

gurl, I wasn't praising them - I was just saying how it is.

[quote][R540], there's no denying some ppl are still stuck in that punk mindset, but the area was a haven for the young kids who wanted to buy clothing and music from an era they clearly missed out being part of.

They're STILL selling that stuff?

[quote]Most of those 8th Street Record stores weren't THAT great. There were better elsewhere.

Actually 8th Street's Discophile was amazing, they had so many obscure imports as well a independently released US records. Music which wasn't available at any other record stores at the time. They were thriving way before the downtown Tower opened, this store did very well.

Record Factory also had a great import selection, at low prices. Guess it depends what kind of music you were into. I liked some US rock, mostly British rock, British folk music, avant garde jazz and R'n'B, still do. These stores had everything I wanted.

[quote]It's sad that these downtown neighborhoods have become as boring and generic as every other NYC neighborhood. Gentrification isn't always a positive.

It's not even that they've become like every other NYC neighborhood. It's that they've become like every other suburban mall. Along Broadway where there was once unique, one of a kind stores, you will now find stores that you can find in any mall across the US. It's really sad.

Actually, when I lived in NYC in the 80s (from England) it always puzzled me why so much that was everywhere, elsewhere in AMERICA, wasn't in the city.

It always seemed odd to me.

The thing I miss about Tower Records is that they carried the mini-cds from Broadway shows. For example, when Pet Clarke played in Sunset Boulevard, they released a cd of her singing "With One Look" and "If We Never Said Goodbye." I bought one at Tower Records.

A friend of mine said he used to have a mini-cd of Carole King when she was in Blood Brothers, but I never saw that. Maybe it was a bootleg?

Mini - CDs? those tiny CDs you played with an adapter?

[quote]Mini - CDs? those tiny CDs you played with an adapter?

No. Sorry for the confusion. They were normal sized cds but they only 2-4 songs on them. And they were usually when another star came into the show and only recorded their solos.

How could anyone feel comfortable in Supreme Macaroni? It was a mob front. You could hardly miss the big limos that pulled up in front and the men in suits who disappeared into the back of the restaurant. Plus, that stretch on Ninth Avenue was a fucking war zone all through the 80's.

[quote]Mini - CDs? those tiny CDs you played with an adapter?

He meant mini CD EPs, a CD with less songs than a full length CD. Like 12" EP 45s, they're the size of a 12" LP, but only have about 3-4 songs on the disc. Many artists did these, as promos or for ppl who simple didn't want the entire album, just the hits.

There were actually have small mini CDs produced, some were special promo CDs others were Limited Edition to draw in fans. I have a few mini CDs, one set by XTC came in a box which looked like a cigarette case.

[quote]He meant mini CD EPs

Oh, right - he just didn't know they were called that, I guess.

In fact, as time went on, CD singles tended to have several tracks - including different versions of the same song.

R522 When I lived on west 23rd St in Chelsea across the street from where I lived was a restaurant called Chateau Ruggiero it was a mob restaurant used to launder money. No one from the neighborhood ever ate there because the prices were very high but there was always a few big black cars parked in front of it.

Before it was Hymie Town, aka Jesse Jackson.

Watching Three Days of the Condor and there are lots of fun shots of NYC as it was filmed in the fall of 1974. At least EJ's Luncheonette on Lexington Avenue is still up and running.

Somebody should do an anthology of Arthur Bell's columns from the Village Voice. Quite a chronicle of New York life from the 70s through the early 80s.

He was also funny in that Village Voice take no prisoners way of the period which no writers have been since.

As somebody noted they had a number of very wonderful writers back then.

The Village Voice was amazing, my parents were avid readers. The Voice covered any subject creative people were interested in. If you wanted to read about art or avant garde music, the Voice covered it.

Now what's going on with that paper, last I heard, it became a free paper with lots of sex ads? I haven't picked up a Voice in many years.

I recall Musto left awhile ago. Adrien Brody's mom was a photographer for the Voice. I also remember Jonas Mekas. So many talented people worked for the Voice.

A cold chill runs through me at the thought/memory of The Voice - searching for apartments in the 80s. The misery of it.

Finally, I learned you find places through PEOPLE. Tell EVERYONE you know or meet that you're looking.

R559 The Village Voice had a lot of sex ads after it went from a paid paper to a free paper. It eventually went down to zero sex ads.

The Village Voice started to stumble in the late 90s. All the excellent writers were retiring or dying off and they just couldn't find writers that had the same skill as the old ones. Time Out Magazine began publishing a weekly New York edition and that was competition for TVV.

In addition, society was changing. The Voice covered the funky downtown scene. As younger generations came to NYC, they didn't have that off-beat sensibility and weren't about to attempt to fit into the scene. They created their own faux-hipster scene.

The Village Voice also struggled with technology. Why buy a paper when all content was online. I don't think they really had the capital to support an online subscription service.

And I was a person who would go down to Sheridan Square on Tuesday night to get the new edition and look through it for apartment ads. By the 90s, most of the ads were just agents who would take a fee to help find apartments.

R547 & others...if you want to see how quintessential NYC has been ruined, look no further than Time Square. It has the same retail & restaurants as a mall in Dubuque, Iowa.

Watch TAXI DRIVER to get a sense of what it was like in the 60s-70s-80s. Filthy, sleazy, gritty..but it was NYC, not Dubuque.

Now, it has...Olive Garden...

Saw a pretty rotten horror flick a few days ago that also shows alot of 1970s NYC...WOLFEN.

I'm not a fan of gritty, dirty Times Square. I saw it up close. You never felt comfortable going to the theater. And it was just a place that you wanted to get out of immediately.

Sadly, the environment has swung too far the other way. Tourists lounging in Times Square like it's a theme park is also not my idea of what the area should be.

I look back at that period with nostalgia because of what was going on INSIDE of those theaters. And not only was there great theater to be seen though it was expensive it was affordable. Now it's extortionist.

Also I felt it was still a New York neighborhood and because it was so dodgy there were so few people.

Also a lot of great buildings were still standing like a few of the old movie palaces(Criterion, Rivoli, Strand) and the Helen Hayes and Morosco.

You know that song from Sweet Charity where she sings New York is my personal property? That's exactly how I felt. Now it is so overbuilt because all the zoning laws were destroyed which allowed light to still come in, most of the great buildings were destroyed and horrible tourists no longer come to see midtown they ARE midtown.

I avoid it like the plague. In no way was it even worth even the rehabilitation of the New Amsterdam. I'd take the Morosco for all the mall shit that's there now.

My Favorite part of The Voice in the 80s was Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies. It was the first thing I would look at. He did one on a colleague of my mother who worked at the criminal court and was six feet tall and had a habit going to court to take dictation as a court stenographer and would wear mini skirts and no underwear. I think a court clerk told her to knock it off. Stan Mack made her a subject of one of his comics one week and I was tickled as I knew the story first hand. To the people who mentioned Little Ricky's I Miss that store so much. It was my favorite store ever. I even put stuff on lay -away the owners were so cool. I still have a belt buckle with Jesus and Mary that I still wear from at least 26 years ago.

One movie that showed what NY looked like in the 70s is Panic In Needle Park. Which is still a fantastic depiction of heroin addiction but very depressing. Another movie that really gets 80s NY right is The Pope Of Greenwich. Which is still enjoyable especially for young Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts.

[quote]Another movie that really gets 80s NY right is The Pope Of Greenwich.

Undoubtedly you meant "Greenwich Village."

Yes I did excuse me thank you r568

^^ Also AFTER HOURS for early 80s NYC...With Griffin Dunne & DL faves, Teri Garr, Catherine O'Hara and...Linda Fiorentino!

Lots of LES & the Bowery, when they were still scary wastelands.

[quote][R559] The Village Voice had a lot of sex ads after it went from a paid paper to a free paper. It eventually went down to zero sex ads.

How do they still publish without those paid sex ads? As I said upthread, I haven't picked up a copy of The Voice in ages.

R570, IIRC, most of "After Hours" took place in Soho, when it was still an artists haven and a much cheaper place to live. A friend was living in a building which didn't have hot water, just cold, they had to boil water to bathe! Because ti Tok hours to boil huge pots off water, it was always an ordeal to make plans with them. A different time indeed. Other friends knew what was coming and bought cheap. The lofts were so cheap, one paid cash, around $25,000!

Now no-talent creeps like Taylor Swift are buying $35 million dollar lofts there!

Average New Yorkers don't ask what year someone moved to NYC. They ask "What was the price of the Recession Special at Gray's Papaya when you moved here?"

How much was a subway token?

ANS: Can't remember. 60 cents, I think.

50 cents for two hot dogs and a drink

I remember when 34th street had a lot of clothing and accessories stores.

In the village there were clothing shops with Indian clothes. Not saris, but tops and skirts, very colourful.

I loved Gene's. Is it still there? I still have a matchbook in my junk drawer.

Once a friend came to visit me. She as very much a country mouse and wanted to stop in every "LOST OUR LEASE, GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!" store. I told her, they're just NYC versions of Asian bazaars with immigrants selling junk from stalls.

I remember all the Israeli electronics shops. There were thousands of them, I swear. SNL had a recurring skit "Sabra ShoppingNetwork" based on them, with Tom Hanks. "You like it? You buy it! Wassa madduh? Come on, come on, youlikeityoubuyit, waz wrong wid you?" I have a transistor Sony radio I bought in one years ago, still works. Not "Sony guts," the real thing!

I remember walking on 26th Street to get the 1st Ave bus. They did something -- I don't know what -- poison? Floo? Gas? Hundreds and hundreds of rats were pouring out of the ground. There was some concrete that had a crack in it andr rats of all sizes were pouring up and out of the ground. It was like ione of those movies where they would be wildcat drilling in Texas and hit oil. In fact, I thought it was an oil leak of some kind. They were pouring out in all directions. I just froze. I looked up twards the bus stop to see if I could make it without having rats pour out onto my feet and saw a couple of rats dining on VOMIT on the sidewalk. Ugh.

Totally missed the hardware stores when they all went under. Home Depot opened and every hardware shop closed. There were small hardware shops on every block and as tiny as they were, they always had what you were looking for.

I had a friend living in a very scary area that later became TriBeCa. Very After Hours/Ghost. All locked down warehouses after dark.

I remember seeing Ghost in the movie theatre in NY. Everyone screamed laughing when the characters found an extra room in their loft that they didn't know was there. YEAH, RIGHT! Happens all the time in Manhattan real estate.

[quote]I remember when 34th street had a lot of clothing and accessories stores. In the village there were clothing shops with Indian clothes. Not saris, but tops and skirts, very colourful.

As a kid my mom used to take me into the city a lot, as a little gayling into clothes and being interested in art and drawing all the time, I loved going shopping with her. It was never a chore. I remember all the shoe stores on 34th Street. I remember when Franklin Simon was still open, they were a little more expensive than Macy's, they carried hipper clothing. My mom would shop at al the stores, from Korvette's, Gimbels, Macy's and FS.

We'd also go to the Village, I remember the Indian clothing stores, they were mostly on St. Marks, there was a gorgeous Israeli woman my mom knew who owned a small clothing store on St. Marks. The woman mostly sold Indian mirrored tops, those Indian cheesecloth tops, brightly colored skirts and dresses and patchwork shirts. The store did well, but I remember my mom telling me, the woman's husband didn't like NYC, within a few years, they closed shop and moved, maybe back to Israel. Not sure.

I remember the woman was such a gorgeous lady and always super nice to me. I remember her beautiful hair, as a kid I'd never seen anything like it, she had very long a dark blond hair with beautiful waves, like a Pantene ad! Her hair kind of looked like Robert Plant's hair many years ago, but super long.

I have to ask my mom if they kept in touch, think they did for awhile. This woman also had unusual color green eyes, they were a dark green, this was pre color contacts, her eye color was real! She could have been a model, but she was too short.

Weird how these nostalgia threads make me think about things I haven't thought about in years!

Bump for more of this wonderful thread.

Rupaul said that he and a friend were riding their bikes and pulled into an alley behind a McDonalds near Wall Street. There were thousands of rats running around the ground and up the walls, and they were afraid of falling onto them because they weren't able to pedal their bikes without scooping them up with their shoes.

Fun and creepy anecdote, R580, but it has nothing to do with defunct NYC stores and other long lost places.

When I worked at Harper & Row in the 70s, my friend Betsy and I would occasionally walk down Fifth Ave. to Azuma and shoplift some tacky little geegaw just to see if we could do it. Never got caught.

R581 obviously missed the posts about rats

R582, I don't recall many metal detectors in stores years ago.

My friend had a great story about unintentional shoplifting! While shopping at the Alexander's across from Bloomingdale's, this was during the Winter, his mom took her coat and scarf off. She put her coat and scarf over her arm. She was buying a few turtlenecks, she picked out a few, then paid for them. When she got outside, my friend noticed another turtleneck partially hanging from his mom's long coat, it seems the static from the lining caused one of the tops she had put over her arm, to adhere to the coat's lining. The top was essentially still stuck to her coat when she put the coat back on. His mom was so embarrassed, she didn't go back inside to return the top. Who would believe her?!

I used to cruise at Azuma. There were unlocked store rooms out back. The staff were disinterested and never asked for verificatia from the sisters crowding up the corridor to the shitter. I once cruised this hunky colored boy. I was wearing torn cut-offs and a midriff baring muscle-T. He had an afro comb and was studly beyond all expectatia. Massive pecs, pungent funky unwashed cock and balls. His feet were vinegar rank. My cocklet shifted into third gear. I was chubbed. He pulled me into the service closet and I worshiped his feets, pits ass and balls. He then swung me around, heaved me up on the wall and started turning me inside out with his wicked nine incher. He reamed me , called me a f@ggot and slapped me around until a healthy and copious ejaculatia. It was the summer of '71.

I used to to go the original location of The Knitting Factory - 47 East Houston St. The music venue was upstairs, and it was more or less an empty apartment with knitted sweaters hanging from the ceiling.

The Knitting Factory entrance.

And speaking of E. Houston venues, how about the lesbian bar Meow Mix.

Fun pic R587 and R588. Thanks

I remember, when I first actually went to live in NYC from London in 1983 all I knew of NYC really, was the Upper East Side.

But I went from the airport to stay at Bleecker and Broadway and the cab driver said "Stay safe! Don't go east of here!"

So for the first six months or so of living downtown, I never discovered the East Village.

Finally, I met someone who took me to The Pyramid Club on Avenue A and to Odessa - and finally I had found MY New York and the East Village was where I spent all my time for the rest of the '80s. The New York of Liquid Sky.

My mother worked in Chinatown for 30 years on Center Street. The rat problem was so bad at one point that some of the Chinese restaurants were leaving out plates of food on the sidewalks because the rats were so aggressive they were attacking people on sidewalks. I remember walking past a tiny store front in what is now called Tribeca and seeing sacks of rice piled up in the window with rats visibly making there way through the layers. I totally miss my old NY even though it was so much more gross back then.

R585 Has been trying to get that screenplay published since 1971.

So I have a question for old time New Yorkers.

The 60s and 70s gave us Truman Capote, Yoko and John, Jackie Kennedy, etc.

The 70s and 80s gave us Andy Warhol, Liza, Studio 54, Fran Lebowitz, etc.

What is the legacy for the 90s, the 00s, and the 10s? They just don't seem to be as interesting as the decades before them.

R585, what a bullshit story, there were never many "sisters" shopping at Azuma.

I can't stand when people feel the need to ruin threads. Take your silly sex fantasy into another thread.

looks like we're going to go onto Part II.

Link here >>>

Whatever it was, r124 r125, it was not Ray's.

Just stumbled onto this thread and am loving it.

And Azuma was wonderful, as were the original Pottery Barns.

My mom shopped at Peck & Peck, long gone, and Bonwit Teller, gone too.

I've been re-reading this thread too. - there is a part 2 as you can see @ R595

[quote]Whatever it was, [R124] [R125], it was not Ray's.

I don't know what you mean.

Now I've lost my bookmark on this massive thread.

r598, the only REAL Ray's Pizza was the one at 6th Avenue and 11th Street. The pizza in the other places was a lesser product.