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Christopher Street. NYC. 1978 - Part II

We can continue yakking about the old days here... if we so puhlease.

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by Anonymousreply 95May 14, 2021 2:03 AM

This interesting conversation from the old thread was stalled before it came to a conclusion >

[quote]I thought Manatus was the old Claire. No? 19th @ 7th is Chelsea, not the Village.

by Anonymousreply 1July 29, 2020 12:05 PM

What was the famous place on West Fourth Street - small, dark, narrow nr Sheridan Square? Must have closed 20 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 2July 29, 2020 12:12 PM

Got it! The Bagel.

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by Anonymousreply 3July 29, 2020 12:18 PM

Closed in 2003

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by Anonymousreply 4July 29, 2020 12:19 PM

1959

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by Anonymousreply 5July 29, 2020 12:23 PM

I was in the Tiffany Diner with several friends late one Saturday night. Every seat in the place was taken. After our meal, we decided to get dessert. I asked for apple pie. The waiter asked if I wanted ice cream with it and I said, "Yes." When the desserts were served, they gave me apple pie with two scoops of chocolate ice cream. One of my friends asked, "Did you ask for chocolate ice cream on apple pie?" "No," I replied truthfully. I tried to wave down the waiter, but he wasn't going near this and kept serving. One of the friends took the ice cream and I ate the pie. But who in a restaurant kitchen would do that?

You may recall a Zelda Rubinstein-esque cashier at Tiffany. She was colorful. She sat in the window with her cash register and her cigarettes. She had a lighter that was shaped like a Derringer pistol. Pull the trigger and the flame came out of the barrel of the 'gun.' As we were finishing our desserts, she screamed across the restaurant to the manager, "We just got hit. He had a gun. He cleaned out the cash drawer."

Try settling a bill and exiting a restaurant when everyone wants to leave AT ONCE.

It was a perfect ending to another perfect evening at the Tiffany Diner.

by Anonymousreply 6July 29, 2020 12:27 PM

That is not the 1970s.

by Anonymousreply 7July 29, 2020 12:39 PM

Loved Tiffany. Now THAT was the classic old NY diner. Sweetest waitress there knew my order and called everyone “honey”. It was my perfect Saturday morning. When it closed she moved to a diner on 23rd st. Now it’s a Bank of America. I loved the West Village back then. Things change. But I feel lucky to have lived there when it was still the creative, gay, middle income escape from capitalism.

by Anonymousreply 8July 29, 2020 1:04 PM

Looks like mid 80s to me

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by Anonymousreply 9July 29, 2020 1:14 PM

From the prior thread regarding a pic:

[quote] Looks like 2nd avenue and 60th Stret looking north.

I’m absolutely amazed by this. Someone was able to look at a picture that’s 30-40+ years old and know exactly where it was and what direction the photographer was facing.

Unbelievable.

I love shit like this.

by Anonymousreply 10July 30, 2020 1:12 PM

If you ever spent any time in Greenwich Village, you are certain to know this place. I wish I could find a better photo of it.

I got my left ear pierced there on Pride Day in 1984. I asked for the "without" but... that didn't really happen.

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by Anonymousreply 11July 30, 2020 1:21 PM

r9 pic looks like corner of 6th ave and Greenwich ave

by Anonymousreply 12August 1, 2020 12:27 PM

That's exactly were it is, R12.

by Anonymousreply 13August 1, 2020 12:32 PM

That's because it's where it is, R12

by Anonymousreply 14August 1, 2020 12:32 PM

Crossposts, R13

by Anonymousreply 15August 1, 2020 12:33 PM

1978

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by Anonymousreply 16August 1, 2020 12:37 PM

Great minds, etc., R14.

by Anonymousreply 17August 1, 2020 12:39 PM

R9 Definitely mid 80s. You can also tell by the car models. The Crazy Eddies chain was gone by the around 1990. I miss that newsstand with the green awning. That was a normal stop for me to pick up a magazine to read on my ride back home to Queens.

by Anonymousreply 18August 1, 2020 12:40 PM

Homosexuals For Peace - 1970

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by Anonymousreply 19August 1, 2020 12:43 PM

[quote] The Crazy Eddies chain was gone by the around 1990.

I generally went to Uncle Steve's on Canal for my electrics.

by Anonymousreply 20August 1, 2020 12:45 PM

1970

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by Anonymousreply 21August 1, 2020 12:46 PM
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by Anonymousreply 22August 1, 2020 12:50 PM

I think that GNC in r9’s photo is still there.

by Anonymousreply 23August 1, 2020 1:02 PM

GNCs are always the last ones standing.

by Anonymousreply 24August 1, 2020 3:03 PM

I recall being at the Canal Street General Store and the original location of Canal Jeans just a couple of buildings to the left of that. Canal Jeans moved to 504 Broadway and was a destination of many shoppers in the 1980s. It closed around 200.

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by Anonymousreply 25August 1, 2020 4:30 PM

R25 Correcting my type, it closed around 2002.

by Anonymousreply 26August 1, 2020 4:30 PM

[quote]R25 Canal Jeans moved to 504 Broadway and was a destination of many shoppers in the 1980s. It closed around 200.

That’s mostly where I shopped in the late 80s. Plus Alice Underground and Brooks Bros. for additional shirts.

by Anonymousreply 27August 2, 2020 12:24 AM

I remember in the mid 1980s there were a couple of guys on Christopher Street handing out pamphlets about a gay pedophile group. I threatened to punch his face in.

by Anonymousreply 28August 2, 2020 1:24 AM

The first few years of the Pride March we used to let LAMBDA march with us because we were all outlaws and got spit on together. I can't find which year they were finally disinvited. I guess people don't like to talk about the fact they were ever there.

by Anonymousreply 29August 2, 2020 1:32 AM

^ Oh, wow, I meant NAMBLA of course.

by Anonymousreply 30August 2, 2020 1:59 AM

I remember the Andrea Dworkin acolytes hanging out around there with their anti porn crusade posters of the Hustler cover image of a woman’s lower body entering a meat grinder.

by Anonymousreply 31August 2, 2020 2:06 AM

Are those the first A-Gays?

by Anonymousreply 32August 2, 2020 2:22 AM

I think the Crazy Eddie became a Coconuts record store for awhile

by Anonymousreply 33August 2, 2020 3:39 PM

I remember a fancy pizza restaurant along there.

by Anonymousreply 34August 2, 2020 3:44 PM

Pizzeria Uno. You can just see it in the left of the complete photo.

by Anonymousreply 35August 2, 2020 4:26 PM

AZUMA locations - 1977.

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by Anonymousreply 36August 2, 2020 4:42 PM
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by Anonymousreply 37August 2, 2020 4:44 PM

Thanks, R 35.

by Anonymousreply 38August 2, 2020 4:44 PM
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by Anonymousreply 39August 2, 2020 4:45 PM

UNO was further down in the middle of the block and was there until the 2010s

by Anonymousreply 40August 2, 2020 5:04 PM

[quote]Loved Tiffany. Now THAT was the classic old NY diner.

We called them coffee shops then, r8. They [italic]were[/italic] diners, really—the menus were pretty much the same as you'd find in NJ—but everyone I knew called them coffee shops.

[quote]Pizzeria Uno. You can just see it in the left of the complete photo.

Which photo, r35? And didn't r34 specify "a [italic]fancy[/italic] pizza restaurant"?

by Anonymousreply 41August 2, 2020 6:28 PM

By fancy, I meant more than a Ray's type place.

by Anonymousreply 42August 2, 2020 7:41 PM

Who is those gurls?

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by Anonymousreply 43August 2, 2020 7:44 PM
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by Anonymousreply 44August 2, 2020 7:47 PM

No one about - but not for long.

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by Anonymousreply 45August 2, 2020 7:48 PM
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by Anonymousreply 46August 2, 2020 7:49 PM

One of my favorite bookstores.

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by Anonymousreply 47August 2, 2020 7:51 PM

[quote]By fancy, I meant more than a Ray's type place.

Stop digging, r42. Ray's (the real one at 6th Ave and 11th St) made infinitely better pizza than the casserole they sling at Pizzeria Uno.

by Anonymousreply 48August 2, 2020 8:05 PM

Thanks for the Brentano's pic, r39. It will always stand out in my mind as one of the places in which my friend Dave, the Waiter Hater got into such a conflagration with the cashier that she called the police. This happened all the time, all over the Village (where we both lived). One time I got my head smashed into the ground at Crazy Eddie's because of something he said or did to a cashier. The entire male entourage of the store tried to beat the shit out of us, particularly out of him.

I learned not to go near him when he was paying for things, then not to go into stores or restaurants with him at all, and finally, not to see him anymore. Which was too bad, because he was a phenomenal fuck.

by Anonymousreply 49August 2, 2020 8:24 PM

There was a "Ray's Pizza" on every other block of Manhattan back then because somebody had screwed up a trademark registration and nobody knows which one was the original.

by Anonymousreply 50August 2, 2020 8:28 PM

Uptown? Yes...but pretty gay.

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by Anonymousreply 51August 2, 2020 8:52 PM

r50, in the '70s, the only Ray's that mattered was this one, located at the corner of 6th Avenue and 11th Street.

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by Anonymousreply 52August 2, 2020 8:52 PM

People tend to like retro pics of famous people, I've noticed.

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by Anonymousreply 53August 2, 2020 8:55 PM

A crime that Rays at 11th st closed. Very symbolic of the uselessness of the new Village when excellent corner pizza shops disappear. To be replaced by an endless cycle of restaurants opening then closing - all thinking THEY will be the ones who will make it a success and justify paying $50,000 month in rent. Stupid dreams die hard. And landlords make money.

by Anonymousreply 54August 2, 2020 9:08 PM

And then...

by Anonymousreply 55August 2, 2020 10:10 PM

I lived there late 80s to 2005. Haven’t been back since. Sorry to see Ray’s s at 11th and 6 is gone. Real New York pizza with the melting cheese. Mom and pop bagel stores. Independent bookstores. And the characters. Who remembers the man in the tight swim trunks walking 10 dogs on Washington Sq Park?

by Anonymousreply 56August 2, 2020 10:20 PM

[quote]R49 It will always stand out in my mind as one of the places in which my friend Dave, the Waiter Hater, got into such a conflagration with the cashier that she called the police.

My goodness - what is there to argue with a cashier about?

That their register tallied the sales tax wrong??

by Anonymousreply 57August 2, 2020 11:03 PM

R39 If that apartment building in the photo is the Stewart House (70 E 10th Steet) my grandparents lived in that building from when it was built in the very early 1960s until about 1970 when they moved to Florida. Of course.

by Anonymousreply 58August 3, 2020 7:49 PM

I think that's E 8th or 9th, r58. I lived around the corner on E 10th, and Brentano's was a block or two down IIRC.

by Anonymousreply 59August 3, 2020 7:54 PM

[quote]I thought Manatus was the old Claire. No? 19th @ 7th is Chelsea, not the Village.

Goddammit, you're right, I got confused. I KNOW I ate at whatever restaurant was in that Manatus space a hundred times in the early-mid 80s, but the name isn't coming to me! They served their burgers on English Muffins ONLY! Does that help anyone's memory?

by Anonymousreply 60August 3, 2020 8:10 PM

[quote] My goodness - what is there to argue with a cashier about?

Oh you’d be surprised. Especially when they enter something as a sales item when it’s not on sale.

by Anonymousreply 61August 4, 2020 12:45 PM

R45, what is that pic?

by Anonymousreply 62August 4, 2020 12:45 PM

R62 It’s an image of the abandoned piers that were on the westside where lots of illicit gay sex and art making was had. There was a recent great thread about them:

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by Anonymousreply 63August 4, 2020 3:23 PM

r29 Hilariously today they have rebranded as MAPs. And yes they are trying to hitch an easy ride with TQ to establish anyone that disagrees with them as a bigot.

by Anonymousreply 64August 4, 2020 3:28 PM

Tiffany's was like cross streets of the world. You'd go Friday or Saturday night (ok morning after being out all night), and you'd run into so many people you knew.

There was a great waiter there we sadly lost to the Madness; think his name was Jerry. Good looking guy, wore his hair in a blow dried "DA" like so many guys did after John Travolta made the hairstyle famous in Saturday Night Fever.

by Anonymousreply 65August 5, 2020 8:38 AM

I never went into Tiffany's. It looked unpleasant to me. I guess I missed out.

by Anonymousreply 66August 5, 2020 8:57 AM

I would more often go to Jeanne's Patio on Greenwich Avenue after the bars closed, "the bars" in my case usually meaning the Ninth Circle. But I had one friend who liked to go to Tiffany's, probably because of its crossroads of the world aspect, so I probably went a couple of times a month. He said they made the best "broasted" eggs, which to my eye looked no different from scrambled eggs, but hey, whaddayagonnado?

by Anonymousreply 67August 5, 2020 10:42 AM

I was more of an Elephant and Castle gurl.

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by Anonymousreply 68August 5, 2020 10:55 AM

Elephant and Castle made the best omelettes, but it wasn't open late. I would go there Sunday mornings.

by Anonymousreply 69August 5, 2020 11:02 AM

[quote] I would go there Sunday mornings.

God, I miss brunch!

by Anonymousreply 70August 5, 2020 11:04 AM

Some idiot is WW-ing all the posts. GET A FUCKING LIFE!

by Anonymousreply 71August 5, 2020 11:14 AM

I lovvvvvvved The Bagel. Best scrambled eggs with cheese. I was going there from 1988 until 1991...there was the sweetest waiter there. Moustache-d, old school “west village” gay who really worked that place. When a rush would slow down, he and I would chat about random shit. He really seemed to love that gig and his life in the neighborhood. I used to see a lot celebrities there, too. Molly Ringwald, Carrie Fisher, Sam Waterston, DB Sweeney, Matthew Broderick.

Someone mentioned when the west village used to be a refuge from capitalism. What a perfect description.

by Anonymousreply 72August 5, 2020 11:33 AM

That fat old queen waiter at Jean's Patio would argue with anyone about anything!

They didn't write down what you ordered until you paid for it! You'd ask for the check and that queen would say, "What did you have?" and then write it down. My friend Al, who lived around the corner ate their constantly, and since he was a dishonest person in general would leave something off what he ordered when getting the bill. Half of the time the waiter would remember and include it, and half of the time he wouldn't. That waiter was a fucking trip.

by Anonymousreply 73August 5, 2020 9:14 PM

*there......don't come for me!

by Anonymousreply 74August 5, 2020 9:15 PM

[quote]Some idiot is WW-ing all the posts. GET A FUCKING LIFE!

Some people obviously remember. You obviously don't.

GET A FUCKING LIFE!

by Anonymousreply 75August 6, 2020 11:37 PM

I liked The Elephant & Castle...but speaking of cafes, my favorite was the original French Roast on W. 11th Street.

My therapist's office was around the corner, and I'd go there for an asparagus and brie omelet after each session, and to write in my journal.

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by Anonymousreply 76August 6, 2020 11:53 PM

Late partner and I lived just a few blocks from Elephant and Castle. Ate there for breakfast or brunch often; as mentioned above the omelettes were wonderful. But after his diagnosis he started reading the restaurant reports from the NYC Department of Health and after he read about the conditions in E&C's kitchen he refused ever to eat there again.

by Anonymousreply 77August 7, 2020 12:01 AM

^ This was 15 or 20 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 78August 7, 2020 12:03 AM

When did the Original French Roast open, r76? And 11th between where and where?

by Anonymousreply 79August 7, 2020 12:59 AM

1993. I say "the original" because they eventually opened one on the Upper West Side, as well.

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by Anonymousreply 80August 7, 2020 1:13 AM

r80 1993? What's it doing in this venerable thread?

by Anonymousreply 81August 7, 2020 1:16 AM

I mentioned it in comparison to the older Elephant & Castle.

by Anonymousreply 82August 7, 2020 1:21 AM

Yes, we noticed.

by Anonymousreply 83August 7, 2020 1:22 AM

Did you also notice you have a stick up your ass? PULL IT OUT!

by Anonymousreply 84August 7, 2020 1:24 AM

R84 = as tough as the city she lives in.

>>>

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by Anonymousreply 85August 7, 2020 8:29 AM

I moved to NYC in 1979. It was a dirty, gritty, thrilling, fabulous place.

by Anonymousreply 86August 7, 2020 8:32 AM

OMG Flashback 1987 - who can name the coffee shop that was at this location (streetview pic @ link)

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by Anonymousreply 87August 7, 2020 12:12 PM

I know this is off topic a bit but don't want to start a new thread. I was there the night of the pipe bomb. This was the best bar ever. NYC in late 80's early 90's before the village became suburbia.

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by Anonymousreply 88August 7, 2020 12:45 PM

Uncle Charlie’s was THE bar in 1988-89. I came up from college to spend the day in NYC - and multiple times met a guy there and ended up getting a free place to stay for the night. Oh, and sex. Scary because the specter of AIDS. But it was a comfortable place for a suburban kid to go and meet clean cut good looking guys. Definitely “yuppie-ish”

by Anonymousreply 89August 8, 2020 3:54 AM

Bruxelles on Greenwich Ave. anyone remember?

by Anonymousreply 90May 12, 2021 7:17 PM

I want that world back, and I never really lived in it. Actually, I guess I want my chance to live it in. It is easier to be gay now, and I am grateful for the gay marriage that I got to have. But sometimes I just want that more insular little world of gayness that lasted a few decades.

by Anonymousreply 91May 12, 2021 7:23 PM

R87 was it The Pink Teacup?

by Anonymousreply 92May 13, 2021 9:48 PM

R90, it's where I learned to have my steak fries with mayonnaise. Forever grateful.

by Anonymousreply 93May 14, 2021 1:02 AM

Please.

All these places were just the preludes to a walk to the docks.

by Anonymousreply 94May 14, 2021 1:12 AM

[quote][R90], it's where I learned to have my steak fries with mayonnaise. Forever grateful.

That's exactly what I was remembering.

by Anonymousreply 95May 14, 2021 2:03 AM
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