It was 1963. HG and BSK were beginning their marriage in an artist’s studio apartment on West 67th Street just off Central Park West. Huge high ceilinged living room with north facing floor to ceiling window, small kitchen, small bedroom ( former model’s changing room), big bathroom with enormous tub. Very romantic. The rent: $140 per month.
This was The Golden Age Of Food On The Upper West Side. Gentrification and escalating real estate prices removed the gritty, funky luster. The neighborhood had junkies, muggers, burglars, hookers and bag ladies. It also had tons of artists, writers, academics and free ranging intellectuals lured by big apartments and cheap rents.
Here’s a smattering of the food and drinks establishments that delighted the newlyweds: 67th St. Wines (67th and Columbus): Splits of good champagne for a dollar. Volk’s German Restaurant (78th and Columbus): Bratwurst heaven. Fleur de Lis French Restaurant (65th off Broadway?): Escargots. Sole. Steak frites. C & L Restaurant (70th and Broadway?): Huge, Exceptional apple pancakes. Vast menu. 
Tip Toe Inn (86th and Broadway). A sister restaurant to C & L with a great delicatessen. Also, notable chicken in the pot. Recently the Tip Toe Inn was featured on the show Mad Men and they were quite true to most of the original details. Zabar’s (81st and Broadway): Need HG say more? Now a New York landmark.
Zabar's Fish Counter
Nevada Market (80th and Broadway): Steaks. Chops. Chicken. Citarella’s (74th and Broadway): Everything fresh from the sea. Paramount Famous Jewish Dairy Restaurant (72nd west of Broadway): Blintzes. Gefilte fish. Kasha varneshkes. Steinberg’s (84th and Broadway): Same cuisine as Paramount but classier. Very good herring. Great Shanghai (98th and Broadway) Chinese lobster and shrimp dishes. Dumplings. Szechuan (95th and Broadway) Fire on a plate. New York’s first and best Szechuan restaurant. Broadway Nut Shop. (East side of Broadway and 81st): Encyclopedic array of fresh roasted nuts, dried fruits and candy treats from across the globe. Eclair Bakery and Restaurant (72nd Street): Vienna, Berlin, Budapest and Warsaw transplanted in New York. Senate Cafeteria (96th and Broadway): Where I.B. Singer ate his tunafish salad in the company of tea sipping, Yiddish speaking European survivors.
As HG remarked, this is just a smattering. There was much more. Sadly, only Zabar’s, Greengrass and Citarella’s remain. On the bright side: The West Side has added Fairway.
Dear Gerald, I remember some of the places you mention. I remember the original Zabar’s as far back as 1964. Saw the actor Richard Benjamin in there one night. Let me ask you, or anyone, if you remember the name of a little, ordinary coffee shop on the east side of Broadway just above Columbus Circle. I think it had two entrances, one on Broadway and one either on the side street or on Central Park West. It was kind of like a Riker’s but it may have been something else. I’ll mention one other place, long, long gone, the Horn and Hardart’s on the south side of 72nd street, a little east of B’Way. Besides the regular seating it had a balcony where you could sit.
C & L restaurant was between 74th & 75th street on Broadway, where Fairway is now.
The Great Shanghai was on Broadway between 102nd & 103rd streets. I believe the
Senate was on Broadway between 104th & 105th streets on the east side
of Broadway. The original Citarella Fish store was on 107th street & Broadway.
There was also a Daitch Dairy on 106th & Broadway and a second Zabar”s between
110th & 111th streets on the eastside of Broadway which burned down in what was
the biggest fire in the city at that time.
I remember eating at the C&L when I was a little girl. I was there many times because I would visit my grandparents who lived in the Schwab House many years ago.
Lukishi: Thanks for the note. My idea of heaven: A big apple pancake at C &L …
Does anyone remember the name of the Viennese bakery at the southwest corner of 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue?
Alas, can’t remember the name but their pastries, etc, were delicious.
Lichtman’s
Yes, Lichtman’s. The Lichtmans lived in the Parkchester area of the Bronx. I went to Hebrew school with their son, Harvey, at Temple Emanuel at Parkchester. The bakery had blue and white vertical stripes on the facade, below the large window.
Anyone have tbe recipe for Lichtmans cheese danish?
Lichtman’s
Lichtman’s. Strudels.
Was that Lichtman’s? By the way … Murray’s appetizing shop is still going strong on the west side of Bway between 89th& 90th Street. My family moved to 90th & B’way (from Hamilton Heights) in 1943. At that time (till maybe 1945) Murray’s predecessor, Albert’s, was one block south — just north of the Yorktown (later the New Yorker) movie theater. I don’t know too many details (I was only 3 yrs old in 1943),, but my mother always said that Albert was an unpleasant man, and alienated many customers. But no complaints about Murray Bernstein! I think threre’s an interesting article in Wikipedia about the history of Albert’s/Murray’s and all the family connections. Although UWSers are always debating the relative merits of Murrays vs Barney Greengrass vs Zabar’s, for my money none can beat Murray’s Nova!!!! Our family’s go-to restaurant for special occasions was the Trianon at 94th & B’way. It was on the NE corner, and you could enter either through the main entrance on B’way, or from the lobby of the Hotel Monterey, in which it was situated. The C&L was where my brother’s Bar Mitzvah party was held in December 1948. (they had a party room upstairs — I think that might be the space now occupied by Fairway’s health food dept.)
/
Thanks, Marsha, for a great, memory packed comment.
I think my Grandfather owned the Trianon for a while in the ‘50s
Louis Lichtman’s
[…] website called Hungry Gerald reminisced that Steinberg’s had “very good herring.” Walter Mathau was also a […]
Anybody remember The Traymore restaurant on the corner of 74th Street and Broadway NW corner? Or the Trianon restaurant on 94th Street and Broadway east side of the street?
HG doesn’t recall—but they sound appetizing.
Yes! I had my first shrimp cocktail there in about 1954. On the west side of the street. Cloth napkins. China House flourished on the south-east corner of Broadway and 87th Street. Anyone recall Yellin’s Deli around 1957 on Columbus in the 80s?
Tip Toe Inn was between 74 & 75 streets. I know because I had to go there every Sunday for the coffee cake. Some things you never forget.
Sorry, Larry. Tip Toe was on 86th and Broadway.. Its sister restaurant, C & L, was on Broadway between 74th and 75th. That’s the one you may be thinking about. It was the best. Ultimate apple pancakes.
Saw Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould there once
People would go there after seeing a film at either the Beacon or the Newsreel a theater that showed newsreels (those were the days before many people owned televisions and could see action news at home). It was on the west side of Broadway between 72 nd and 73rd streets
Actually, there was a Tip Toe Inn on Broadway between 74th and 75th street in the ’60’s. I clearly remember it because my mom and I used to go there all the time. Possibly, it was renamed from C&L to tie it more closely to the one on 86th? Since we lived on West 76th between Broadway and West End Avenue, I know my mom would never have gone to 86th street’s Tip Toe Inn when we had the one on 74-75th so much closer. The Tip Toe Inn on 74-75th eventually closed and a D’Agostino supermarket opened there. There was also the original Fairway right next to it, amazingly, on the 74th St side. My mom would shop at both but Fairway was the preferred because it was a little less expensive. That Fairway did not resemble the Fairway that exists today. It was just a smallish, somewhat dingy supermarket with affordable grocery products. On the 75th Street side (I think right next to D’Agostino’s) was the original Citarella (small shop). There was also a “soul food” place next to Citarella whose name escapes me. And nothing to do with food, but does anyone recall Pandemonium?? It was also between 74th and 75th on Broadway for a number of years from around 1968. It was my favorite place to go to just because I was positively dazzled by all the psychedelic items they sold. Shirts, skirts, jeans, candles, toys all in their multi-colored tie-dyed glory! It was what my mom called a “hippie” store, but she often went in with me. I think she was just as enamoured of all the colors and music as I was. LOL
Growing up in the sixties we called them head shops. Bought many Third Eye black light posters at various head shops around Queens and Long Island; they invariably had a little collection dish on the front counter to pay for the legal defense of a friend or store employee who had been busted for possession of marijuana. Good times!
you are correct, at least at some point. maybe it moved at one time or changed its name, but when i was a kid in the 60s and living at 75th street and WEA, our parents would let us go for milkshakes to a place on the west side of broadway between 74th and 75th street, that i thought was called the Tip Top Inn (not Toe). There was most definitely a Tip Top/Toe Inn there in the early/mid sixties. We went there regularly for those shakes!
I absolutely remember that the place bet 74th & 75th was Tip Top Inn. My parents had a charge account there, and I was allowed to go by myself as a child — we lived on 76th until 1967. Decades later, I even found bills from there among my dad’s papers.
That was the C & L. Sister restaurant was Tip Toe Inn on 86th-87th.
Tip Toe was on 86th – 87th Street. C&L was on 74th and 75th, This is know for sure.
I am a native Upper Westsider. I knew all of those amazing restaurants of yesteryear!!
My grandmother was kosher so I knew a lot of the dairy, jewish restaurants mentioned.
It was a much slower, different time.
The Great Shanghai was amazing, but you missed Victor’s and Tony’s.
Thanks for bringing me back.
L.
Was Victor’s on 79th Street? And, where was Tony’s?
Tony’s was on 79th street, south side, just east of Broadway
Vet he original Victor’s was On the northwest corner of Columbus Avenue and 71st Street.
My mom taught his kids in grade school ( at least one of them)
Victors and Tony’s were fabulous. Tony’s, especially in the 1950’s
Victors … had my first restaurant bowl of black bean soup there for which they were famous when I lived on 69 st bet Bwy and Columbus.
Steinberg’s Dairy Restaurant was on the east side Broadway between 81 street and 82nd, (closer to 81). I know this because I lived upstairs at 219 W 81 street and my Grandmother loved that place. Steinberg’s sign was recently uncovered by the Town Shop’s move across the street.
How about The Golden Pan on Broadway and 82nd street?
STEINBERG’S was a class act. Went there often with my Aunt Marie. Golden Pan? Don’t recall it.
Golden Pan was on the east side of Broadway near 82 street. How about Tibb’s Wharf, the seafood restaurant on Broadwat and 76th street. I saw a glimpse of it during the movie “Plaza Suite”.
What about the Twin Donuts on the NE corner of Broadway and 73rd St.? This is where Joe Buck confronts Ratso Rizzo in “Midnight Cowboy”?
Yes it was. In fact I saw the filming of that scene during the summer of 1968.
Wow cool! I saw Dustin Hoffman and his wife one Friday night I think strolling down Columbus when I lived in the area in the early 80’s; he had a black sport jacket and white shirt and his wife was a beautiful brunette; now all the guys wear the black sport coat white shirt combo but it was the first time I had seen it and let me just say Mr. Hoffman you wore it well.
I remember the lobster bisque at Tibb’s Wharf.. Used to go there with my mother eery weekday afternoon. We lived in the Apthorp on 79th, and I attended Collegiate School on 77th. Long time ago.
My grandparents, Rose and Charles often ate at Steinberg’s. I have a nice picture of them under the Steinberg’s Dairy Restaurant sign. Memories.
Hi Charles, my name is Adam Steinberg and my grandfather was the owner of Steinberg’s Dairy… if you have photo to share I would love to connect with you.
Adam, my great-grandfather was a Steinberg (though he was a musician and I suspect the black sheep of the family) and family lore has it that he was related to the owner of Steinberg’s Dairy. Would love to connect with you to see if any of the family lore is correct.
I remember Jonas Steinberg who was in the same grade as my brother at Columbia Grammar School on West 93rd Street. This was the 1960’s. I had a crush on Jonas. My brother and Jonas bonded over the fact that their fathers were in the Jewish restaurant business….my father’s was Lou G. Siegel’s in the Garment Center.
Two great restaurants that I enjoyed in my New York/New Jersey days. I miss that old time Jewish cuisine. Russ & Daughters and Barney Greengrass keep it alive.
Did I miss reading about the Royal Bakery Shop, north side 72nd St between Broadway and West End Ave and Schrafft’s on Broadway 82nd St.? My first 4 years at 40 West 67th, then 16 more at 246 West End Ave. Old PS 87 , last year in new ,then, building with (Dr Herman Mantell), Joan of Arch JHS, (Stella Sweeting) era and Charles Evans Hughes HS (Mr Dombrow).
Sorry I missed Schrafft’s and Royal.
I lived and grew up at 220 west 71st st. I remember PS 87 then Joan of Arc JH where Stella Sweeting had us dancing in the hall and Straubenmuller Hight which became Charles Evans Hughes the year I graduated in 1954. Let no one ever say we live in better times now but they will.
Audrey …we were born the same year and I have lived at 220 for the past 58 years. I find this fascinating information….I also taught at the “new” P.S.87.
Which apartment did you live in? We are on the 9th floor.
This site is new for me…found it today. Are you still living on the UWS?
Ruth if you read this we lived in apt.4 on the first floor right next to the elevator. I haven’t lived on the upper west side in many years and it is like some wonderful memories of a lovely distant past.
Hello Audrey,
I recently came across your name in this article on NYC foodie places.
(I am a big fan of food and NYC!) I recognized your name from knowing my father, G Gols. Such a small world…
Lisa
Speaking of great but long gone Upper West Side bakeries don’t forget Beaudesaire. It was a nice French bakery; made very nice simple cakes and pastries NOT TOO SWEET like their apple tart which I used to buy with my mom when she came to visit; it was five or eight bucks something like that on the west side of Broadway in 1980. Man was I sad to see it go.
I’ve eaten at all of the above mentioned, many of them many times. Tony’s was a first-rate Italian restaurant on W. 79th, east of Broadway, and across 79th from a place called, I think, the Irish Harp. Tibb’s also had a small unassuming restaurant on 86th or 87th and Broadway. There was also a marvelous Cantonese restaurant with great egg-rolls among other things on either 86th or 87th on the east side of Broadway. Also, there was a Hebrew National Deli on the southwest corner of Broadway and 95th at the time there were 4 movie theaters between 95th and 96th and Broadway. I lived on the UWS from 1954 through 1968. It was the place to be when you were young and with a brain and a heart and a soul, from Columbia U right down to Columbus Circle! Can never be duplicated!
Bob: Thank you for the eloquent comment. You are right. The UWS was the place to be if you “were young and with a brain and a heart and a soul.” My wife and I lived there (1963-1972) and indulged happily in cinema (The New Yorker, Symphony, etc.) and food (Zabar’s, etc.,etc.). Thanks for reminding me of Tony’s. Loved their zuppa di pesce.
That was an eloquent comment. I lived on 93rd & West End from 1956 to 1972. Walked to the Crosstown bus alone at the age of 6 to a French school on the other side on Central Park. My green space was the Joan of Arc statue on the river, more of a grey space in reality with a filthy river at the time. Also, I lived in the neighborhood movie houses, indeed the New Yorker to the South and the Symphony to the North … and of course the Thalia around the corner which ran the classics of film (both buildings were subsequently merged & survived … thanx to Mr. Spock’s deep Trekkie pockets. There were also the Riviera & Riverside movie houses on 96th Street. Best movie neighborhood in Manhattan !!! Does anybody remember the chess and table tennis center on 96th btw. Broadway & West End ? I seem to remember seeing famous chess champions who came here to play 20 + simultaneous matches. The butcher shop on the West side of Broadway just South of 93rd Street was owned by Mr. & Mrs. Goldschmidt, both French Holocaust survivors. Always jovial & welcoming. There was Puerto Rican bodega on the corner of 93rd for cold beer as a large fruit & veggie stand around the corner. Very eclectic area … especially with the rough edges or street life … anyone remember Al Pacino’s breakthrough role in “Panic in Needle Park” ?
Herve: What a great trip down Upper West Side memory lane!! Lived in rent controlled apartments from 1963 to 1974. W. 67th Street: Huge artist’s studio with floor-to-ceiling north light windows plus bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. Rent: $147 per month. W.79th: 30-foot living room with view of the Hudson and Palisades. Large formal dining room, adequate windowed kitchen. Four bedrooms. Three bathrooms (one en suite). Rent: $275-295 per month. Wife and I raised two children there. Also had 4-bedroom dune house on Fire Island (Purchase price was $40,000.). Our kids thought that was the way families lived. Nope. We were West Siders during the golden years of movies, small shops, great food and affordable apartments. Those were the days, indeed.
also the Regency … Broadway in the sixties on west side of street, the Thalia, where my friend Emily’s hair unfortunately caught the unwanted attention of the gentleman (actually he wasn’t very gentlemanly) sitting directly behind her, and what I believe was another repertory theatre called the Olympia or something close to it where I saw Cesar and Rosalie for the first time….
Excellent depiction of the area, I lived on 93rd & West End for 15 years. Broadway was a great place to walk 2 miles down to Columbus Circle and its higher end streetscapes & fun, or 1 mile north to Columbia with a whole other set of streetscapes. Or jump on either the Local or Express for a high screeching run on the subway. Wasn’t the local grocery store a Daitch Shopwell in the early 60s on Broadway & 91st ?
Was it a Daitch Shopwell before Keyfood?
There was also a supermarket on the North West corner of 94th and Broadway next to Babka’s pastry shop, next to Golden’s stationnery..
yes, there was a daitch shopwell there. It had a movie marquee signage. I used to work there on Sundays as a kid and changed the sign sometimes using a very tall stepladder. The sign posted the weeks food sale prices. The New Yorker movie theater was a few blocks south, great place for old films back then. I used to finish work sometimes and walk down to Columbus circle, then, if the weather was good, east across 59th and down 5th to grand central. Sometimes I popped into the Julliard library and read scores for piano and checked out the NYC ballet schedule and visiting companies. Segovia at Avery Fisher Hall. Loved it. Many of the restaurants in the area were first rate – and small. Varied cuisine. Sometimes while working I would buy lunch at the excellent deli inside Daitch and walk over to Grant’s Tomb by the Hudson. Or, I would have lunch at the Cafe China on the other side of Broadway. Left the job in about 1971. Daitch was a great company and served a wonderful neighborhood. Live very far away now.
Always loved Daitch (and their great cream cheese). Part of my culinary life beginning when I was five years old (am now 88).
Daitch Shopwell was on Broadway and 102nd Street, I used to pack shopping bags there for about a dime to quarter per bag in the 70’s.
there was a small Deli next to the Broadway nut shop on the east side of B’way between 81 and 82. Does anyone remember it? The owner was English. Their pastrami was excellent and they were much cheaper than Gitlitz.
I grew up on the UWS and am still here. Nothing can match it.
Anyone remember Ling Nan on Broadway and 94th? I think it was the first Chinese restaurant around here. AND- Cake Masters bakery. It couldn’t be better, particularly the seeded cornbread. I haven’t been able to find this anywhere since they closed. Murray’s has been on Broadway & 89th-90th from the beginning. All the Jewish ladies gave all the Jewish sales people hard times insisting on the perfect slices of lox, etc.
Roberta, thanks for happy memories. I’d kill for a loaf of that corn bread (pass the cream cheese). Was Ling Nan upstairs? Yes, Murray’s goes on, I hear, but no younger people are taking over (like at Russ & Daughters) so its days may be numbered.
Seeded cornbread hell I cant find good heavy sour seedless Jewish cornbread since a bakery that had it in New Hyde Park closed in the mid to late nineties; that famous bakery whose name escapes me in the east 70 has it but I didnt think it was as good as the oldtime stuff…
the broadway nut shop on 81st paled in comparison to Nuts & Dried Fruits 2486 Broadway (between 92nd and 93rd) which was on the upper west side for almost 50 years. and had 5 owners over that time. it was a gourmet paradise as well and in the 70s and 80s it offered chocolates from all over the world (swiss, german, italian, dutch etc) and dozens of coffee beans ground at your request from around the globe-long before starbucks, and candied fruits during the holidays and imported hated to find jams, preserves and marmalade. sadly, the final owners who were retired professors at columbia ran it into the ground with their lack of business knowledge and making the most devastating decision in the shops history–moving it around the corner to amsterdam ave where it met its predictable demise. it was tragic and i recall the NY Times doing a piece on it. the original space became a book store called murder inc which inevitably did well enough initially to rent the store next door an expand (formerly called queen Bar-B-Q) and was doing well but could not compete with the massive barnes and noble that opened on 81 and broadway. in fact, many things changed in the 80s with supermarkets like the food emporium popping up on 90th and key food supermarket which was on broadway for a very long time (between 91 & 92) could no longer compete and it became equinox fitness, as rent stablized apts all over the upper west side became coops and ushered in the end of an era. things have only gone up since -unrealistically so. those pre war buildings on broadway and west end-most of which were built at the turn of the century were all affordable.. today you need to win the lottery to buy a good one… it’s absurd. those buildings were full of middle class residents i knew all my public school teachers who lived there, and raised families. today it’s all over the top. those mom and pop shops all over the upper west side didn’t have a prayer once the mid to late 90s allowed major corporate to take over. starbucks, the gap, and the others stripped it of its character and made it resemble a new jersey mall.
Thanks for your great West Side commentary. I appreciate it.
Was it a Key Food or a Daitch Shopwell ? One thing no one mentions is the beautiful buildings which perked up after the Turn of the Century. I was always in awe of the view of a long line of 12 story buildings rising up the hill along both sides of West End Avenue ascending North from 96th Street. It always made me feel like an ant on a giant chess set. Do you remember the chess club on 96th ?
Even the Gap left. There used to be one where between 95th and 96th and Broadway.
I remember Tibb’s Wharf on Broadway at 76th. Best lobster bisque ever. Ate there many times with my mom 1965-66.
Yes,Broadway on the Upper West Side (plus some of the side streets) was a food paradise.
just happened to come across your blog. My parents were married in the C&L in May 1942. My grandfather(mother’s father) was the manager. He was at other times also the manager of the Tip Toe Inn. You are correct about the location being where Fairway is as I have an invitation to the wedding with the address of 2131 Broadway. My grandfather also owned the Studio Steak House which was in the location where Trattoria dell Arte on 57th and 7th is now. Place was there from 1938 to 1975. When I was born we lived with my grandparents at 150 W. 87, and now I have returned to my roots and live in the UWS
You mentioned three great establishments. Oh, how I miss them.!!
Loved C&L. LIved around the corner on 74th between Bway and West End all of my younger years. At the tender age of 8 (and at least a few years onward) I used to go by myself on Sunday mornings to get bagels, lox, and cream cheese for my parents and me while they had a few moments of privacy. The counterstaff was always kind, patient and helpful. Sweet 16 parties upstairs. Thank you for the wonderful reminiscences.
Your post brought a smile. I lived on 75th between Bway and West End. My parents, too, getting a few moments of privacy, sent me out on Sunday mornings to get the NY Times, and coffee cake and pumpernickel at C&L. The counterstaff often had a cookie for this little girl. Occasionally I’d get chopped liver at the deli counter across from the bakery counter. The kitchen staff sometimes stood outside the side door in their white aprons for a smoke.
I was hoping someone had a recipe for that pumpernickel, which, with Cake Masters Corn Bread, is still the best bread I’ve ever eaten. Now, sheltering at home (in California) I would love to try to recreate those breads.
Lots of other wonderful memories in this blog- thank you!
Can anyone help me with the name of a 1950s restaurant on W100th. Smart/white tablecloth, owners were Hungarian, had a small daughter named Giselle? Want to to help someone who looked after Giselle all those years ago find her, if I can…my daugher wrote the article below…http://nycitylens.com/2017/02/telling-holocaust-story-zabars/
Was it Greentree or something like that around 111th and Amsterdam near V&T Italian restaurant?
Does any one remember the Harbin Inn on 101 st and broadway (?) or the Shanghai d’Or on the south west corner of 94th?
HG does remember. Indeed. Those restaurants and The Great Shanghai were perfect for long, jolly Sunday dinners with friends.
As a child, I had my first taste of Chinese food at the Harbin Inn: Sweet & Sour Pork. No one’s ever made the dish better.
You are right. This was the only place I ever ordered the dish.
yes. Of the numerous shanhai derived restaurants above 94th street , the finest was the Shanghai D’or. The manager’s name was Joe -svelte and very well tailored . The menu was exhaustive and preparation impeccable. I took my family and friends thereat least twice a week for 15 years.AMonst the outstanding dishes offered were ::
interesting soups : Chicken yu-tu, pork with pickled cabbage , ham abalone and winter melon,
Appetizers : wondrous spring rolls , baby roasted spareribs with a sweet dipping sauce,cold sliced beef. or chicken with cilantro. Main dishes: LObster with black bean sauce, crispy whole carp with a sweeet/sour sauce,steamed sea bass with scallions, noodles with pork meat sauce. There was shredded , spiced beef with crispy rice noodles. pressed duck and- if ordered a day in advance -superb peking duck. I wish I had the large menu in front of me now. The tiny bar served rather poor , tiny martinis if you wanted one but good japanese beer was awailable.
Opposite between 94 th and 5th- was a much larger Chinese restaurant cantonese (which in those days was the predominant chinese cuisine) all thru the 50ies and 60ties and possibly 70ies with a large mural of junks sailing by Canton (signed Don Kingman) , I think. Very good Lobster cantonese. outstanding dish. I forget the name.
Does anyone remember the name of the very small Italian restaurant (early 80s) on the east side of Amsterdam near 73rd St.? There was always a line out the door.
Ah, the vagaries of age.
It was a good, cheap red sauce joint and I can’t remember the name.
Genoa-best carbonara ever!
My aunt (Pamela) owned Genoa! I just called her to tell her I saw this post and it made her day 🙂
I’ve missed Genoa since it was gone. The best food, the most warm feeling from the atmosphere. It’s the kind of place you say, “they don’t make ’em like that anymore”.
Anyone remember a bakery on Columbus between 87th & 88th with the unlikely name, Candi-o-Plastic? There was a newsstand/candy store next to it, just in from Bill Pogue’s Bar on Columbus and 88th…this would be the 1950’s…the drivers of the Hansom cabs and Victorias would round the corner from where they hitched up the horses at Claremont Stables on 89th and Amsterdam and stop off for a “quick one” at Pogue’s before starting the night. The cabs and their horses lined the entire block of 88th between Columbus & Amsterdam and one day, my friend Josephine and I (we were about 10) yelled “Giddy-Ap!” and to our amazement the whole line of horses galloped off toward Central Park, their drivers running after them as they poured out the side entrance of Pogue’s Bar, yelling – “Whoa!” as they waved their whips and held onto their black silk top hats. (We slunk off and hid until it was all over…fortunately, nobody was hurt).
Just stumbled across your blog as I was googling/reminiscing about the old upper west side, and enjoyed reading it. I grew up on W.72nd street between Broadway and West End, living there from 1967 (I was 9) through college, and now I’m up on W.93rd, not too far away. A couple of points/corrections. I also remember Tip Toe Inn as being around 74th street. My guess is that maybe the 86th street location closed, and they may have moved or renamed their other location. My sister was a big fan of their blueberry muffins, and I would not have gone up to 86th for her to get them. The other thing that makes me think that your recollections may be from earlier in the 60’s and that things may have changed over time is your reference to Paramount Famous Jewish Dairy Restaurant. I only knew it as the Famous Dairy Restaurant – which was owned by my father and uncles until they sold it and retired in the summer of 1978. Also, how did you miss Fine & Shapiro, which is still on 72nd between Amsterdam and Columbus?
Tip Toe Inn was always on 86th. C & L, a similar restaurant, was on 74th. Didn’t mention Fine & Shapiro since I always considered it inferior. Gitlitz was my deli. Thanks for the correction about Famous,.I bless your father and uncles. They provided me with many happy hours of overeating.
Ira, I ate at Fine & Shapiro in the mid-to-late 70s with my father and his other family. The waitress (who might have been Hungarian) was very sweet, almost doting. When she brought our order, she said, “Here you go, America!” A zoy heimish!
HEIMISH PASTRAMI, CORNED BEEF,TONGUE. OY VEY.MISS IT.
Sigh!
Thanks for this blog, Gerry!
I went in to buy a pint of matzoh ball soup at Sarges recently on my brothers recommendation; surveillled all the meats etc behind the glass counter; tongue? 44 dollars a pound! I kid you not. My last good tongue sandwich was the ones I used to buy from Bloomingdales ill-fated food shop which I dont believe made it out of the late eighties/early nineties; i’d buy a quarter pound tongue and one or two sourdough rolls b4 work and paid a few bucks five or six at the most maybe less and it was GOOD LEAN TONGUE. Rotsa ruck finding that nowadays ..
I remember the waitress as if it was yesterday. She would describe the dishes with elegance, especially to the older patrons “try it, it’s easy to chew”! Fond memories of Fine &Shapiros, The Royal Szechuan, and the kosher dairy place further west on 72nd. My first meal on moving to NYC was at Joe’s, a diner at around 82/Columbus. I ate my way through the UWS? Maharajah in Bway in the low 90’s?
I used to eat there in the 1980s. I’ll never forget going there with my parents one winter. My father OBM ordered lean pastrami, and the waitress refused to serve it to him. She told him it was too dry and he should have the fatty pastrami.
This is such a find. I know them all. Add Goldings deli in the Belnord and Lichtmans when it was in a brownstone at 87thamd Amsterdam.
When there was a milk strike stopping delivery we’d get a quart of milk there!
Challah and water twists! Cookies from heaven! Murrays on Broadway was great!
Hunan Taste too.
Thanks,Neil. Yes, the Upper West Side was a food paradise yesteryears.
Does anyone remember The Red Chimney restaurant on the corner of Broadway &
103rd, Street? Best charcoal broiled hamburgers & tossed salad that I’ve ever tasted??
YES, I remember passing it with my Mother as we were leaving Daitch Shopwell Supermarket, I was very young but I remember the Red Chimney but never ate there. I also remember the 103rd train station on Broadway when it was on the middle island instead on the new entrances on the street.
grew up at 220 west 71st st . went to PS 87 Joan of Arc and Charles Evans Hughes when it was Straubenmuller Textile in the 1950s. Loved the Royal Bakery and the Good Earth on 72nd street near Broadway. It was magical to grow up there and we will never see it again.
Quote: Hello Bob, (Who asked about The Good Hearth )
I grew up on West 84th Street, born 1947. Somewhere around 1969, 70 I worked at The Good Earth. Manager Thor. Very kind and serious Theosophist family. It was tiny by Trader Joe standards but much bigger than a bodega and qualified as a small supermarket. Same one? Be well, Ralph
your blog is wonderful. my father, tony pisano started tony’s Italian kitchen on west 79th in the late to mid 30s he sold it in the the mid 60s. I remember all the New York Yankees used to come in( Joe di Magio era).. We went to Fulton street Fish market to pick out fish, Zitos on Bleeker st for bread, upper west side meat markets under the west side hwy to pick out sides of meat, cheese someplace in the Village. West Side was a wonderful safe place to grow up. . I went to Notre Dame school on 79 between Amsterdam and Columbus double brownstone that wen through to 78th. went on my roller skates to hayden planetarium and museum of natural history. I used to sit with my Lithuanian grand mother on the benches on Broadway which separated the downtown and uptown traffic. Horseback riding in the park with horses from the Claremont stables on 89th. thank you for making me think of that era gone by. I live on the beach now in Gulf Shores Al. we have lived all over the world but nothing beats the upper West Side
Loved Tony’s.Best zuppa di pesce.
Does anyone remember Indian Walk shoes on Broadway not far from the Plymouth shop and Schraffts? You could look at your feet with the old diathermy (sp?) machine.A source of great interest to a child at that time. And what about Womrath’s book shop on 79th and Broadway. They would rent out books and sell them as well. jI am going back to the late 40s and early 50s here. It makes me so nostalgic and grateful for what we had.
I remember that fluoroscopic foot-xray machine (green footbones & all) being at Rappaport’s next to Schrafft’s. Also a great stationery story nearby called Levy bros.
My uncle Joe Sandler managed that Indian Walk store in the 50’s. He fondly remembered Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller with their children as customers. Oddly enough, I now live across Broadway from the old store.
Might that tiny Italian place with the line out the door have been Genoa? Amsterdam Avenue between 72nd and 73rd?
Does anyone remember the name of the bakery/breads store that was in the chamfered corner of 100 W.72, SW Corner of Columbus, in the 1980’s?
First time I ever tasted breads other than rye bread – their Swiss peasant bread was insane, Im blaming on the name. It was replaced I think by “To Boot”, and now Swatch is there. Driving me crazy, tne name is on the tip of my tongue…
Wish I could help but I was out of the West Side in the 80’s.
I can’t remember the name, it wasn’t there all that long, but I lived on West 69 during that time and I ate there sometimes … can still taste the egg salad sandwich. 🙂 I didn’t think anyone knew that place I hope we are both talking about the same one; it was sort of kitty cornered on Columbus and seventy second. My other favorite place from that era that nobody probably remembers was a great little French bakery on Broadway around seventy fourth street … Beaudesaire Bakery; used to get apple tarts/cakes there simple plain not too sweet and very well priced. Would give anything to walk around there again as it was in the old days….
Beaudesaire was on Bway in the low seventies but it wasnt on the corner of 72….
BUT …. I think i know the place it was on corner of Columbus and 72 west side of the street stuck in the corner a little bit on 72 a little bit on Columbus i believe.
I had an egg salad sandwich on a croissant there; i bet thats the place but i’m sorry i dont remember the name of the place.
I found this looking up C&L. I was born in 54 and as a young child my parents got rye bread, fresh sliced, and really good hotdogs. I remember a red ornate front and script, and I grew up at 74th and Columbus, so C&L by citerrella was a short walk down the street. I never heard of the sister restaurant.
Similar restaurant was Tip Toe Inn on Broadway and 86th. A lavish culinary heaven in the vanished New York style.
I also remember eating at Joy Land Chinese restaurant next to the Beacon theatre.
It was called Joy Lane Restaurant. We ate there often…the #6 combination of spare ribs fried rice and egg roll. Desert was a scoop of ice cream complete with little ice chips on the ice cream.
Anyone remember the name of the Japanese/health restaurant on 72 between Columbus and cpw (South side) later became a crab restaurant
Suehiro???
Was there ever a large Chinese restaurant on the south west corner of 112 Street and Broadway? I would have been there at least through the mid ‘70’s.
Surprising that Williams Bar-b-queue is unremembered.
The barbecue restaurant I remember (and it was a rotisserie place, not barbecue) was in the Bretton Woods Hotel on Broadway near 86th. Their rotisserie duck was a favorite Sunday dinner when living with my wife, Sharon, on the Upper West Side (1963-1972). Sharon served it with a great salad of avocado, sweet onion and orange slices. A bottle of red Cotes du Rhone (cost was one dollar) graced the table.
Williams BBQ was the name. It moved to Pleasantville
Are you the Richie Mishkin who was my Fire Island pal many decades ago?
That large Chinese restaurant at the SW corner of Broadway and 112th St. was the Moon Palace. It was a little upscale compared to the Eastern Garden which was across Broadway and upstairs a flight, two or three blocks further south. Moon Palace could accommodate large walk-in parties and they had the best hot and sour soup I had ever tasted until years later in Vancouver BC. I was introduced to the place when I was studying Asian languages and cultures at Columbia in the mid ’60s. I knew all the Asian restaurants in the neighborhood then, and coincidentally I watched the Harbin Inn at 100th and Broadway burn in a spectacular blaze one night in late ’68-early’69. A great loss. Friends of mine from further uptown would regularly gather at the Harbin Inn for an extended and leisurely northern Chinese-style breakfast-brunch on Sundays with soy milk soup, multiple plates of various dumplings, crullers, and steamed Chinese sausage, things that were not listed on the English language menu. Another great Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood was Chuang Hong near 106th on the east side of Broadway, a much smaller and not as well-known place that introduced “Strange Taste Chicken” to NY palates.
I believe my grandfather owned a restaurant on 113th street just west of Amsterdam in the 1950s called the Somerset. Any recollection?
That’s a somewhat sad photo you’re using to represent Gitlitz Deli. That was taken long after the demise of the restaurant, when the closing of the Duane Reade that took over the property, revealed this long forgotten sign. When the restaurant was open, the sign was blue, by the way. Gitlitz was a wonderful deli. I lived 2 blocks West of there, at 77th and Riverside, and believe it or not, when I was 8, I would walk with my 4-year-old brother, unchaperoned, to Gitlitz where we’d have our lunch and put it on my mother’s tab. If you let a 4 year old and an 8 year old walk two NYC blocks alone today, they’d call Child Protective Services! Anyway, there’s a pretty good shot of Gitlitz Deli in Woody Allen’s “Bananas,” just near the end of the movie. And there was a lovely short story in the New Yorker that took place there. Highly recommended.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/lunch-at-gitlitzs
Thanks for turning me on to the funny New Yorker piece (read it when first published). Gitliitz was the best, Only met warmth and kindness there even when I ordered an unconventional chopped liver and pastrami sandwich with sliced onion, cole slaw and Russian dressing.
Anyone remember RustBrown? I can’t remember where it was, except that it was in UWS. I used to work there. It was a sports bar opened by Art Rust a sports commentator. Wilt Chamberlain and Rosalind Cash used to frequent it. I think it was a soul food restaurant.
Also, I used to live above the Monastery Restaurant on Columbus and 75. Has anyone ever gone to that restaurant? I never have.
Many decades ago Art Rust, wife and daughter lived on W.79th Street in a building just west of HG/BSK’s rent controlled aerie. Daughter Lesley was best friends with Suzy (?) Rust, a darling little girl. Each morning they would walk to the corner of West End Avenue and take the bus to New Lincoln School on the upper east side. The bus river knew them well and would announce their arrival on the bus loudspeaker.
Just saw this. Grew up at 210 W81st street in the 1960s. I was a big boxing fan and used to talk at length about the sport with our Doorman, Arthur.
It was only after he passed away that I realized that he was Art Rust Sr., the father of the sportswriter and owner of the aforementioned jazz club.
Does anyone have any memories or information about Melrose Butcher that was at96th and Columbus? Any photo?
Sorry.Have no info. Was that the butcher that specialized in game and, occasionally, had a dead bear at its doorstep?
What I remember most about C&L (early to mid-1950s) were the fantastic creamed herrings (so fresh) & superb hard rolls. Also miss the marble cakes from Babka & Cakemasters. Oh to be a kid again on the (old) UWS. 🙂
there was a place on about 114th and Amsterdam (o the east side of the street ) called the Fairmont Viennese in a basement until at least the early 70’s where you could get a full meal for about $5.00.
Never ate there. Sorry I missed it.
Any memory of a restaurant called ‘the Somerset’ on 113th Street off of Amsterdam? In the early and mid 1950s
Does anyone remember a hole-in-the-wall burger joint on the UWS from the ’70s/early ’80s? I think it might have been on the SE corner of 78th and Broadway (where Pizza Town later moved in). I was very young, but I remember the incredible smell of chargrilled meat and coming home with sacks of burgers and fries, wrapped in foil. I think the grill was right behind the counter and might have had a red brick wall. I can still smell those cheeseburgers.
The burger joint was Big Nick’s. It closed recently.
Note that Gitlitz was on the NW corner of 77th & Bwy, not 78th.
There was a Daitch Dairy on Bwy between 86th & 87th.
Does anybody remember Harry (?) Oppenheim, a butcher on the E side of Broadway in the 90s?
Also: Numerous Cuban-Chinese restaurants have come and gone. The original, I think, was La Caridad on the SW corner of Bwy and 78th St. Still there.
There was a Daitch (in the 60’s) between 79th and 78th. Glad La Caridad is still in business. Always liked it.
Daitch Crystal Dairy on north-east corner of Broadway and 93rd in 1950s. Bulk butter!
correction: north-west
La Caridad finally went under right near the beginning of the lockdown in 2020. I was never a fan of theirs, but I know many New Yorkers who were and it was also a food haven for many cabbies. My mother’s friends were frequenters of that place, too. It was definitely a staple of the neighborhood for many, many years.
Love these Upper West Side memories! Two minor location corrections… Gitlitz was on the northwest corner of 77th and Broadway (not 78th), and Daitch Shopwell was on the east side of Broadway between 77th & 78th (not btw 78th & 79th.) I’ll add a memory of my own… Berman Twins was on the west side of Broadway, btw 77th and 78th, and had a phenomenal toy section that could mesmerize a little kid!
RIGHT ABOUT GITLITZ. WRONG ABOUT DAITCH WHICH WAS ON WEST SIDE OF BROADWAY.
Sorry Gerry, but I beg to differ… I am 100% correct that the Daitch Shopwell
which was located on Broadway between 77th and 78th Street was unequivocally located on the east side of Broadway. There was never a supermarket on the west side of Broadway between 77th and 78th Streets. (Even to this day.) Daitch occupied the cavernous space which was previously the home of the 77th Street Theater, which reportedly operated from about 1913 to 1950, After Daitch the space became perhaps the city’s first dedicated sports bar, aptly named Sports I believe… and then that same space became the home of the pan-Asian restaurant sensation Ruby Foos, complete with it’s famed curved staircase. I went to Daitch many times as a kid, and grew up on West 77th Street between West End and Riverside, so please consider me an expert on where it was located!
You’re absolutely right, David (apologies Gerry). I grew up on West End and 77th in the 60’s and 70’s. Shopwell was on the East side of Bway between 77th and 78th. There was a supermarket called Shopping Cart a few doors down from Cake Masters on the west side of Bway between 77th and 76th, where the managers name was Jerry. The Apthorp Pharmacy on Broadway and 78th Street used to sell clear rock candy with a string running through it in a blue box. The Szechuan Taste was next to the old Loew’s 83rd Street movie theatre – my first taste of really spicy Chinese food. And there was an Indian restaurant on Broadway in the upper 80’s or low 90’s called the Maharaja? First curry eaten there.
Finally, let me clear this up. Before a merger, it was just plain “Daitch.” Stores in Manhattan and The Bronx. Sold dairy items: milk, butter, eggs, cheese, cream, etc. Daitch was located on the west side of Broadway between 78th and 79th. Its neighbors were the pharmacy, Gitlitz deli and a soft ice cream dispenser (loved by my kids) and the entrance to the Apthorp apartments (there was also a dry cleaner). I lived with my family on W. 79th in an apartment with great views of the Hudson and NJ. Lived there 1964-1972. Shopped at Daitch. Ate at Gitlitz. The confusion stems from not differentiating between “Daitch”, “Daitch Shopwell” and “Shopwell.” A culinary note: “Daitch” cream cheese was magnificent, a worthy companion for smoked fish from Zabar’s.
Looking over your Daitch comment (ll/08/2019), I must reply and amplify.. Daitch Dairy was on the west side of Broadway (between 77th and 78th), Later it merged and became part of the Daitch Shopwell supermarket group. Daitch Dairy (headed by Louis Daitch) was prominent in the Jewish neighborhoods of The Bronx. Unsurpassed cream cheese, pot cheese, cottage cheese, farmer cheese and butter cut from a tub. For decades after WW Two,the Upper West Side was an eater’s paradise.
Does anyone remember the name of a soul food restaurant that was around 74th and I believe Amsterdam Avenue in the 1990’s
I grew up on the upper West side in the 50’s and sixties. I loved Cake Master Linzer tarts.I am trying to remember the name of the store on broadway and 87th street that had rotisserie Chickens cooking in the window and exhausted the smell on the street.
It was the Bretton Woods Rotisserie. It was located on the street level retail space of the Bretton Woods Hotel. Their barbecued duck was fabulous. It was our Sunday dinner when my family and I lived on the Upper West Side (1963-1972).
Oops!! It was the Bretton Hall Hotel on Broadway and 86th. (Southwest corner. Belnord apartment complex was on northwest corner).
OOps, again (old age). Belnord and Hotel were on East corners
Does anyone remember the Empire Szechuan restaurant on the east side of Broadway in the 100s? 101st I think.. it was there in the late ’70s and early ’80s.. they had the best sesame noodles! thanks..
I remember it. With fondness.
Yes… very well…. I lived on B’way at 107th and remember Empire as one of the first Chinese restaurants in the area.. also, on the corner of 103rd was a small flower shop run by the Abolafia family…. Remember Louis, a friend of Dali who ran for President under the slogan… I have nothing to hide.
i DO i DO! Me thinks there were a bunch of them in those days in the city.
Lived on 86th near Amsterdam in the 60s. My father loved “Lichtman’s Gold” as he termed it. Not their famous strudel, but a golden-browned Bundt-shaped coffee cake with moist layers of cinnamon and golden raisins. Recall both 87th and 86th & Amsterdam locations. People came from all over Manhattan for their specialties. So sorry they closed, as many of those mom & pop’s we loved.
What was the name of the Burger joint up on or near 110th or 116th and Broadway back in the 1980s? Thanks so much!
Don’t know. Anyone else Know anything about it?
Back in the 1970s, maybe later too, there was a restaurant around 87th St and Broadway, , I think called Cafe China. Does anyone recall if my memory is correct on that?
Was it called Cafe China? And was it on the northeast corner of 87th and Bway?
Missing from all this are (from the 40-50s.) P.S. 9 on 82nd and WEA north east corner. Great building with walls that were pocket doors to open up the whole floor on 2 and 4 for auditoriums. And Benny’s magazine and candy store between 81 and 82nd on the west side of B’way where you could get an egg cream. RKO theatre where the Staples is now. Loews 83rd before the building that is there now and which created the movie complex on84th and B’way. And Hansom Bakery followed by Babkas on the southeast corner of 79th and B’way. Daitch was in both places mentioned above. The latter place was was in the Apthorp on 79th where the bank is now. Woolworths and Kresgees went from 79th to 80th on the east side of B’way. There was a little shop in between the two 5 and dime stores. abar’s was originally nly one of those entrances at that time.
I grew up on the west side… 107th street.. downstairs was a schrafts restaurant… on 100th and b’way was Rosenblum bros.. deli/restaurant.. up the street between west end and b’way was Ansche Chessed synagogue and school with the only full size basketball court around… I was in Jr congreation with Rob Rosen, Henry Kaufman, Siggy Diamond, Joel Titebam…(Wish I could find them again) Played basketball on the Drive with the likes of Walter Dukes…Amsterdam and 101st street had a good Jewish knosh store… Cake Masters, Riviera and Riverside movie houses… Criterion, Lowes, edison across from 103rd street IRT line.., Automat next to the Edison.. really big and amazing mashed potatoes….
Any memory of a restaurant called ‘the Somerset’ on 113th Street off of Amsterdam? In the early and mid 1950s
Does anyone remember a place on 72nd near West End, late 1960’s, called THE GOOD HEARTH? I ask people from that neighborhood and they look at me like I’m insane.
This is a memory from the mid-to-late 1980s (possibly): there was a bakery-café on Broadway near 111th Street. A bus stop was located just outside (I can’t remember the route number). Can anyone confirm that/if it was a Cake Masters?
Submitted with love and thanks in advance to my landtspeople.
Ya’ll have danced all around the UWS, but does anyone remember the toy store Last Wound-up or Miss Grimble’s bakery on Columbus Ave around 74th street?
Does anyone remember the location and name of a diner on the UWS in the late 1950’s, in which a retired vaudeville performer and his ancient chimpanzee ate lunch every day? The pair sat in the corner booth by the windows, and the chimp ate jello cubes with a spoon from one of those Depression era footed glass dishes. He had excellent table manners, and, as a child, I was absolutely mesmerized.
So sorry I missed the charming, mannerly chimpanzee.
1970s: Sal’s, Broadway at 103rd. 25 cents a slice.
Great blog and a walk down memory lane!
Looking for any info or pics on Golding’s Deli in the Belnord (86th & Broadway).
Any info or memories to share?
Deborah, I lived on 75th between Columbus and CPW between 1977 and 1980. I remember The Last Wound-Up and Miss Grimble’s. The period immediately following “Needle Park” was a pretty glorious time in that neighborhood.
I lived at 375 West End Avenue from ages 9 through 12. I remember Babka’s Bakery on the same block as Woolworth’s between 78th and 79th, Pandemonium, Gitlitz, Tip Toe Inn, H&H Bagels and of course Zabar’s. Was also lucky enough to be taken out to dinner to The Fleur de Lis, La Comedie, L’Orangerie and Sign of the dove in other neighborhoods. I do remember Tony’s, but may be confusing it with Victor’s — had great antipasti. Not to mention other neighborhoods: Chumley’s and Cafe Reggio in the Village, and the Jaeger Haus on the upper East, plus Bobo’s in Chinatown at 20 1/2 Pell St. in Chinatown. The theory that the ugliest Chinese restaurants were often the best bore out. Sorry to wander afar form the old neighborhood — but now, in my 60s, I realize what a fantastic and fabulously lucky childhood I had, being in NYC then! THANKS for creating this blog.
Yes I am also in my midsixties having grown up in Bklyn Queens and L.I and moved to a studio on 69 bet Bwy and Columbus in 1980; it was the last great era of middle class and upper middle class Jewish and Italian NY, great pizza, candy stores, egg creams, jewish oriented supermarkets, LOTS of quality ethnic delis, eating good local bagel place smoked fish on Sundays, Jewish bakeries a plenty all over ny and long island; the quality of so many of these places was so high u didnt ever have to worry about the quality. Now you gotta search for it and you also pay through the nose for it but thank god its still there albeit not nearly as plentiful nor as affordable. My twin brother and I talk about how lucky we were to grow up in the sixties in New York … the food, the movies, the street life, the beautiful braless hippie girls, the loosening sexual standards, the the newstands head shops and magazine shops and record stores, the World’s Fair, liberal idealistic politicians, equal rights nobody afraid to think big thoughts… a world made by European immigrants so well suited for little liberal Jewish guys and girls like you and me. Couldnt PAY ME to have grown up at any other place or any other time in the world.
HG is 93 and glad to have lived on the Upper West Side (79th St. with Hudson River views) in the 60’s. Glorious time for food and fun. And, affordable. Thanks for the communication, Jon.
I remeber The grocery store opposite Straus park…Daitch, I beliviev. I was born in ‘46 and as a child they had butter behind glass shelves and a wood slide that was hand operated at the register to slide your items to the check out person.
Fantastic find this blog of yours Gerry. Lived on 76th btw WEA and Riverside, then at 45 RSD, from birth to age 11 in 1968. We were not Jewish, and not very well to do, so my memories are equally full of gin joints, as well as food establishments. Gitlitz may still be one of my favorite early dining memories. Remember in the 60’s going to the Beacon MOVIE theater for such classics as “Santa Claus and the Martians”. These days when at the theater for music, tell my friends about those old days, and they can hardly believe that this beautiful theater showed such crap movies. Remember seeing Mary Poppins at the theater on 72nd and Broadway, west side. Remember my father taking me to Coney Island fishing, and I came home and sold it to Citarella’s on 75th/Bdway ???, counter man gave me 50 cents. Remember the bars…Sweeney’s on 75th & Amstdm, Dublin house (still there) on 79th, right behind Woolworth’s. Carvel on Bdway, next to Pharmacy on 78th. The iconic Cuban/Chinese spot on the corner of 78th. Belvedaire cleaners on 78th/Bdway. Little gin mill squeezed in next to Avis on 76th Bdway. Meritt Farms deli with Rotisserie on Bdway, where Fairway most recently stood. Bar on the corner of 73rd and Amsterdam, where My Best Friends Wedding with Gere/J. Robert’s was shot. How about the Esso gas station on 75th and Amsterdam……as a kid, gas stations in Manhattan were a unusual site. I attend the new PS87 on 78th st, my mom worked there as well. Most mornings walking to school, up 76th street, would see this black jazz musician smoking outside his brownstone, and would say to him….’Morning Mr. Davis’….to which Miles Davis would respond back, Mornin Kid. Played football in Riverside Park with, David, Harry Belafonte’s son, as well as seeing Lena Horne outside her place on WEA and 75th. There was a Gristede’s food store on Bdway btw now 75th-76th, on the west side of Broadway. Small bar on 77th/Bdway adjacent to Tibbs, across the street. So many great memories, of a great neighborhood to grow up in. Thanks for letting me share.
Welcome, Bob. Sixties on the Upper West Side. Glorious years of food, drink and Vietnam protests.
I’m trying to find the recipe for Lichtman’s chocolate babka. It was round and the chocolate inside would get all gooey after you toasted it a little. A bit of heaven! It was in a Bundt cake shape. Never seen anything like it since and would like to make it for my aunt who’s 90. We have been reminiscing and desiring to make it together!!!
My grandparents lived at 585 West End Avenue and we always went to Tip Toe Inn…..I’m 80 years old now. Also went to Gitlitz and Barney Greengrass. What a wonderful time
Greengrass, Gitlitz, Tip Toe. A tasty trio that enhanced my West Side life decades ago. Thanks for reminding me, Doug.