As It Was - NYC History (2025)

15/01/2025

Try the veal. It’s the best in the city.

When I was 2 years old, we moved to the Marlboro Projects in Gravesend from the Lower East Side. It was a great neighborhood to grow up in with one perk being it was a stone’s throw from Coney Island.

In the 60’s and 70’s my mother worked so we went out to eat a lot, usually in Coney. Nathan’s was great, but my favorite was always Italian food and our favorite Italian restaurant was Carolina at 1409 Mermaid Avenue just off of Stillwell. Gargiulio’s around the corner was more expensive and too fancy. Stella’s around the other corner had good food, but was not very relaxing with the owners in the kitchen always yelling and throwing things at each other (if you ever ate there, you know what I’m talking about). The famous pizza place Tontonno’s on Neptune was there, but we never went. After all, we lived down the block from Spumoni Gardens.

All the food was great; typical red sauce Italian. Veal Parmagiana, Zuppa de clams, spaghetti with meatballs and sausage, lasagna, clams oreganata - all delicious and dinner usually came with sautéed (in garlic) spinach and escarole.

The other thing that was great was the bread that was served with dinner. It came from a small bakery on Neptune Avenue called Geraci. When I was older and driving, I would make almost daily stops at Geraci to get that bread and also their unbelievable lard bread. It was hard not to eat it all before I got home.

Unfortunately both are gone. There are still some pretty good Italian restaurants and bakeries in this world - but they’re not Carolina and Geraci.

Feel free to tell about your favorite Italian restaurants and bakeries (with lard bread) that still exist. I’m all ears (and stomach).

Coney Island History Project Charles Denison 1974

13/01/2025

The Irishman

The aftermath at the original Umberto’s Clam House on Mulberry Street where in 1972 Robert Deniro (Frank Sheeran) entered through a side door and whacked Sebastian Manascalco (Crazy Joe Gallo) in front of his family.
At least that’s what Sheeran admitted.

11/01/2025

No Slices

On the heels of the Totonno’s post, here’s another iconic pizzeria that will probably never go out of business.

John’s Pizzeria at 278 Bleecker Street in the Village is absolutely one of the most iconic pizza joints in NYC. It’s been there for almost 100 years and has everything you can ask for: historic digs, graffiti carved booths and, of course, great thin crusted pizza, hot right out of their coal fired brick oven.

If you go to John’s just about any time of the day, expect to wait outside for a table because there are no reservations. And if you come alone you better be hungry because there are NO SLICES. If you want a slice, go to Joe’s down the block.

But John’s is not the only piece of Italian food heaven on Bleecker Street. Down the block is Faicco’s Italian Delicacies where you can get one of the best hero sandwiches and across the street the perfect dessert at Rocco’s Pasticceria, who make unbelievable cannolis and Italian pastries.

06/01/2025

SAVE TOTONNO’S!

FOR SALE - 100 year old iconic Pizza Parlor

Totonno’s has been on Neptune Ave in Coney Island for over 100 years making what some say is the best pizza in the city. Thin, classic (sometimes a little charred) Neapolitan pies founder Anthony “Totonno” Pero learned to make at Lombardi’s in the 1920’s. He moved to the then Italian neighborhood in Coney Island, opened his own place, and the rest is history.

In its heyday, there was always a line out the door with disciples picking up their delicious pies - that is until the dough ran out - so you had to get there early to avoid crushing disappointment.

Unfortunately, that long history is in danger of ending. The Pero descendants are getting older and cannot keep up the restaurant any longer. They are looking for a passionate buyer to keep up the tradition.

They are now only open on Saturday and Sunday from 12 - 5:30 and the tradition is definitely in danger so you better get there sometime in the near future to enjoy this piece of history.

06/01/2025

No Respect

My favorite comedian of all time was Jacob Cohen. Don’t recognize him? He eventually legally changed his name to Jack Roy. Still no? Maybe you know him by his stage name Rodney Dangerfield.

I saw Rodney live a few times at his club Dangerfield’s (opened 1969) on First Avenue between 61st and 62nd. It was a small, intimate setting and he was always hysterical. The audience was never disappointed. I also remember seeing Jackie Mason there. Funny, but not a substitute.

Rodney died in 2004 and the club managed to hang on until 2020. I think the space is still not rented. I guess there’s no replacement.

By the way, Rodney took his name from a name used on the Jack Benny show.

02/01/2025

Behind Every Man ,,,

So they decide to build the greatest bridge the world has ever seen. Logically, they hire one of the best bridge builders in the world to do it. At the beginning of construction, he’s designing and calculating and measuring but gets too close to a docked ship and crushes his foot between the boat and pier. They rush him to the hospital, amputate a few toes and want to treat it further. He refuses saying I will treat it myself with hydrotherapy - basically running water over it. He dies a few weeks later from tetanus..

His son, a senior member of his firm, takes over. He starts building the bridge and a fire breaks out in one of the caissons - the underwater structure that holds the bridge up. He rushes down to put out the fire but develops Decompression or Caisson Disease (the bends) which leaves him incapacitated and prevents him from visiting the construction site. He continues to try and direct the construction from a second floor apartment overlooking the bridge a few blocks away.

His wife, obviously a real smart lady, develops an extensive knowledge of bridge building from hearing her husband’s plans. She brings his directions to the workers every day and essentially takes over much of the chief engineer duties, including day-to-day supervision and project management.

The bridge gets completed and with great fanfare and appreciation, she is the first one to cross the bridge in a carriage.

Thanks, Emily. You made a great bridge.

NYPL 1922 photo of 110 Columbia Heights home of Washington and Emily

29/12/2024

The Best H***y Tonk North of Abilene

The Lone Star Cafe at 61 Fifth Avenue was a great bar. It was only open from 1976-1989 but it made a lot of noise when it was here; especially with that iguana on the roof that its neighbors hated.

I was there more than a few times while working in the city. On the day of a concert, my friend and I would get there extra early and sit at the bar. We’d order burgers (they had great burgers) and a few beers and be ready for the show. Besides their regular guy Kinky Friedman, I remember seeing Pure Prarie League, Asleep at the Wheel and one of my favorite’s, Roy Orbison. Orbison was great, especially since I was only about 10 feet away still on my bar stool.

Oh, and the iguana on the roof is now on the roof of the reptile house at the Fort Worth Zoo.

27/12/2024

The Last Dance

Question: What famous “starchitect” designed an iconic NYC church and an infamous nightclub?

Answer: Richard Upjohn, the creator of Trinity Church in downtown Manhattan and The Limelight on 6th Avenue and 20th Street.

Well, he created it as the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in 1844, but it was transformed from 1983 to about 1998 into the infamous music venue and dance club The Limelight.

It was wildly popular during the 80’s, attracting celebrities and a young, beautiful crowd who danced the night away to originally disco and rock, but later to techno and goth music - which went perfectly with the mid 19th Century Gothic Revival architecture.

Unfortunately, a lot of the crowd may also have been coming for the “massive amounts" of ecstasy, co***ne, special K and rohypnol that were reported available. The police called it a “drug supermarket”.and arrested the manager for promoting the fact. Ironically, for ten years before it was “The Limelight” it was Odyssey House, a drug rehabilitation program.

The good news is the historic building still exists, but now as Grimaldi’s pizza parlor.

23/12/2024

Birds of a Feather

Occasionally, research for my walking tours turns up some real quirky information. This from my Gilded Age Tour had me holding my head.

Right across the street from the Frick, 9 East 71st Street was originally built in 1931 for Nathan Strauss, the son of Ida and Isidore Strauss - you know, the owners of Macy’s who went down with the Titanic. Nathan died before it was complete and the house became a hospital and a school for wayward girls.

It was originally 21,000 sqft but expanded to 51,000 sqft in 2003 by the very successful owner at the time - Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein lived there from 1995 until 2019 when the door of his “House of Horrors” was broken down by the FBI and police and he was arrested on s*x trafficking and prostitution charges.

Almost directly across the street at 18 E. 71st Street is another townhouse that was built in 1906. It was also a school for girls at one time. The owner - Bill Cosby. Yes, they both lived there at the same time.

You can’t make this stuff up.

21/12/2024

EEWWW

Almost everyone who lives in an apartment in NYC will occasionally have a bunch of unpaid and unwanted roommates making their life miserable. Yes, I’m talking about cockroaches. It’s always a pleasure when you turn on the lights and see a bunch of the furry, six-legged creatures scurrying about your kitchen.

But we’re not alone. Here is a USA Today list that says, believe it or not, NYC is actually 11th in the most cockroach infested cities in the US. And ours only walk. The ones in the South also FLY. (It was a shock the first time I came across one.)

By the way, the two biggest roaches I ever came across were in the East Broadway subway station and Wo Hop on Mott Street.

18/12/2024

Liberty, Base Ball and 23 Skidoo

One of my favorite locations in New York City, the area surrounding Madison Square Park, is just dripping with history.

As you can see from the photo, the park was once the home to the disembodied arm and torch of the Statue of Library from 1876-1882 as they tried to raise enough funds to build the base of the statue.

The famous Fuller or Flatiron Building, purportedly where the term “23 Skidoo” got started - men would gather on the windy corner to watch women’s skirts blow up until the cops told them to leave (23 Skidoo) - is across from the park.

The Northwest corner of 23rd and Fifth Avenue, where Eataly and the Toy Building is and the Fifth Avenue Hotel used to be, was also where Madison Cottage or Colonel Thompson’s Roadhouse was located, whose large field was where the New York Gotham Base Ball Club played a modern form of baseball in 1837 (yes, that’s right Abner, in 1837).

Across the street on the North side of the park on 26th Street and Madison Avenue, where the New York Life building is today, was where the first and second Madison Square Gardens were located from 1879 - 1925. It is also where a group of Gothams broke away and played baseball in 1842 as the New York Knickerbockers (think Alexander Cartwright, not Walt Frazier).

And finally the park is home to the first Shake Shack, which now has about 3 billion locations across the universe.

17/12/2024

The Great Revolt - 66 East 4th Street 1907

East 4th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue is an interesting street.

In the 20’s it hosted Lucky Luciano’s Palm Casino (now the KGB Club). Speakeasy, brothel, gambling house and illegal liquor distributor all in one place.

In the 60’s, it hosted Club 82 run by Anna Genovese (wife of Vito Genovese). It was a very popular drag (female impersonator) club and was visited by Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace, Burt Lancaster, Tennessee Williams, Errol Flynn and Harvey Fierstein

On July 7, 1910, 70,000 members of the Cloakmakers Union walked off their jobs and came to the Labor Lyceum at 66 E. 4th Street to hear Daily Forward editor Abraham Cahan, among others, give them encouragement.

It’s impossible to really appreciate this photo unless you actually stand in front of the building to realize how crowded E. 4th Street would be with 70,000 people on it.

The building is still there as the La MaMa theater.

16/12/2024

No Slices

John’s Pizzeria at 278 Bleecker Street in the Village is absolutely one of the most iconic pizza joints in NYC. It’s been there for almost 100 years and has everything you can ask for: historic digs, graffiti carved booths and, of course, great thin crusted pizza, hot right out of their coal fired brick oven.

If you go to John’s just about any time of the day, expect to wait outside for a table because there are no reservations. And if you come alone you better be hungry because there are NO SLICES. If you want a slice, go to Joe’s down the block.

But John’s is not the only piece of Italian food heaven on Bleecker Street. Down the block is Faicco’s Italian Delicacies where you can get one of the best hero sandwiches and across the street the perfect dessert at Rocco’s Pasticceria, who make unbelievable cannolis and Italian pastries.

14/12/2024

The Greatest of All Time

Sometimes when you eat something at a particular place or restaurant it becomes your favorite forever. Whether it was the taste, atmosphere, company or a combination of all three, you think it’s the greatest thing in the world and will go out of your way to get it.

These places, of course, depend a lot on where you grew up or hung out. They will be different for all of us but I know everyone treasures these places and has a list of their bests of the best.

Below are my two lists. The first is a list of favorites from growing up which are long gone that I can only still dream of. Some are a bit obscure, but I’m sure will hit a nerve with some of you.

The next list are places that are, thank goodness, still around, where I can still make special trips to when I am in the general vicinity - and how far I’ll drive directly depends on the strength of the craving.

See what you think. I love comments so I can possibly find some new favorites.

Can’t Get Anymore
Egg Cream and hot dog at 3am at Dave’s on Canal and Broadway
Pizza at Ray’s on W 11th and 6th Ave
Chili at the Lone Star Cafe on 5th and 13th
The Mile High Special Hero Sandwich at Manganaro’s on 9th Ave
Clams at Lundy’s in Sheepshead Bay
A beer (or two, or three) at Carey’s on Sheepshead Bay Road
Roast Pork on Garlic Bread at Herbie’s International on Flatlands Ave
Blintzes or pierogen at Ratners on Delancey
Mushk steak at the French Roumanian on Delancey
Veal Cutlet Parmagiana at Carolina in Coney Island
Pasta and screaming at Stella’s in Coney Island
A potato knish at Mrs. Stahl’s in Brighton Beach
Pineapple Drink at Nathan’s in Coney Island
Sour Pickles at Guss’ on Orchard St
Lard Bread at Geraci Bakery on Neptune Ave in Coney Island
Hot Fudge Sundae at Jahn’s on 86th St in Brooklyn

Can’t Wait to Go Back
Roast Beef(?) Sandwich at Brennan and Carr’s on Nostrand Ave
Blintzes or pierogen at B&H Dairy on Second Ave
A Potato Knish at Yonah Schimmel’s on Houston
A Pastrami Sandwich at Katz’s on Houston
A Bagel with Lox and Cream Cheese at Russ and Daughters on Houston
A Roast Beef, Pepperoni and Swiss Cheese Hero with the works at Jimmy’s in Sheepshead Bay
Pizza with the cheese under the sauce at Spumoni Garden
Pizza in the Village at Denino’s on Macdougal or John’s on Bleecker
A beer (or two, or three) at the Old Town Bar on E 18th
Sour Pickles at The Pickle Guys on Grand St
A Porterhouse at Peter Luger, a NY Strip at the Strip House, a Sirloin at Spark’s
A Burger at The Corner Bistro on W 4th in the West Village
Hot Dog at Nathan’s in Coney Island
Veal Cutlet Parmagiana at Bamonte’s in Williamsburg
Hot Fudge Sundae at Serendipity III on the UES

12/12/2024

Trow me da ball!

I grew up in the Marlboro Houses in Gravesend in the 60’s and played a lot of punchball, slapball and stickball in the Barrel Park (small internal park with small concrete barrels) when we had a group. When there were just two of us we usually played stoopball.

For those not lucky enough to have a stoop or even know what a stoop is, the game was played with a Spaldeen (or Pennsy Pinky). You would throw the ball against the steps in front of the house (or apartment building in my case) and get points on how you caught the ball off the steps. Five points for catching it on a bounce, ten points for a fly and one hundred points if the ball hit the point of the step (a pointer) and you caught it on a fly. You gave up your turn when you either missed the ball or it bounced the wrong way off the steps. The winner was the first to a certain number of points - 500, 1000 or more if you really needed to kill a lot of time. Yeah, I know, there’s a way to play it like baseball, but this was the way we played it in my neighborhood.

Except for stickball, you don’t hear about any of the other games much anymore. Heck, you don’t hear much about kids playing with rubber balls anymore. I guess it’s now more fun to play with a virtual ball than a real one.

Unknown photographer - Public Domain

10/12/2024

They Don’t Make Them Like That Anymore

This is the third installment of my critically acclaimed series “Old Places to Eat and Drink in NYC” (I just made that up).

About 10 years ago or so I was in the city with my wife and 2 adult children and we stopped by the ABC Home Store on Broadway and 18th Street. It is a beautiful old store which opened originally as the W & J Sloane Department store in 1881 Well, I love old buildings but hate shopping, so after I had my fill of gawking at the inside of the old store, my son and I decided to find a bar to hang out in until my wife and daughter finished shopping.

Luckily, right down the block, we saw the very old sign of the very old Old Town Bar at 45 East 18th Street. I had heard about the place so we decided to go inside and partake in a few cold ones.

Surprise is an understatement. A beautiful 19th Century saloon with an original long bar, ceiling, floor, fixtures, booths and especially feel. The bartender, who had a great mustache and Irish accent, made the nostalgic overload complete. As a tour guide, historian and urban explorer I thought I was in heaven.

The bar opened as Vermeister’s in 1892 and changed it’s name to Craig’s during Prohibition when it started serving food so it could continue serving illegal spirits as a speakeasy. It is said that Governor Al Smith would stop by (he was a “wet” and didn’t believe in Prohibition). After Prohibition, it became the Old Town Bar. That great sign in front is from 1937.

And to make our visit even more perfect, when we went to use the restroom, we were treated to the grand porcelain magnificence of urinals from 1910.

A great time had by all.

By the way, the food is good and there is a dining room upstairs accessed by original creaky stairs. The dining room has old faded murals on the wall and the oldest working dumb waiter in NYC

NYC Tax Photo 1940

07/12/2024

PIZZA!

My favorite pizza place in the 70’s and 80’s was Famous Ray’s Pizza. Not just any of the 2,347,642 Famous Ray’s in the city at the time, but the one in the Village at 6th Avenue and 11th Street. You know, the one you usually waited on a line to get into and sold mostly slices. After you ordered they would take a plain slice, dump requested toppings and a handful of mozzarella on it and stick it in the oven for a few minutes. What came out after what seemed like an eternity was absolute cheesy deliciousness.

I heard there were a few other “Ray’s” that were good, but I never found another one to compare. It was open until 2011, then reopened as “Famous Roio’s Pizza” (after original owner Mario DiRienzo) in 2013 but closed pretty soon afterwards for good.

There’s another pizza place there now, but I haven’t tried it yet.

06/12/2024

Not Throwing Away My Shot

Nope, this post is not about Alexander Hamilton, but about George Youle who built a 175’ tall shot tower on his farm near the East River on 53rd St. in 1821. A shot tower is a tall structure used to make the small round metal balls (shot) that were put in muskets and shotguns. You would drop the hot metal, usually lead, from the top of the tower and it would form into a ball as it fell before it hit water at the bottom to cool.

There were a few shot towers in New York City, (Centre St., Water St., Beekman St. and E. 15th St.), but this one lasted the longest and was not demolished until 1920. It gained some fame through paintings by Jasper Cropsey and Frederic Edwin Church and through many photographs.

This is a photo from 1906 showing Youle’s Shot Tower and the old farmhouse looking east.

Photo courtesy Museum of the City of New York

As It Was - NYC History

15/01/2025

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29/12/2024

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