A Good Sign: Columbia Florist

A family-owned florist on 231st Street in Riverdale, The Bronx, Columbia has been in the neighborhood for decades. The newer awning does nothing for me, but the older sign on top does.

The Ghosts of Columbia Street: More Irving Street Images

Earlier this fall, I started posted selected images from a cache of old photos of Columbia Street that were uncovered by Freebird Books, a local used book store. The photos dated from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the more interesting shots depicted Irving Street, an old, two-block waterfront street that has since been demapped.

The proprietor of Freebird recently scanned and uploaded a new set of the photo collection. (There are many more to come. Freebird owns all the photos I post here.) Among there are a variety of shots of Irving Street. Two of them are seen here. The one above, from the 1970s, gives you a pretty good idea of what the expanse and character of Irving was, despite the damage to the photo. Pretty breathtaking how the road stretched right down to the river.

As the owner of Freebird says in his caption: "By the late '60s it was essentially a quiet cul de sac for the Puerto Rican community, a backdrop for events and sports activities. The reclamation of a large empty lot on the street's northern side is chronicled in these photos, as well as other attempts (like mural paintings) to beautify other abandoned buildings."

The photo seen below is from 1964 and depicts a parade of sorts.

Another Great One Gone: Lenox Lounge to Close

One of the greatest and most lasting landmarks in Harlem—Hell, the whole city!—will be lost Dec. 31 when the famous Lenox Lounge closes its doors.

Owner Alvin Reed, who brought the historic jazz boite back from the dead in 1988, declined to renew his leave when the landlord—guess what?—doubled the rent. Guess the greedy landlord saw the gleaming Red Rooster down the block and figured he should be getting richer than he was. Reed owns the rights to the name, so the new tenants will reopen it as the Notar Jazz Club. Richie Notar is the managing partner in the Nobu Restaurants group, will be taking over the space.

"If they want to use Lenox Lounge, they will have to negotiate with me," said Reed. "I brought it back and I want to see it stay there. I want to keep the legacy alive. I am Lenox Lounge, and I will be Lenox Lounge for quite some time. And if they want Lenox Lounge, they want me."

Every jazz great played Lenox back in the day. The interior is a living museum. I was there just a few months ago. Few spaces in New York can match the magic of that art deco interior. When a good combo is playing, and couples are chatting and drinking, the scene is classic cosmopolitan urbanity at its finest. It takes little effort to imagine life in New York during its post-WWII heyday.

Silver Lining of Bill's Gay 90s Renovation

Loath as we are to admit it, there is a slight silver lining to the old Bill's Gay 90s space's recent transformation into the fancier Bill's Food & Drink. As you may recall, when the former owner's lease was not renewed earlier this year, she took all the historical artifacts inside the bar with her—posters, pictures, even the joint's two old bars. All gone. The new owners had no choice but to recreate an oldish-looking interior. But, in restoring the anteroom outside the bar, they uncovered an old mural that had been hidden for decades. Apparently the mural was revealed when the original owners were taking down the pictures that hung there; not even they knew it was there. It's a collection of whimsical ads for liquor brands, painted as if they were posted on a brick wall somewhere. Based on the brands featured—Ballantines, Ambassadors—it probably dates from the 1930s and 1940s, when those whiskeys were more popular. The slogans ("A Sure Hangover") poke fun at the liquors.

A Good Sign: Cambridge Podiatry Center

Nice blocky letters. Plain and simple, yet it has a style. Like the whole storefront, too, with the yellow brick and venetian blinds.

The Show Folk on the Show Folks' Shoe Shop Disappear

A few months ago, the news unrolled that the retailer Express was going to take over the old I. Miller show store in Times Square. A few folks expressed the hope that this might mean the unusual building might finally be refurbished. The previous tenant, TGI Friday's, had never given a damn about the century-old, landmarked structure, with its quartet of statues of famous performers—Ethel Barrymore, Mary Pickford, Marilyn Miller and Rosa Ponselle—from the 1920s.

Well, it seems that that may be the case. The "Show Folks Shoe Shop" is now surrounded by scaffolding. But, more importantly, the statues have disappeared. Since the facade is landmarked, one can only imagine that they are being restored as we speak. Also, the building changes landlords in 2011, so it might be the new landlord's doing.

The public can also now get the best gander they've had of the south facade in decades, with now TGIF awning to block part of it.

A Stage Deli Memory From 1969

The Stage Deli in midtown Manhattan closed last Thursday after 75 years in business, the victim of rent hikes and a bad economy. To show how much New York character the place had, enjoy the New York Times write-up from July 5, 1969:

Jewish waiters—who are used to giving the orders—turned polite and deferred to astonished customers yesterday.

It was Independence Day, and the independent Jewish waiter marked the day in the most signal of ways, with a startling change of face.

It has been said that Israel won the Six-Day War by putting guns into the hands of Jewish waiters—but yesterday they laid down their arms. Snarls were out; smiles were in. Waiters grown irascible on endless chopped liver and chicken soup beamed with good nature. From every pore oozed the sour cream of human kindness....

At the Stage Delicatessen on Seventh Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets, a waiter tried earnestly to explain the startling change. "It's Independence Day," he said brightly, "and who could be more independent than the Jewish waiter?"...

But it was difficult. When a customer asked a waiter at the Stage why he wasn't wearing a name badge, he replied: "Why should I wear my name? Everybody calls me names, anyway."...

A policeman who walked into the Stage Delicatessen looked incredulously about him at the strangely happy multitude. Then the manage said playfully, "You're under arrest."

"All right," said the man in blue, "as long as you keep me in here."