Text and Photographs by Stephen Harmon
When I was photographing the Upper West Side in the 1970s and 80s, I loved the businesses and storefronts. Most looked old to me back then — except for Silver Palate and Häagan-Dazs ice cream, which seemed so modern. Some of these have vanished and some endure. Enjoy this look backward as the new year begins.
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Whenever people talk about the ‘good old days’, l think about dentistry. I’m so glad about dentistrys’ methods today !
These photos brought a smile this morning. Reminds me of when I moved to NYC.
Nice to hear. Thanks.
Please keep these coming!!
Glad you like them!
Very nice look back at the way things were back then. One of the signs in one of the photographs had “Roast Beef for $1.00 a pound.” It reminded me that some of these photographs dated back to when the US currency was on the Gold Standard; i.e. that all our money was back by Gold. It was $35 an ounce and that was as good as … gold. In 1972 a law that I believe had been past a couple of years earlier came into effect taking us off the Gold Standard and having our money backed by “the full faith and credit of the US government” which I am still trying to figure out what that really means. What it resulted in is the development of “inflation” where the value of our money keeps decreasing. We used to be able to count on the value of a dollar. That is no longer the case. Oh if we could ever go back to those times when a dollar was a dollar and backed by Gold? Nice photographs. Times sure were different then.
The “gold standard” led to incredibly weird distortions of the economy. You might try reading Liaquat Ahamed’s LORDS OF FINANCE (about the run-up to the Great Depression).
Are you saying there was no inflation before the Gold standard? I don’t think that’s quite true.
Was that the Haagen Daz that was on 83rd or so and Broadway?
84th i believe.
It was not on the West side of Broadway on 84th, for sure…
There is a street sign on the left “Columbus/75th Street”
you can see the sign says 75th and columbus
If you look at the photo the light pole states 75 & Columbus Ave.
Love these pictures! I haven’t thought about the WORKBENCH forever but that picture brought back many memories. While the Haagen Dazs ice cream store is gone, at least it can be purchased at most supermarkets so not a total loss. I still have my Silver Palate cookbook though I haven’t looked at it in decades. It may be time to include it in my decluttering plan.
Drew, the price of gold is now, $2,666.50! So one dollar would be worth $26,66??? Maybe I’m confused. Math isn’t my thing.
Thank you!!
We still have a Häagen Dazs shop on 72nd and Amsterdam, for what that’s worth. 🙂
I would love to see a photo of Teachers restaurant. It was a staple
when I moved to the West Side in the 80’s.
And Teachers Too!
Yes–wasn’t Teachers Too across the street from Teachers? I lived on the Drive and 98th (1976-84) but can’t for the life of me recall where Teachers was?
2271 Broadway, from c. 1981 to Jan. 1996. That’s about a third of a block north of 81st Street, now home to Spa Massage Broadway.
Teachers itself (2249 Broadway, 1969–c. 1981/82): was about a block south of there and also on the west side of Broadway.
And The Copper Hatch on W. 72nd St.!!!!!!
i miss them both!!!! and murray hoffman the owner/manager.
If you simply Google “UWS Teachers restaurant,” there are several images.
Does anyone have a picture of the “Library” bar?
I met my future wife there . I don’t remember if it was on broadway between 92nd or 93rd, And what store is there now.
92nd. i miss it too!
The Library became Cleopatra’s Needle and then At Our Place on B’way/92nd
At Our Place predated Cleopatra’s Needle and was at 2527 Broadway, as opposed to Cleo’s 2485 Broadway; the earliest and latest dates I know it was around were 1976 and 1988, respectively. For more, see https://www.westsiderag.com/2019/12/23/cleopatras-needle-jazz-club-and-restaurant-closes-after-30-years-with-a-heavy-heart .
Taïm Mediterranean Kitchen was supposed to have opened at the former Cleopatra’s Needle site, but something evidently went wrong a couple months ago.
This series is really wonderful. Thanks so much WSR and Stephen. So love seeing The Silver Palate storefront. I always pause on Columbus near 73rd Street and murmur a note of appreciation for that place – and that time in NY. The cookbook on my shelf is falling apart, but still in use. Also love seeing the old Fairway – when it really was a market like no other. When the owners had such strong opinions about things that they did not sell sugar, or sugared cereals, and the marvelous Steve Jenkins educated us about cheese with a great depth of knowledge and playfulness. And elderly shoppers used their carts like army tanks. It was special!
I appreciate your kind words.
Amen.
That throwback Fairway sign is much better than today’s version!
The current sign should read, “trying to give Wakefern a reason to close this store every day”.
Wakefern is the new owner, and the store manager is incompetent.
In the first picture on the far right there is a picture of a man in white against a black background. That is Jack LaLanne. His health club was located above Fairway.
Lived around the corner from Silver Palate and remember ordering from them for a dinner party in about 1978, amazing food! And the early Fairway, before it grew so big! Thank you for these wonderful memories.
The Silver Palate made the BEST shortbread cookies on the planet and I miss them to this day.
I love your photos, just as I always do. So nostalgic and poignant for me. I remind myself that the storefronts and other sights that I walk by without noticing today will be the nostalgia of tomorrow 🙂
Thanks you so much!
I lived on the Upper West from 1979 to 1981, this brings back memories!
Which movie theater is that in the photo with Workbench?
The Embassy between W. 72nd and 73rd.
Amplifying on what Steve wrote: the Embassy 72nd Street Twin 1 and 2 at 2089 Broadway, around from 1938 to Aug. 28, 1988.
Neighborhood Grocery at 418 Columbus upgraded to Andy’s Deli, a good place to pick up lunch. It closed a couple of years ago and some interesting use for the space — a Japanese tea shop, maybe? — was announced by the Rag a while back. But I haven’t seen signs of work going on. Sic semper sandwiches….
I lived, and still live, across the street from that Haagen Days where I worked nights in the summer of 1982 after my full-time office job in midtown to make some extra money. There was always a line. I made Christopher Reeve a HUGE banana split at the height of the Superman craze. He was a sweetheart.
I also remember the classic newsstand/store next door, which you can see a bit of in the photo. It was long and deep. The man that worked there (or owned it?) had a number tattooed on his arm from the Holocaust. It was the first time I had ever seen one. I grew up in L.A. and knew about them, of course, but was shocked and very moved when I actually saw one. I have a vivid memory of that man, who didn’t talk much but was nice.
I love seeing these photos of that time when I was young, wide-eyed, and newly arrived in this magnificent city. And lucky me to have landed in the very best neighborhood of all!
Anybody else find it hard to resist checking to see if they’re in any of these great pics :)? It’s all so familiar and seems so possible!
Wow . Remember when we used to.have snow like that. Probably never again in our lifetimes, barring a nuclear winter.
Love this! Thank you for sharing this! May the year 2025 be somehow a better year that feared, and may we visit the past without revisiting its errors, not mistake privilege for greatness, and find a future that does not destroy what has been gained … Amen.
Thank you!
I looked up the phone number and, yes, Pizza Joint is Big Nick’s.
They rebranded at some point. Big Nick was always part of the story and featured prominently in the menu. It was a good place for a kid to get a cheap slice or hamburger, or both.
Not to mention their beckoning baklava.
Whereas for Big Nick’s Burger Joint, one would have used 362-9238.
And the CCTV camera in the Pizza Joint showed you the Burger Joint’s interior and vice versa, which was very confusing.
Lived at the West Side YMCA 2 yrs while in Graduate School at JJCCJ. Absolutely my favorite memories of NYC particularly UWS
Great pictures! What a nice trip down memory lane! Thanks, Steve!
Thanks for the kind words!
Great memories! I love this segment.
Thank you!
That Haagen Daz was on Columbus. We used to get home delivery hot fudge Sundaes from them!
Those were the days!
Any photos of All States Cafe? A truly great place. Used to see Kevin Bacon on there unwinding after his shift.
Any shots of the skinniest used record store on Columbus in the 80’s?
That was in one of Steve’s picture some time ago. Between 85th and 86th on the west side of Columbus. A sort of covered alleyway squeezed into a sliver of space to the right of what is now Space Market (formerly Shim’s). It had a sagging striped awning to protect its stock of used magazines as well as old vinyl.
Ah, you mean Johnny’s Books — https://www.westsiderag.com/2017/07/13/remembering-new-york-johnny-and-his-lively-columbus-avenue-book-shop .
Any photos of Cherry restaurant on Columbus and 76th street?
do you happen to have any photos of the old ice cream / candy by the pound store that was the west side of Broadway between 89th and 90th? or Party Cake?
I grew up on 72nd Street. Great to see all those pictures, the bookstore, the florist. Good times.
I could peruse these kind of photos all day long. I lived on W. 80th St. from 1976 to 2005, so I saw quite a few changes.
A time when the UWS barely had any urbanists!
Hi Stephen,
How can I buy a print?
Best,
Interested
Call me at 212 874 2052
It’s really Morningside Heights and not the UWS, I guess, but anyone remember the Mill Luncheonette near Columbia? My friends used to leave messages for each other with Morris. There was a big wall of magazines.
Where can one get Time magazine these days? AFAIK there are no newspaper-magazine stores or proper newstands.
There was a tiny candy and toy shop on Amsterdam at about 93rd or 94th street, west side of the avenue. No one I talk to seems to remember it. This would have been late 1970s or very early 1980s.
I’d also love to see a photo of the little gift shop Mie Cin on Bway at 105th St, east side of Bway, and across Bway around 103rd there was a tiny shop that sold African baskets and handicrafts. Those were favorites of mine.
Great stuff. Thinking or Teachers and the Town Shop in 80’s, and of course Oppenheimers’s (?) Butcher Shop at 97th & Broadway.
Stephen,
First, love your photos, they bring back many memories of the years I lived on the West Side. Would you happen to have any photos of the West Side from Columbus Circle to 72nd Street between CPW and West End Avenue? Thanks.