By Stephen Harmon
I moved to the Upper West Side in August, 1978, and immediately loved it with all my heart. I am a photographer and set out to preserve it on film because I knew the look of the people and streetscape would change over time forever.
I love Throwback Thursday because it gives me a chance to look back at those vanished days and share them.
Who remembers these classics? The photos were taken in the late 1970s and 80s.
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Thank you!
Your photos are wonderful
Was the OTB on 72nd St?
Yes off Broadway
Oh, Cherry, of blessed memory! Best (and maybe only) Japanese-flavored diner in the city. Thank you for the wonderful flashbacks, Stephen. The only one I don’t remember is the OTB and the Off-Price clothing store above it.
I miss all of this so much! I lived at The Cherry Restaurant, Royal Bakery and Mrs. J’s.
Lily Goldstein
That is the OTB on 72nd! I remember the OTB on like 91st and Broadway as well
yes, so easy for a person to walk to W91 and put a coupla bucks on the Derby-Preakness-Belmont. Colorful characters in there too!
These are wonderful photos! Don’t stop – the new storefronts will be distant, and missed, memories one day too, and your great pictures will be very welcome reminders (as these are)!
Please post some each week or do you have a website? I was a fan of wings clothing shop.
Love, love, love this! Thank you. There was an OTB on 90th and Broadway too, I remember our doorman, Henry, used to go there. I spotted him outside. Lol.
Nice!
Short, but sweet documentary about OTB from several years ago:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/otbdoc
Burger Joint! I love all of these photos. I grew up in the 70s UWS . Can’t get enough of these. Thank you.
Cherry
Restaurant
When I first moved into the Upper West Side in 1968 , Cherry Restaurant was the main and really the only restaurant to go to to meet up with your neighbors here in the upper West 70’s and lower West 80’s, real home cooked food.
Also love the photo of Mrs. J’s Sacred Cow, another gourmet restaurant I’d love to go to on weekends on West 72nd Street.
I loved it back in the late 60’s it was like the “new frontier”, very small, friendly, and everybody knew each other.
Thanks for the memories….👌
There is a sign that says “Sacred Cow Burger” about to open on 100th Street between Manhattan Avenue and CPW. I wonder if they are related at all.
More, please! If Stephen publishes a book of these UWS photos I’d buy it.
reminded me of Happy Burger (long gone) :*(
https://nymag.com/nymetro/food/features/9530/
Steve is such a wonderful guy. I got to spend some time with him and we created this mini-doc. https://chrismingryan.com/blog/2018/8/25/stephen-harmon-an-appreciation
I love these (and remember them all) — thank you!
Notice, in the photo of Pandemonium, at the right edge is the side of the original Citarella, when it was a one-storefront fish store. The seed of an empire!
I wish businesses would maintain their store fronts and awnings.
before my time, but love these photos, thank you!
OOOOOOOOOOOH, I love these! Thank you!
That was great–thanks! I remember all of them, most of them fondly. 🙂
Please post more photos of throwback businesses like this. How incredible.
I grew up here. My father loved the OTB on 72nd. I spent countless hours as a small child weaving through the cigar smoke and legs of tall adults as my father placed bets. It would have been his 94th birthday today. Thanks for posting.
That OTB was like a guy’s club – I had forgotten about the cigar smell and all the tickets strewn on the floor.
Thank you Stephen. Please consider putting your photos in book form. These are priceless memories for all who live/lived on the UWS. Amazing work.
I moved to the UWS in early 1974 and these photos bring back wonderful memories, except for the OTB. It was a great day when they finally closed them down. My parents were having a Belmont Stakes party in their FL home when my mother called and asked me to loan her the money to place everyone’s bets at the OTB. I was in my 20s and still remember the experience of the overwhelming smoke, alcohol and body odors as well as numerous unwanted unpleasant comments I experienced while waiting to place the bets. That was my first and last time inside. To say that this enterprise did nothing to enhance the neighborhood is an understatement. Still the photo makes me laugh now remembering that my mother was the one who sent me there. I’d love to see more photos.
Thank you so much for these pictures, you brought back such sweet memories of my childhood neighborhood.
I am flailing and swooning with delight. I renew my request/plea for a time machine, posthaste!!!
So wonderful! Can you post all the time! I remember Mrs. J’s and all the boyfriends back then Oh sigh! Also Charivari and Off Broadway
and the movie theater on Bway/72nd. We were so cool-destination neighborhood. There were so many wonderful bakeries and upscale shops. Now it’s just sad and empty and kinda useless. Closed down after 7pm. Please Stephen Harmon give us more!
Incredible photos! When I was still on FB I’d spend hours looking through your ‘Manhattan before 1990,’ collection.
I had no idea there was ever a movie theater on Bway and 72nd! What’s in that location now? I only moved to the neighborhood when Mrs J’s was Mike’s Bistro (?) and now Gebhard’s Beer Culture.
Charivari was so cool and cutting edge! I got my first pair if “French jeans” there in 1975-6 when they were all the rage, saw so many movies at that 72nd Street theater including a revolutionary movie about Gay people called “Word is Out!”. I
loved shopping (well, mostly looking) at Off Broadway. PLEASE send more photos!!! Do you have any of Levy Brothers stationery store on Broadway between 83rd and 84th (I think)? Indian Walk shoestore was on that block, and a record store. My mother took me to Honee’s shoestore, Broadway beteen 85th-86th? Or 84th and 85th.The man who sold me shoes there was Mr. Rosand.And Marlo’s drugstore on the corner of 85th/Broadway, and a Barricini nearby… all on the West side of Broadway, as was the first William’s Barbeque.
I loved my neighborhood; I loved my life then.
If you recall Levy Bros & Indian walk, surely you were a patron of Tip Toe Inn.
I remember every single one. I loved Mrs Js and so did my husband. We had many fun evenings there and the steaks were delicious. We were also big fans of Cherry. OTB not so much.
I very much miss a lot of the family owned stores that made up most of the neighborhood.
OTB! And that one of the barbershop is simply a beautiful photograph!
Great photos. I’d like to see this regularly.
Oh the days of yore so many bygone stores but what was that Italian restaurant on West 73 and Amsterdam called? In the 1990’s?
78 and Broadway “Pizza Town” I will always miss best slices ever!
Miss my OTB
Wow, more throwback photos like this please!
Wonderful pictures;Where did it all go?
Oh, I LOVED Royale Pastry Shop and all the women who worked there!!! They were mostly elderly, from Eastern Europe, who had survived the war, and gave me rugelach samples when i never once asked for one. Best apricot and cheese rugalach ever and the atmospere was so so comforting. I am a child of survivors; Royale was a bakery that welcomed us in a very particular and poignant way.
I also got my first Levis as a teenager in the 70’s at Pandemonium. So great, except the dressing room was communal and I was always mortified. I had no reason to be but I didn’t know that at 14!!!
I remember the Cherry and Royale well! -Peter, west 70s native class of 1981
The Royale Bakery! They used butter! Their challah, rugelach, black and white cookies were the real deal. Oh, how I miss them! In the 90’s during the High Holidays, there was a crowd of customers. An apple-cheeked baker brought out a tray of cookies to keep the mob happy. A lady yelled out, “What kind of cookies are those?” He yelled back, “Free cookies!”
I love these photos and will save them on my laptop. I almost lived in the Cherry Restaurant, but for some reason I can’t remember if it was on Columbus or Amsterdam. The Cherry served large portions.
Big Nick’s and The Royale! Thank you, and more, please!
Yay Cherry Restaurant! I echo the request for a book. Many people would love to buy it.
I recall my grandmother taking us to Schwartz Candy on 72nd Street. What fun.
Nice memories. Thank you!
Wonderful photos! I am from the west coast and didn’t get to first visit NYC until the early 90s. I moved here more than 10 years later in 2007. Can you post the ADDRESSES for these establishments. Would love to compare what is now standing in the same place. TY!
Royale is in the Seinfeld babka episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onQUFH4bjDA
I watched that episode last week and recognized Ortiz but nothing else on the block. 72nd street looked so much darker (dirtier?) and much more congested then. : o
great article! More please!
Please keep posting these wonderful photos!
Absolutely wonderful photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow. I remember the Royale Pastry Shop! I think this is the shop where Jerry and Elaine waited interminably for a chocolate babka! Old world and wonderful. I just love this photo! As others say, please share more.
I still miss the Burger Joint!