Friday, January 20, 2012

Let's take a walk along Second Avenue in the East Village in 1997

In 1997, EV Grieve reader Dave Buchwald worked on the cover art for 2600 Magazine, the publication that sponsored the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference at the Puck Building. As a favor, Buchwald walked around the neighborhood, taking pictures of the restaurants, bars and stores that a computer hacker might want to visit while in New York.

He sent us some of the photos from 1997. Last Thursday, we walked up First Avenue. Today, we'll heading up north on Second Avenue to 12th Street.





































Previously on EV Grieve:
Let's take a walk along First Avenue in the East Village in 1997

27 comments:

Jeremiah Moss said...

a lot of major losses in this batch. including the Cooper Square diner, where i used to see Quentin Crisp sitting in the window. could never find a picture of it--thanks!

Marty Wombacher said...

Great Mars Bar photo! Nice seeing the Telephone Bar too as well as all the others.

marjorie said...

mmmmmm, taylor's bakery.

i still feel forlorn about Love Saves the Day. i got a leopard coat there in 1991 that i still wear; when i moved to the city in 1989, LSD and Limbo quickly became my favorite places.

and hm, i believe LSD was the source of the ewok thermos my kids now fight over. tempus fugit, man.

tim said...

Camel smokes for $2.50? Unhoidof. What are they now? $12.00 or so?

James Campbell Taylor said...

I recently glimpsed the Cooper Square Restaurant on a rerun on NYPD Blue (the detectives go there for lunch).

jennifer said...

I did a lot of underage drinking at Telephone Bar and Grill

Andrew Tyndall said...

Global 33 awning graphic design FTW

Green Olive said...

Nice. Built a website for Global 33 around 1999 or so. Good people.

esquared™ said...

The Telephone Bar And Grill > 13th Step

blue glass said...

there was an older detective tv show shot down here that used a coffee shop on lower second avenue.
the detectives also had lunch there.
it was before nypd blue.
it was black an white.
slower than nypd, more like dragnet without the monotone questions.
does anybody remember the name of the show or coffee shop?
the coffee was actually ok, and very reasonable.

Anonymous said...

Telephone bar becoming 13th step is the saddest transition I've experienced

Spike said...

Wrapp Shack on 2nd and Wraparama on 1st must have cancelled each other out. Hopefully someone took photos from the 2000's Panini-a-thon and later Banh-Mi-Palooza.

Smarty Larue said...

I've walked this street a thousand times on my way to work at Marz. What a great post to stir up old memories and remind me why I loved NYC so much. God, it is missed.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

What a great series! What I find interesting about this one is nearly half the places are still here and pretty much look the same. The other half are major losses and are sorely missed.

Anonymous said...

Can't believe of these great places that have left us, my biggest loss is Bamboo House. I loved that place. There's nothing like it now in the East Village.

Kurt said...

Just a footnote, Global 33 burned down after a careless busboy threw an unextinguished cigarette into the garbage just prior to locking up.

marc kehoe said...

Bamboo House! Cooper Square Diner!
SECOND AVENUE DELI (take out stuffed derma) Shucks.

TXC said...

Great job, Dave! It seems like Pommes Frites opened more recently than 1997, likewise the Veselka makeover.

BabyDave said...

Blue Grass:
I am guessing the show was "Naked City" because of the black-and-white aspect and because it used much of Manhattan for settings -- East Village, Chinatown, and elsewhere. Can't picture the coffee shop, though. Ratner's? (More than coffee shop, I realize, but probably a cop lunch spot.)

Bianca said...

The 13th Step disgusts me. I really miss the Kiev. Used to go there after school. I loved it there.

Anonymous said...

Ah 2nd Ave Deli, you were a piece of classic NYC. Ah Virage, you looked cute back then. Ah Veselka, before you became a pseudocelebrity and annoying. Ah, $2.50 cigarettes, what a trip. Ah Wrapp Shack, you did not make it out of the 90s, sorry!

Andy said...

Great post! What I wouldn't give to have a meal at Bamboo House right now!

Tom said...

Nice! Curiously not included: B&H and Stage.

Tom said...

Cooper Square Restaurant ... like Jeremiah, I remember seeing Quentin Crisp often sitting in the window (IIRC, he usually sat facing 5th Street ... maybe he thought his left side was his best). The counterman/waiter I remember most was named Ted. And I think it was owned by the same people who owned Sheridan Square Restaurant. Before it was Cooper Square, it was Binibon's....

Anonymous said...

I will never stop mourning the loss of Siam Square. Sniff.

Brooks of Sheffield said...

What a great strip is was. Miss many of those places.

Rob Eberhardt said...

I lived at 95 2nd Ave directly above Thailand Cafe for two years -- didn't get much sleep on weekends with all the fights and outside drinking in front of Global 33...