Thanks for a walk down memory lane! I moved two years ago after 30 years in NYC, 25 of them in the same apt at 1st ave & 7th st. My last meal included pierogis and potato pancakes from B&H - and their carrot cake!
I think the restaurant you referred to at 1st & 6th was Theresa’s. Loved their soup! I lived right next to the GI Polish Deli - they’re gone also.
I loved Kiev also! Used to see Joey Ramone come out of Veselka in the morning. I also loved the Ukrainian restaurant- it’s the only place I found that called the stuffed cabbage hulapchi like my grandmother did and pierogis were petalhee (don’t know how to spell them..).
The East Village became so gentrified and lost its creative edge that I’m now much happier in the high desert of New Mexico. Thanks again for sharing your memories!!
Thanks Diane!! THERESA'S! Thanks for reminding me. Those days are just a whirl of memories now, some of them very blurry, but I miss that place, as well. Where did you move to from NYC? That's all I think about now.
And do you remember The International bar (the OG one)?? I lived there - can’t tell you how many birthdays I celebrated there. I did tons of research and figuring out what I wanted and there was only one place I could go - Santa Fe. I’m staying out for 4 years to get acclimated (I came in lockdown so am still getting to know the place.). Even if I don’t stay here specifically I never want to leave New Mexico. This is the most amazing best kept secret in the world! You can breatheeeeee and just be here. I’m so in love with it.
My memories of the International - if they exist at all - would be hazy. I had different hangouts. I hear you on NM, though. It's a place I dearly love, from north to south - and it's amazing the differences between the north, south, east and western parts of that state.
In Cincinnati there was a coffee shop called Kaldi's that was in a terrible part of town at the time. It was always open and it had a three piece jazz band playing quite often. Books everywhere, terrible coffee and sandwiches. Drunks passed out at the bar. I went there when I was 17-19. It could never exist now. Everything is so pretty that it's almost sad.
"Everything is so pretty that it's almost sad." I love that. And it's so, so true. I keep saying "everything is so clean now" which I think is getting at the same thing. There used to be these messy, unlovely chaotic places, and they were the refuges we needed.
This twisted my heart 180 empathetic degrees. It makes me ache for a time machine to revisit these grimy food emporiums (emporia?) of the heart. Never went to Leshko's, alas, but I still miss a place called Cafe Gigi, a dark den of delicious old upholstered furniture, decadent pizza & a chill, indifferent waitress. It was pure escapism without the faux-cheery script. Sic transit Gloria, Gigi & Leshko's.
That's fantastic! That was kind of a dark year for me and, in fact, I think it was the year before when I fond myself planting my face in some delicious Kiev french toast with syrup when I, uh, had trouble staying awake at my table. We probably crossed paths, as I was always lurking around that intersection. Remember the payphones across the street on the wall of the northwest corner?
I love nostalgia in all forms. your words, your photos, all take me to a past I never had, but now feel I have lost. wonderful!
Thanks for a walk down memory lane! I moved two years ago after 30 years in NYC, 25 of them in the same apt at 1st ave & 7th st. My last meal included pierogis and potato pancakes from B&H - and their carrot cake!
I think the restaurant you referred to at 1st & 6th was Theresa’s. Loved their soup! I lived right next to the GI Polish Deli - they’re gone also.
I loved Kiev also! Used to see Joey Ramone come out of Veselka in the morning. I also loved the Ukrainian restaurant- it’s the only place I found that called the stuffed cabbage hulapchi like my grandmother did and pierogis were petalhee (don’t know how to spell them..).
The East Village became so gentrified and lost its creative edge that I’m now much happier in the high desert of New Mexico. Thanks again for sharing your memories!!
Thanks Diane!! THERESA'S! Thanks for reminding me. Those days are just a whirl of memories now, some of them very blurry, but I miss that place, as well. Where did you move to from NYC? That's all I think about now.
And do you remember The International bar (the OG one)?? I lived there - can’t tell you how many birthdays I celebrated there. I did tons of research and figuring out what I wanted and there was only one place I could go - Santa Fe. I’m staying out for 4 years to get acclimated (I came in lockdown so am still getting to know the place.). Even if I don’t stay here specifically I never want to leave New Mexico. This is the most amazing best kept secret in the world! You can breatheeeeee and just be here. I’m so in love with it.
*staying put
My memories of the International - if they exist at all - would be hazy. I had different hangouts. I hear you on NM, though. It's a place I dearly love, from north to south - and it's amazing the differences between the north, south, east and western parts of that state.
May you soon find where yr meant to be next!
In Cincinnati there was a coffee shop called Kaldi's that was in a terrible part of town at the time. It was always open and it had a three piece jazz band playing quite often. Books everywhere, terrible coffee and sandwiches. Drunks passed out at the bar. I went there when I was 17-19. It could never exist now. Everything is so pretty that it's almost sad.
"Everything is so pretty that it's almost sad." I love that. And it's so, so true. I keep saying "everything is so clean now" which I think is getting at the same thing. There used to be these messy, unlovely chaotic places, and they were the refuges we needed.
This twisted my heart 180 empathetic degrees. It makes me ache for a time machine to revisit these grimy food emporiums (emporia?) of the heart. Never went to Leshko's, alas, but I still miss a place called Cafe Gigi, a dark den of delicious old upholstered furniture, decadent pizza & a chill, indifferent waitress. It was pure escapism without the faux-cheery script. Sic transit Gloria, Gigi & Leshko's.
why can't I recall Gigi?
Here's some insight; all of it makes my will to live seep away. I also want to do a deep dive into the much-missed Bell Cafe on Spring Street.
https://evgrieve.com/2012/10/former-cafe-gigi-is-now-8750-triplex.html?m=1
thanks, El!
I miss sine!
The Bell I knew well
That's fantastic! That was kind of a dark year for me and, in fact, I think it was the year before when I fond myself planting my face in some delicious Kiev french toast with syrup when I, uh, had trouble staying awake at my table. We probably crossed paths, as I was always lurking around that intersection. Remember the payphones across the street on the wall of the northwest corner?