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Click cover for larger view
Be fitted for a suit at Abraham Lincoln’s haberdashery, visit
the apothecary where Mark Twain filled his prescriptions, lunch
at restaurants that once served Charles Dickens and Mae West. This
guide directs you to the tobacconists, wine merchants, coffee roasters,
jewelers, and pasta makers that have delighted New Yorkers and
visitors alike for generations. Not only the romantic atmospheres
of these living landmarks, but the superlative quality of the goods
and services that they provide has allowed them to endure in a
city of the most discriminating shoppers and diners in the world.
In the amber light of an old speakeasy, sawdust is strewn over an old trapdoor that legend holds marked a stop along the Underground Railroad. The aroma of tomato sauce made from a generations-old Neopolitan recipe still suffuses a restaurant opened a century ago, and rare chardonnays glow on the shelves of an Upper West Side wine shop that once lost a consignment of fifty cases when the Titanic sunk in 1912.
Listings include more than 150 apothecaries, bakeries, sweet shops, booksellers, cafes, butchers, fishmongers, flower shops, saloons, stationers, delicatessens, restaurants, jewelers, sporting goods stores, watchmakers, and gourmet shops. Whether offering custom leather boots, fresh mozarella, or a mahogany-and-brass rolling ladder, these venerable establishments provide the best of what New York has to offer.
The Historic Shops & Restaurants of New York is also a collection of stories of America’s immigrants, from Mr. Russ’s three beautiful daughters who served salt-cured lox behind the counter of their father’s Jewish delicatessen on the Lower East Side, to Louis and Amerigo, the infant sons of an Italian pasta maker, who slept in wooden macaroni crates while their father peddled homemade ravioli in the streets of Little Italy. The rich history of the city is interwoven through these stories, and through anecdotes about famous former patrons, from Charles Dickens and to Teddy Roosevelt and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Ellen Williams is the author of The
Historic Restaurants of Paris, Picasso’s
Paris, and the award-winning The
Impressionists’ Paris. She edited Alexander
Liberman’s The
Artist In his Studio and Keith Haring Journals.
She was born in Greenwich Village, where she lives with her
daughter.
Steve Radlauer is the author or co-author of five books and numerous articles for a range of publications including New York magazine, Esquire, Spy, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He, too, is a native New Yorker.
4.25” x 6.25”
ISBN 10: 1-892145-15-4
ISBN 13: 9781892145154
Retail price: $16.95
Price: $13.56 (20% off)
“This
is a jewel box that yields the gems of a bygone era, polished
afresh.”
—Chicago Tribune
“At last there’s a definitive guide to the living, breathing artifacts of New York’s past that’s as charming and singular and useful as the places themselves.”—Kurt Andersen
“Judging from the title, you'd expect this little book to be about New York's shopping and dining institutions. Not so. It's a jewel box that yields the gems of a bygone era, polished afresh. It's a treasury of cafes, frame shops, fishmongers, hardware stores, Jewish delis, stationers and gourmet shops, without which New York would not be New York. It's a long-overdue thank-you note to the immigrants whose pushcart businesses grew to become the city's living landmarks. Measuring a little more than 10-by-15 centimeters, this gift-worthy hardcover is thicker than a Porterhouse from Delmonico's, which, by the way, got its start when a pair of Swiss immigrants determined that America of the 1820s was a culinary wasteland. The six-table sweets shop they opened would go on to invent baked Alaska and coin lobster a la Newberg, the latter under not altogether honest means. Other juicy gossip here: Al Capone stocked his library with books from Weitz, Weitz & Coleman. Sarah Bernhardt always used Cucumber Cold Cream from Caswell-Massey apothecary shop. Tiffany & Co. was located at Broadway and Broome when Abraham Lincoln bought pearls for his wife. And it wouldn't be a proper New Yorker's book if it didn't give savvy shopping advice - you simply must buy your ribbons at Hyman Hendler - or do some good, old-fashioned bragging, such as: Capitol Fishing Tackle Company has the largest assortment of said stuff in the Northeast, and Lombardi's Pizza, which still cooks its pies in a coal oven, may have been the first pizza parlour in the country.”—Chicago Tribune
“The Historic Shops & Restaurants
of New York lists more than 150 Big Apple establishments
that have bucked the odds and stayed in business a century
or more. The book's longest section is “Saloons & Wine
Shops.” Among the entries are:
Chumley's: (86 Bedford St.) Its patrons include Dos Passos, Steinbeck
and Hemingway. “Warm and cosy, especially in the winter
when logs are crackling in the fireplace.”
Mare Chiaro: (176 Mulberry St.) This is where Frank Sinatra came
after a show or a lovers' quarrel. “Smoking, preferably
a cigar, is all but mandatory.”
White Horse Tavern: (567 Hudson St.) It had already been going
more than 75 years when Dylan Thomas drank himself to death in
it in 1953. ‘Still popularly considered something of a
writer's hangout.’”—The Ottawa Citizen
“The Historic Shops and Restaurants of New York is aimed at New York buffs who want to test their knowledge of local legends and find new (old) haunts, or Big Apple neophytes who want to go beyond the tourist traps. What do Bloomingdale's, the Plaza Hotel and Steinway & Sons have in common? All three have been NYC fixtures for more than 100 years, and they're still lightening our wallets. Authors Ellen Williams and Steve Redlauer, both born-and-bred New Yorkers, reveal the histories of these and other well-known commercial successes, as well as many more esoteric establishments, ranging from apothecaries and bookbinders to haberdashers and tobacconists. The little 350-page hardcover (a little heavy, but it measures just 4 by 6 inches) is a lovely travel companion.”—Washington Post
“From The Little Bookroom: This small New York publisher is producing some of the most innovative, beautiful and rewarding guidebooks on the market. 'The Historic Shops and Restaurants of New York' is a compendium of establishments at least 100 years old, from Kiehl's pharmacy to the Paris Bar and Grill. Need ribbons? Head to Hyman Hendler on 38th St., where some of the merchandise is 50 years old.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
