Heights History:The Nabeguy Collection

And on the down side are these: My mother and I shot the photos with my father’s little Minox – but we only took two? And I don’t remember if this was before or after the fire that destroyed the church on the corner of Clark and Monroe (the church pictured in one of nabeguy’s photos).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37916072@N04/

Nabe — The picture of Lou is wonderful, and confirms the belief I had, as a little girl, that he and Edward G. Robinson were the same person.

Nabe — I would swear he smoked a cigar. Of course, I can also hear him saying, “Nyaaah, nyaaah — ya’ want Russian dressing or mayo? Nyaaaah.” I was going to add to my previous post that I also seem to recall having babysat for Irwin’s sons when I was about 11 or so, but I figured a reference to Irwin would be too obscure! (I think there were two little boys, although there may have been just one. What’s weird, though, is that I have zero recollection of where Irwin lived. Maybe I just took them to the “little playground” or something and returned them to Lou’s.) And I thought Irwin looked like Steve Allen….

Nabeguy – can you please re-post the BPL link? I can’t find mention of it and I would love to see a photo of Lou Weisberg. Although he certainly was a ‘cigar kind of guy,’ Bornhere, I only remember him smoking cigarettes. Irwin always reminded me of Steve Allen, as he and Steve (I called him Steve) were tall, lanky and wore the same kind of eyeglasses. I too babysat for them when they lived in a brownstone at the north end of Willow Street (I believe they had two sons – maybe three – maybe four – I can’t remember). And segeuing, I remember how shocked we were to hear that a Soviet spy had been holed up in a building ‘just down the street from us.’ Ah, those were the days!

I have a picture of the corner where Clark’s restaurant is now also showing Patricia Murphy’s Candlelight Restaurant – good popovers, an old shot of Clark Street looking towards the St. George in a blizzard which shows the church on the corner of Monroe and Clark, and a reproduction of a picture of the inside of the St. George Playhouse. I don’t know how to post them or if they are in a readable format. Any advice to post them on this Blog? Or I can email them if anyone wants to send me their email.

Hi Benita, I just looked at one of my illustrations of Henry St circa 1988 and if Noodle Pudding is right next door to Henry’s End then there was an antique and vintage clothing shop there. This 3D ilustration used to be at Henry’s End Restaurant on a loan. I now have it in my studio and was trying to send an old psd scan and it crashed my browser. I have a few of these 3D illustrations of the Heights and will try to make better scans and send to Homer.

Nabeguy – thank you for the information, but in the meantime my sister sent me the link. Lou looks just the way I remember him – what a terrific photo! Benita, the church (in the photos I posted) was further to the right (out of the frame) on the corner of Clark and Monroe, which you see in Nabeguy’s 2nd photo. And no, the church is no longer there, but I don’t think the church fire and the one pictured were connected. As far as restaurants listed (on the west side of Henry bet Clark & Middagh), Heights Coffee Pot is at 62, Meadow at 72 and across Clark Street, Candlelight was there at 114 (way back in 1937). I attended PS 8 from Kindergarten through the 3rd grade and except for my class photos, a couple of photos of the auditorium taken during class plays, and a photo my mother took of Jackie Robinson when he visited the school, I have nothing else – no exterior shots of the school or surrounding area.

Fess up, indeed! I have the front door of the school – okay, maybe the ‘footage’ pans as far as the school playground. As for the rest of it – well, do YOU have any idea where those movies (that movie, because it’s probably all on the same roll) might be? I think the film includes the Promenade, Columbia Heights and maybe the east side of Fulton Street.

John – Lou’s was on Henry and Pineapple (NW corner of Henry), around the corner from Ricky’s. It was a small supermarket with great take-out deli sandwiches. (Do you remember Ricky’s? It was a real dive, and I was way too young to go in there, but my dad would stop there to bring home really good pizza. Bar + pizza. Weird, but very good.)

Oh yeah! but the only person I remember from the Plymouth Deli was Vera (?), the cashier. Great deli – my mother would also send me there for banana ice cream, or the St. George deli/grocery. The Candlelight was well named, I do recall it being very intimate, but, there was nothing better than a souvlaki sandwich at the Greek’s on Montague, was heartbroken to see him close after 30 years, give or take.

I trust everyone is familar with this?

http://tinyurl.com/deo7ve

The picture that I have of the church (now Clark’s) and the Candlelight did not import to my IPhoto as it is in a pdf format. I tried to email it to the Webmaster, but he was unable to open it. The picture looks like it must be from the 1940’s judging from the car that is pictured on the street. We ate there very often – loved the condiments that were delivered to your table for sampling by waitresses during your meal. Maybe I can upload it to the flickr site like Nabeguy did with his photos, but I need a little guidance. I was wondering about restaurants on Henry because I was introduced to linguini with white clam sauce at an italian restaurant on the west side of Henry probably around Orange. I thought it might have been in the Noodle Pudding space, but it doesn’t appear so. We went there often, too.

Since47 – do you think you could post your pictures of the PS8 auditorium – I remember some great architectural details in there. When did Jackie Robinson visit the school? I don’t remember that at all. I remember that we had to go to “Assembly” every week and at Christmas the whole school assembled to sing carols. Class plays were a big thing there. I was the class artist and every Christmas I painted a mural of the Night Before Christmas across the entire width of the numerous large windows in the classroom. Years later, the Smithsonian in DC installed an entire elementary school classroom that was exactly the same as the classrooms in NYC schools from the coat closets to the blackboards to the windows.

since47, I’d love to see it, if possible. I remember the stained glass windows and the banquette. I visited the school twice since I went there and I recall seeing these details in the auditorium when I was there. I hope they haven’t renovated that space. Of course, the classrooms have never tables and chairs instead of the old line-up of desks, but the coat closets and large windows were still there.

Thanks so much, since47 – the picture is so cute and I can make out the features of the auditorium. I’m looking forward to the others, if possible. Is that your younger sister in the photo? You both look so cute!! Do you remember the mayday dance and the winding of the maypole in Prospect Park?

I knew you were one of the girls because there is a strong resemblance between you and your sister, and of course you couldn’t have been the younger girl because she was wearing a dress and not dressed for the performance. I graduated PS8 in 8th grade. I remember making my white dress in home economics and parading down the aisles to get my diploma. I guess they don’t value their alumni because I called the other day to see if they had records of old student and/or class or graduation pictures, but no one called me back. May Day was really BIG at PS8 and all city schools – we practiced winding that maypole for weeks and weeks. I was a tradition for many years – way before I went there. They probably didn’t include 3rd graders – it was a complicated process to wind the pole without a mistake. Prizes were given for the best winding.