The Latino Equivalent of the Apollo

This church, Pare de Sufrir, on E. 138th Street and Brown in the Mott Haven section of The Bronx, hides a great cultural history. The building was one the Forum Theatre. It opened in 1923 with 2,300 seats, offering a little vaudeville along with silent movies. It was an independent theatre, not owned by any big movie house chain. It also had a Kimball organ.

After World War II, in 1948, with demographics changing in the area, it became the Spanish-language Teatro Puerto Rico, presenting stage shows. This was the theatre's golden age. It was quite the social mecca for the city's Puerto Rican population, and attracted performers from all over Latin America, and audiences from all over the city. Here's an image of the marquee back then. And here's the theatre.

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Lost City: San Francisco Edition: A Good Sign: Khan Toke Thai House

Nice old-school, yellow, inner-lit sign at the Khan Toke Thai House in the Richmond section of San Francisco.

A Perfect Storefront: Astoria Music

Among the ugly chains stores on 30th Avenue in Astoria is this charming shoebox of an enterprise, Astoria Music, where you can buy musical instruments, get instruments repaired and take music lessons. All in that tiny place. I love the display window, with its hanging guitars and drum sets.

How old is Astoria Music? Would you believe, 1922? And always in the same location. It was founded by the Greek Badgetakis family, all of whom were musicians. In the 1960’s a grandson, John Badget, took over, and in 1982 George Phillips, also a musician and also Greek, bought the business.

During the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, the shop was also recording studio and record shop. If we are to believe the store's website, famous musicians who recorded or bought merchandise here included: "Tony Bennett, Jimmy Rushing, Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, Junior Mance, Milt Jackson, Lenny Tristano, Bix Beiderbecke, Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster, Buck Clayton, Cannonball Adderly, Woody Herman, Clarence Williams, Eva Taylor, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Mercer Ellington, Lena Horne, Ethel Merman, Illinois Jacquet, Charlie Mingus, Russell Jacquet, James P Johnson, Lester Young, Milt Hinton, Count Basie, Jimmy Heath, Nat Adderly, Benny Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Phil Schaap, Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, Percy Heath, John Coltrane."

Hard to believe. But I hope it's true.

Down By the Old Mill

I was stunned when I walked by this old mill building in Port Morris, a former industrial section of the southern Bronx which is little discussed in the daily goings-on of the City. It's a simple building, but by the brickwork and the shape and number of the windows, it looked immediately to my eyes like a relic of the Industrial Revolution, the kind of mill that immigrants slaved in during the latter 19th century; something out of Dickens. And it seems to be in perfect condition.

Taking a close look, I saw the building was the work of Philip Knitting Mills. Our friends at Forgotten New York tell us: "Morris Philip (who has an appropriate first name in this part of the Bronx) was the firm’s founder. Besides having patents for some specialized knitting machines, he’s most famed for inventing the Philip Cup, the splash proof coffee cup lid. The Philip Cup factory was located at 26 Bruckner Boulevard."

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Lost City: San Francisco Edition: A Good Sign: Marquard's Little Cigar Store

"A Good Sign" hardly seems to do justice to the former Marquard's on O'Farrell and Powell Streets in downtown San Francisco. How about "A Really Good Sign," or "A Great Freaking Sign!"?

Marquard's Little Cigar Store certainly didn't have a little sign. The sprawling signage—more of a marquee/awning/canopy than a sign, really—embraces the entire corner. Sadly, the sign is all that remains of Marquard's; there a rinky-dink hat shop in that corner space now. The building was erected in 1907. The cigar shop and newsstand (note the neon New York Times sign) went out of business in 2005, but the City happily declared the sign a landmark worth preserving.

What Newspaper Lobbies Should Look Like

Everyone who works at a newspaper should begin the day by walking into a building like the Chicago Tribune's. Perhaps it would remind them of the potential nobility of their profession and how journalism can be, and should be, a pillar of Democracy.

The Tribune Tower was erected in 1925. It is the work of New York architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood (who went on to build the McGraw-Hill Building), who beat out famed Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen a famous 1922 contest to win the assignment. (Many at the time thought the modernist Saarinen should have prevailed over the more old-fashioned Hood-Howells conception.)

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A Memory of Brooklyn's Happy Hour Movie Theatre

Over the years, I've heard a remembrance here and there of the Happy Hour Movie Theatre, or of two movie theatres that lined Columbia Street that that Brooklyn thoroughfare was a bustling shopping district (the other was the Luna, currently being replaced by a condo tower). But this is the most detailed account I've ever been sent: 

The Happy Hour movie theatre was located at 225 Columbia Street. During the 50s & 60s every kid in the neighborhood was there every weekend. They had a section in front for all unescorted kids so that the adults could watch the movie in peace. For your 40 cents admission you got a double feature, shorts, cartoons and coming attractions. At 6:00 they would let the parents go in for free because they were just picking up their kids. They always showed a current film with an older one. I remember in the mid 1960s they showed "Beach Blanket Bingo" along with "Against All Flags" with Errol Flynn. Izzy's candy store was next door to the theatre so everyone would pool theie extra money and buy a bag of penny candy and bring it into the theater. Just before it closed down the theatre was not in the best shape. I remember that you had to walk along the walls in the bathrooms because the ceilings leaked in the center of the room. It was still the best way to spend your weeking. I miss it.

The Happy Hour was built in 1915. It was a small theatre. It closed in 1966 and was demolished in 1972. Wish I had a photo of the place. Anyone out there have one?

A Good Sign: Rizzo's Fine Pizza

Old New York Pizzeria's often have good signage, but typically not of the neon sort. Rizzo's Fine Pizza in Astoria is a happy exception. That's got to be one of the peachier neon signs I've ever seen on a slice joint. And how many pizzeria's chose to describe their cuisine as "fine"?

Rizzo's was founded in 1959 by the brothers Joseph and Salvatore Rizzo, along with their brother-in-law Hugo Lupi. Squares are the order of the day here. Rizzo's specializes in thin-crust Sicilian, an unusual pizza genre.

Lost City: Chicago Edition: Hollander Storage

Shiver and cower before the hulking immensity of Hollander Storage in the Logan Square section of Chicago!

Ahem, excuse me: Hollander International Storage and Moving Company, Inc. The enterprise's full name, don't you know. This business was founded in 1888. And, as far as I can tell, this impressive, five-story, brown-brick building was erected around that time period.

The outfit is still in family hands. The website tells us, with due confidence, "Whether you require residential moving, business relocation, long-term storage, or something in between, it's a commitment four generations of the Hollander family has nurtured." Hey, they've got my attention.

A Good Sign: Parkside Lounge

The Parkside Lounge has been lending beauty, grit and integrity to the corner of E. Houston and Attorney Streets for decades. How they stay in business in this climate, I do not know. The owners must one the one-story building.