Welcome to the West 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association
Contact us via
  • Home
    • Board of Directors
  • Join Us
  • Blog
  • Events Calendar
  • Block Party
    • Vendor Agreement
    • FAQs
  • Resources
    • Newsletter Index
    • Alternate Side Parking
    • Tree, Hydrant, and Lamp Map
    • Eco-friendly Block
    • Open Streets W. 103rd Street
    • Bloomingdale Aging In Place
    • Hunger Resources
    • Bloomingdale History
    • TriBloomingdale
  • Quarterly Newsletter
  • Neighborhood Hall of Fame
    • 2022 Honorees
    • 2021 Honorees
    • 2020 Honorees
    • 2019 Honoree
    • 2018 Honorees
    • 2017 Honorees
    • 2016 Honorees
    • 2015 Honorees
    • 2014 Honorees
    • 2013 Honorees
    • 2012 Honoree
    • 2011 Honorees
    • 2010 Honorees

Throwback Thursday, Bloomingdale Edition

3/7/2018

1 Comment

 

More on The Up-Town Restaurant De Luxe Archambault

By Caitlin Hawke

Readers seemed to have loved the reference to Childs in my last Throwback Thursday post.  Some of you still remember the actual restaurants.  But Jimmy Roberts wins the prize for pointing out the Rogers & Hart reference to the chain in "I'll take Manhattan."  I am including it at the bottom of this post as your lagniappe...you know the drill if you're reading this in an email subscription: you have to click here or on the post title to see the video.

You got me all curious about the SE corner of West 102nd Street and Broadway again.  You'll recall the recent post of the matchbook covers from the Childs' restaurant "Old Algiers" here. That then led to this post about the corner where Mexican Festival is that used to be home to both Old Algiers and its predecessor, Archambault.
PictureThe Upper West Side by Michael V. Susi
My menschy friend, author and postcard collector Michael Susi,  kindly sent the images below. Black and white versions of these appear in his wonderful book of postcards, The Upper West Side. It's a book you've seen and leafed through and a book worth having -- not necessarily for the images alone!  His captions pack a wealth of historical detail into just a line or two.  And that's where I first discovered the Archambault.  Michael tells me that the eponymous Mr. Archambault also owned the Hotel Belleclaire which is having a renaissance now.

Again, if you haven't read Pam Tice's piece on dining out back in the day in Bloomingdale, you will enjoy it. She also references the restaurant at 102nd Street.

Michael says that a postcard image of Old Algiers' exterior will be hard to come by since its time falls outside the golden age of these postcards.  But behold these two beauties. 

I want to say just meet me there tonight for dinner.

Picture
Postcard images courtesy of Michael V. Susi, author of "The Upper West Side" in Arcadia Publishing's Postcard History Series
Picture
Here's a side by side just for the kick of it.  Thanks, Michael!
Picture
Picture
Above is a clip from "Makers of Melody," the short 1929 film featuring Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart's first blockbuster, "Manhattan," as in We'll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, too....

It was their first hit song and quickly became part of our DNA. In the film, Ruth Tester and Allan Gould play a "boy and goil" in love, and if you listen closely at the 2:02 mark, you'll hear the reference to the Childs restaurant chain, courtesy reader and musician Jimmy Roberts.  (The Childs connection to the SE corner of W. 102nd Street and Broadway is explained here.)

Excerpt from the song "Manhattan" by Rogers & Hart

We'll go to Yonkers
Where true love conquers
In the wilds.
And starve together, dear,
In Childs'.

We'll go to Coney
And eat baloney
On a roll.
In Central Park we'll stroll,
Where our first kiss we stole,
Soul to soul.
Our future babies
We'll take to "Abie's
Irish Rose."
I hope they'll live to see
It close.
The city's clamor can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil.
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.


Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Subscribe in a reader
1 Comment
Martha Weissberg
3/8/2018 06:42:04 am

Caitlin, this is a remarkable collection of photos and explanations. Little things made me chuckle, as every time I go to the post office I wonder about the mosaic on the side of Ben and Jerry's, for example. What you and Michael and your other sources are doing is making it possible to safeguard the history of the neighborhood. In any event, you made my morning. Thank you.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Aging In Bloomingdale
    BA Events
    Blog Favorites
    Community Issues
    Families
    From The Vault
    Green Neighborhood
    History
    Hyper-local Eats
    It's Elemental
    Local Events
    Mom & Pop
    Neighbors
    Seen
    Throwback Thursday
    Traffic

    Archives

    October 2022
    December 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Subscribe to our email list and receive regular news.

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.