I mentioned july 4 before... there were so many spots to get fireworks. the 'crumb' house by broadway and 37th, the lady further down 37th by 34th av... crumb house was amazing. there was this family sitting in their kitchen playing cards and chainsmoking, with a huge assortment of explosives behind them.Eventyally nypd came and put an end to all these fireworks vendors... back then you just had to learn about it, word of mouth...
I think I know what who you are talking about. There is this corpulent woman who is always sitting on her porch on the west side of 37th Street between 34th and 35th Avenues and they have a perpetual yard sale. I think they have some dogs. The place doesn't look too clean. She's been there as long as I can remember and probably could be a candidate for "seen on the street." That house is weird.
There still are some old stores on Broadway that have been there as long as I can remember. There's a bunch of them on the northern side of the block between 35th and 36th Streets across from Quinn's funeral home: Walter's Hardware, a fabric store, an Italian Deli, and a Polish Butcher who specializes in homemade smoked meats. For some reason, that block has so many businesses on it that have been around for at least 50 years. I can only assume the families that run these businesses long ago had the forethought to buy the buildings the stores are housed in.
Walter's Hardware is great, great, great. No matter what you need they have it. I heard that Quinn's Funeral Home was an old Con Ed office building. It has been Quinn's since I moved here, but someone told me this.
Meanwhile, another corner I'm familiar with is Broadway & 33rd Street.
Omonia has been there since I've been here on the southwest corner. It has expanded/renovated a couple of times. Way back, probably, late 1980s, the "Times" rated it the best dessert place in the city.
Across Broadway on the northwest corner is a pizza parlor/restaurant that is actually pretty good. I think has also renovated/expanded since I've been around.
There is a Dunkin' Donuts on the northeast corner. I was something else -- a drugstore maybe -- when I moved around the corner in November '87, but by '89 it became a Dunkin' Donuts.
On the southeast corner now is another cafe similar to Omonia. When I moved in there was a Korean-run green grocer in the space. Shortly after I moved in they moved across the street in the storefront right next to the Dunkin' Donuts. Then another green grocer moved in that was run by Greeks and to compete with the workaholic Koreans they attempted to stay open round the clock as well. As time went on they were closing earlier and earlier and finally gave up the ghost and went out of business. I remember the mother of the guy who opened it was always in there and she was always dressed in black. Then I think there was a cafe similar to the one (or maybe even the one there now) that opened. I think it was different cafe, though, and it went out of business. I think the new one then opened.