☞ REMEMBER: Childs Restaurant Part Two

After mixed recollections of the once ubiquitous Childs Restaurant's location on 125th Street, we finally came up with a breakthrough. The above menu (price listed in cents) for Childs in 1907 was for the Beaver Street location close to the Financial District but the menu also included the location of the other Childs establishment in the city. Two address are listed for 125th Street and the one in West Harlem is at 272 West 125th Street which is 8th avenue (today's FDB). We had a source that mentioned it was on 7th Avenue and a reader mentioned St. Nicks.

The last photo is the building today and which is owned by the United House of Prayer For All People with the lower levels in use as retail spaces. We conclude that the scale of the building fits the historic description of Childs but the ornamentation and detail had been plastered over a couple of decades ago based on the conspicuously barren surface of the facade. Read our past post on Childs: LINK

☞ SEE: Childs Restaurant in Color

Our third post on Childs shows what the restaurants looked like in color. Even though souvenir postcards were painted, one gets a sense that the interiors were not completely white tile and marble but mixed in with accent colors. The mosaic floors looked were hex tiles with green and red accents. The columns had pale, rosy beige colored marble and the marble wall trim had a green cast to them. The complementary green and red hues accenting white seems to be the overall color scheme. The last photo is from the New York Times City Room section taken by David W. Dunlap. To make room for a new subway station, the City of New York demolished a former Childs building in 2008 with what appears to be an intact interior. One would hope that the city would be smart enough in this day and age to salvage these valuable relics but alas, all that is left are photos and post cards. To read more about Childs Restaurant on 125th Street, read our previous post: LINK

☞ SHOP: Guy and Gal Sign at West 125th

The small shop at 278 West 125th Street (at FDB/8th Avenue) recently had its old red awning taken down and an painted sign from the past has now been revealed. From the name, it sounds like another small mom and pop clothing store that existed on the commercial strip in the past. Folks might remember that the more notable tenant of this building before the modern stucco reno was Harlem's main branch of the famous Childs Restaurant: LINK. Anyways, it's always interesting when reminders of the past show up unexpectedly.