Lost New York: Roll film!
Can anyone tell us where the Olde Garden, which appears in the opening credits of "The Equalizer," used to be?
Here at Urbanite and on some of our favorite city blogs, there's been lots of talk this week of a different kind of preservation -- old New York saved on film.
After Jeremiah blogged about Jim Jarmusch's "Permanent Vacation," we looked at one of our favorite TV shows, "The Equalizer," which preserves in amber what can be inelegantly called "the mid 1980s Bernie Goetz fear and paranoia New York." Blogger EV Grieve also examines the menacing introduction to "The Equalizer," and asks a question we'd like answered, too: Where is/was the "Olde Garden" that appears in the introduction, which you really have to watch if you want some insight into the world's view of New York's state of public safety 23 years ago.
Jeremiah later checked out "Moscow on Hudson," and hit pay dirt with a scene at the defunct Moisha's Luncheonette, where the egg cream may have first made its acquaintance with Manhattan.
And EV Grieve did some more sleuthing and provides a handy roundup of TV shows that were filmed or based in New York back in the day.
Here at Urbanite, expect more posts from time to time on our "Equalizer" discoveries. And somewhere, we have a tape of "McCloud" with remarkable footage from 1970 of First Avenue in the low 60s. There, big as life, you can see the home of the first TGI Friday's, which began as a neighborhood singles bar before co-founder Alan Stillman spread it far beyond its prosaic beginnings in the former old man's bar, The Good Tavern. And, by the way, new to YouTube today are fascinating interviews with Stillman and Ben Benson, whose differing philosophies on franchising their post-Friday's invention, Smith & Wollensky, led them to part ways.
-- Rolando Pujol
Robert McCall (played by Edward Woodward) does some equalizing with a police source, with the Twin Towers gleaming in the distance.
Comments (2)
The Olde Garden was on West 29th Street, a few steps east of Sixth Avenue and a few steps down from the sidewalk. It was a pretty good place to eat, but not to drink.
Ah, thanks for the information about the Olde Garden, Bill. I asked several native New Yorkers -- they didn't seem to remember the place. It had to be famous to make "The Equalizer" intro!
Meanwhile, looking forward to some "McCloud" coverage, Rolando! I'm getting ready to watch one featuring Richard Dawson as the guest star....