Urbanite

Photo by Lane Johnson/amNY

The long Independence Day weekend is upon us, the perfect time to sample the delights of Coney Island, Nathan's Famous, Totonno's and, of course, Astroland. With the prospect of the amusement park's extinction ever looming, this weekend is as good a time as any to go.

Since this is our weekly Throwback Thursday feature, we'd be derelict if we didn't point park-goers to this memorable, rhyming, disco-beat-driven commercial for Astroland. It must date to the early 1980s, and is full of great shots of Astroland taken well before Thor Equities, the company that wishes to remake the area, even existed.

-- Rolando Pujol

The Albert Merrill School was one of those vocational institutes that promised computer training back in the days when Macs were just a fruit.

You can't train there anymore (thank goodness Apex and DeVry are still among us!) but on West 28th Street, you can still survey a mural for the defunct school.

Most New Yorkers will remember the school for its ubiquitous commercials (an example is below) shown on weekday mornings and afternoons in the 1970s and early 1980s. They starred a dapper fellow by the name of Jimmy Randolph, who is accosted by an eager fan who recognizes him from the commercials. He happily takes her to the nearest Albert Merrill School, about which Mr. Randolph is very proud.

The commercial offers vanished views of Columbus Circle, including the Coliseum lurking in the background. You'll also enjoy how it promotes the school's phone number, with a solid old-school exchange: CIrcle5-3900.

As for the merits of the Albert Merrill School, we quote a commenter on the YouTube video, who says he attended the school in the mid 1980s:

Yeah, I wish I knew that before going to that school, I went in October 1984 and graduated in 1985 and you know what my job was after school, Messenger! Wow what a ripoff, the stuff they train you on was so outdated for example the IBM 360 was a computer setup from the late 60's, we did not train on anything new, I can say that they only thing I got out of the classes was keyboarding, they started me on my way to typing, no surprise they closed shortly after 1985!

-- Rolando Pujol

Your eyes do not deceive you. The shell of a Caldor still remains in downtown Flushing. (Photo by Elisabeth Stuveras)

During a visit to Flushing Tuesday night for a Korean barbeque feast, we stumbled upon the massive Caldor building and were stunned to see it still there, the sign still up, almost a decade after the chain collapsed into bankruptcy. Here's some background on recent attempts to develop the site -- we were interested to see it was once a Masters, which as a child was one of our default shopping locations, up in Elmsford.

Anyway, in searching YouTube for Caldor commercials, we found something far more interesting. A video of the Flushing Woolworth's from its final days of business in 1997. The footage is an amazing time capsule that takes you from the street (where you catch a glimpse of the Caldor building) right into the store itself. Definitely worth your time. It's directly below, followed by a few vintage Woolworth's and Caldor ads.

-- Rolando Pujol

Oldsmobile. No matter what GM did to make this brand appealing to younger drivers, it didn't work. Bringing on Ringo Starr and his daughter to remind us that "this is NOT your father's Oldsmobile" certainly didn't help the cause much.

Yes, Olds is long gone, and in the New York area, the brand's demise took the Good Olds Guys with it. Don't know the Good Olds Guys? You're definitely under 30. The Good Olds Guys were simply a consortium of the tri-state Olds dealerships, and they became a household name in the 1970s and '80s thanks to the power of television.

That fame came from a five-second spot that would run at the end of every Oldsmobile commercial. It was a disco-infused jingle that simply said, "At Your Good Olds, Good Olds Guys," coupled with some wicked '70s strings.

The image was a rotating photo grid of Olds dealers. Most were men, but at one point, The Brady Bunch-style grid did include a woman.

So here, from 1983, is a commercial for Oldsmobile Cutlass, available "At Your Good Olds, Good Olds Guys!"

-- Rolando Pujol

As old-school NYC enthusiasts, we here at Urbanite have been waiting for this since we first told you in April that WPIX was going retro to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Well, the CW 11 will briefly become "11 Alive" during its special marathon of classic programming on Saturday, June 14 (from 12 noon to 9pm) followed by a one-hour documentary hosted by news anchors Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong. PIX is also inviting you to share your memories at http://cw11.trb.com/60 (not yet "Alive") where they will gather a great collection of WPIX nostalgia. Let us know of your memories, too -- after all, this is the station that coined the phrase "What's your opinion? We'd like to know."

The schedule will be composed of programs that were once a big part of the WPIX schedule. Here's the rundown:

The Little Rascals

12-1230pm: Teacher’s Pet

1230p-1pm: Hearts Are Thumps/ Feed ‘Em and Weep

Abbott & Costello

1pm Getting a Job

130pm The Actor’s Home

The Three Stooges

2pm Gents without Cents

230pm A Plumbing We Will Go

The Adventures of Superman

3pm Crime Wave

330pm The Perils of Superman

Get Smart

4pm Mr. Big

430pm A Spy for A Spy

My Favorite Martian

5pm My Favorite Martian

530pm A Loaf of Bread, A Jug of Wine and Peaches

I Dream Of Jeannie

6pm The Lady In The Bottle

630pm Tomorrow Is Not Another Day

The Odd Couple

7pm Password

730pm My Strife in Court

The Honeymooners

8pm Better Living Through TV

830pm The $99,000 Answer

WPIX 60th SPECIAL

9-10 pm

Hosted by CW11 News Anchors Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong

Fire up your Betamaxes -- err, DVD recorders -- and have fun. And check out some more vintage WPIX and old school TV stuff here and here. Release is after the jump.

-- Rolando Pujol

Coronet, the children's furniture store in Westbury on Long Island, had some of the most memorable television commercials in New York City history. They tended to involve the two Coronet brothers, who would tout the store's offerings before telling us there's "no talking orangutans."

If that wasn't memorable enough, another spot involved the Coronet boys with their mom, who also ably pitched for the shop. Her famous line also reverberates in the memories of longtime New Yorkers. The sons ask mom what's for dinner, and she responds, in classic Long Island dialect, "reservations!"

Those commercials were remarkably effective. To this day, we know the address: 1111 Old Country Road in Westbury. Alas, no juvenile furniture awaits visitors to that address. Coronet closed in 1997 after a 40-year run.

First up: The Coronet brothers -- and that orangutan ...

... and mom tells them what's for dinner ...

-- Rolando Pujol

This commercial is something of a legend, oft quoted but rarely seen. Well, here it is. Legendary columnist Jimmy Breslin, fresh off his "Son of Sam" fame, pitches for Piels beer, and tells us repeatedly, and quite emphatically, that Piels -- in those immortal words -- is "a good drinking beer."

Piels, by the way, was originally brewed in East New York and can still be found in the Northeast.

-- Rolando Pujol

One of the funniest moments in NYC TV history is on this clip: Fast forward to 8:06.

The Sue Simmons f-bomb fiasco got us to thinking about another New York anchor, who in his day ruled the New York airwaves with his wry wit, knowing smile and no-nonsense delivery.

Roger Grimsby.

The name conjures the golden era of Eyewitness News in New York, with Grimsby, Bill Beutel by his side, delivering the news. "Here now the news" he would intone before launching in. His copy was always processed through a "Grimsby filter," and you often knew precisely what he thought of whatever tomfoolery he might be reporting.

The reason we bring up Grimsby this week is his magical handling of a similar on-air goof in the early 1980s. A reporter named Mara Wolynski was about to introduce a story on Black History Month when she was caught on camera -- as a stunned Rose Ann Scamardella looked on -- giving the finger to somebody out of view. Wolynski was totally unaware the New York tri-state area was watching along with Rose Ann.

In Grimsby's world, who needed an on-air apology? He ended a broadcast that night with that classic line: "As Mara Wolynski would say, we're No. 1!" The studio erupted in laughter, as was often the case when Grimsby would end his newscasts with a zinger. (Wolynski's finger and Grimsby's reaction are in the embed above; fast forward to 8:06.)

We offer a few more examples of Roger Grimsby's magic after the jump.

-- Rolando Pujol

Two longtime New York-centric campaigns were infused with new life this week. First off, New York has rolled out a revamped campaign centered around that reliable chestnut "I Love New York," a campaign that originated in 1977 at one of the low points in the city's history. Like the original set of commercials, the new campaign is aggressively promoting the state as a whole. Click here for a superb example of the original campaign, with great shots of New York in 1977 and that catchy Disco jingle penned by Steve Karmen. And click here for a nifty short documentary on the campaign's origins.

Later in the week, we learned that Citigroup was bringing back its "Citi Never Sleeps" campaign. The slogan, trotted out in 1978, served the financial giant well for a good chunk of the 1980s, before being dropped for other approaches, including "When, Where and How to Succeed". Our examination of our usual sources failed to turn up an example of the original "Citi Never Sleeps" jingle, but we did find a commercial with a memorable theme and effective use of the Citicorp Building, which you couldn't miss in many of the company's ads of that vintage.Click below.

-- Rolando Pujol

Oh, the wonders of YouTube. Two recent postings will be of particular interest to New Yorkers with an interest in the city back in the 1970s. Both were recorded in 1973 from WNBC-TV Channel 4 and are in superb condition. This is impressive in and of itself, considering the rarity of over-the-air recordings from this era, before Beta and VHS began to make inroads.

The first clip, from February 8, 1973, includes a bumper for the Bobby Darin show (he died later that year), and then a news update for "The Eleventh Hour." That was Channel 4's 11 p.m. newscast before it morphed into Newscenter 4, anchored by a name we don't hear much from these days -- Jim Hartz. Among the headlines: Rush-hour trouble on the Penn Central (what we call Metro-North today.) Hartz anchored the report from 1967 to 1974 before heading to the "Today" Show for two years. Also in this clip is a commercial for Tropicana (check out the old container designs) with Sandy Becker of Channel 5 children's show fame. It had been a few years since Becker left the station.

The second clip is from later in 1973, and includes Hartz doing a news promo again, Becker pitching Tropicana again, and an NBC promo for an "exciting Ann-Margret special, with Bob Hope and George Burns." Did the writer of this tag appreciate the hilarity of those words?

-- Rolando Pujol

Picture it. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1984 and there's isn't much of anything to do, except, perhaps, to watch television. And 11 Alive is ready to deliver. We enjoyed this collection of commercial breaks from Sunday's Great Movie. For starters, there's that funky jingle for the bumper -- to us, it just screams Sunday afternoon. And then a great collection of commercials. These ads are treasure troves of New Yorkania, and of the area's retail history. Do watch it from the beginning for the full effect, but if you want the highlights, here's where you want to fast forward:

2:27: Kleinsleep (The jingle: Have more fun in bed)

4:48: The Money Store (with Phil Rizzuto offering a Cabbage Patch doll giveaway)

5:18: Apex Tech (with the "Apex Tech Man"; remember, you have to call first)

6:19: NBO (They sell everything except shoes!)

6:28: Crazy Eddies (Where prices are insane!)

6:57: Jordache Jeans (The sound was less disco by now, but it's worth a listen to see one of those practices you never see on TV anymore. The local announcer (in this case Bill Biery) interrupts the ad at the end to tell us that the jeans are "available at Sid's Pants and Jeans Country."

Click here. The embed function has been disabled.

-- Rolando Pujol

Previous Throwback Thursdays here.

To think there was a time when Howard Stern and Don Imus shared the airwaves of 66 WNBC! Here's a great commercial from 1984, in which the I-Man and Stern grudgingly sit with station vice president and general manager Randall D. Bongarten, who proceeds to apologize to everyone and their mother for "certain indiscreet remarks" made by the shock jocks, who aren't exactly apologetic.

The list of the slighted include: Governor Cuomo, The United States Congress (both houses), Nassau Community College and Rabbi Arthur Selkowitz.

WNBC nostalgics, click here for a fix.

-- Rolando Pujol

Ahh, spring. Time for a quick weekend getaway to the Poconos, and to the delights of beautiful Mount Airy Lodge, where one can enjoy horseback riding, tennis, a dip in a frothy heart-shaped tub in the seclusion of your room, and fine dining while enjoying the stylings of Rodney Dangerfield and Tony Bennett .

That's what those wonderful commercials from the late 1970s promised, and it was all just a 90-minute drive away! Alas, Mount Airy Lodge is no more, but the jingle that promises a beautiful getaway with "your host with the most in the Poconos," lives on.

This commercial below promotes Mount Airy's winter activities, but there were commercials tailored for each season. Because there never was a bad time to go to the lodge.

Click below, if you dare. If this song has been buried in the farthest reaches of your mind, it will quickly become front and center for at least three days. Proceed with caution!

-- Rolando Pujol

And here's another variant of the campaign:

We lavished some nostalgic attention on Channel 11 on Wednesday, so we thought we'd now cast a loving gaze at good old Channel 5. And by that we mean, Channel 5 before it was purchased by Fox in March of 1986.

The station was owned by Metromedia for years, and was among the great American independent stations. The highlights? Weekday reruns and cartoons (Lucy, the Bradys, Woody, Popeye), a no-nonsense news department (their great 1985 slogan: The Channel 5 10 O'Clock News: We Give It To You Straight), and a weekend slate of movies and movies and movies (who can forget badly dubbed kung fu flicks and American International horror classics). And there were those old PSAs: Have you done your homework yet, have you hugged your child today, and, of course, do you know where your children are?

Channel 5 had a distinct feel and identity, a texture most TV stations have lost today. They've mostly become repositories of first-run, syndicated programming amid a general blandness and lack of local identity that carries over from market to market. There are exceptions: We wrote of Channel 11 Wednesday and Gothamist had a great piece on Channel 4 the other day. And even Fox 5 got into the retro act, when it celebrated the 40th anniversary of its news department -- here's a link of old clips on its Web site.

What follows after the jump is a highlight list of what made Channel 5 great. Notice the jingle, the bumpers, and of course the work of those old announcers, like the great Tom Gregory with his deep voice, Ed Ladd, who was once a cartoon show host, and Lou Steele, known to viewers with long memories as "The Creep" on "Creature Features."

-- Rolando Pujol

Herb Peterson holds several examples of his Egg McMuffin. (AP)

Herb Peterson, the inventor of the Egg McMuffin, has died in Santa Barbara, Calif., the city where he invented the dish in 1972. He was 89. The sandwich, however, did not hit market until a few years later -- and is the lowest-cal breakfast dish McDonald's serves! Today, the breakfast staple is a part of Americana. Long gone are the styrofoam containers that housed it, but you can still taste the sandwich's past by hitting play on these two commercials.

The top is from 1989 (from the "Good Time, Great Taste" campaign), and was shot in Manhattan. Be sure to watch out for the Shuttle train, and a glimpse of the Citicorp Center, as the Citigroup building was then called. The second is about a decade older, and a relic of the "We do it all for you" campaign.

Fun fact: A year after the Egg McMuffin was invented, the first McDonald's restaurant opened in Manhattan. The day was March 23, 1973, and the place was 215 W. 125th St. It had taken the chain two decades to crack Gotham City. You can't miss them now.

-- Rolando Pujol

The streets of New York have never been particularly clean. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the problem had reach epidemic levels. So messy were our streets that the New York Times devoted a three-part series to the crisis in August 1980. A graph from the first-day story struck us:

Perhaps the main problem of dirty streets, the researchers have found, is that New Yorkers are learning to live with them. From the Mayor and Sanitation Commissioner, who say they do not have enough money to pay for the necessary men and machines to keep the streets clean, to the pedestrians, motorists, merchants and building superintendents who contribute to the mess or turn their heads and step around it, the people who live and work in the city have come to tolerate dirty streets much as they have come to tolerate other signs of a city with severe problems.

We've come a long way from those years, but the other day, we noticed a garbage can in an otherwise spotless public plaza in Murray Hill that serves as a quiet reminder of those dirtier times. It promotes the city's early 1980s campaign, "New York, Let's Clean Up New York." The campaign showed the city's desperation and offered a solution: New Yorkers had to take responsibility for the mess they were making.

Above, check out a classic commercial for the campaign, and, after the jump, get to know the oddest tool in the city's 1980s street-cleaning arsenal: the "Ed Koch talking broom." What we'd do to hear it bristle at illegally parked cars today.

-- Rolando Pujol

With Eyewitness News celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, we've been trolling YouTube for some cool retro finds. The clip we are highlighting today packs a lot of punch: It has bumpers for the ABC Friday Night Movie, with a Disco-infused beat, commercials for jeans and the Barbara Walters Special, and an Eyewitness News brief with a much younger Ernie Anastos and the much-missed Rose Ann Scamardella. The big story that night? The looming 1980 transit strike.

Rose Anne and Ernie were a classic news duo, just like Chuck and Sue, who are still going strong over at Channel 4. Anastos left Eyewitness News in the late 80s, and bounced around the dial before landing at Fox 5. Scamardella briefly resurfaced on Channel 5 for a special segment several years ago, but has been MIA since the early 1980s on the New York dial. Which is lamentable, because we really liked her style and delivery. She was also the purported inspiration for Gilda Radner's character, Roseanne Roseannadanna, on "Saturday Night Live."

-- Rolando Pujol