Ramblings: Orchard between Houston & Stanton
While I haven't actually worked on Orchard St for 11 months now (which coincides with the current length of Luna's life plus 2 weeks), and I haven't been back for a while now due to winter months and new pregnancy and little munchkin who hates traveling in the cold, I have so many wonderful memories of the years I worked and played on that small block between Houston and Stanton.
Today is the last day Taqueria LES will be open before being demolished (they will be reopening on St Marks later this week thank goodness), and I don't know if 200 will be open after this week either. Both of them my old places of work, so many friends made, shots drank, pints poured and margaritas shaken. So many memories, mostly good, some bad, some a little cringeworthy, and some just simply wonderful (how about meeting the father of my children and finally settling down for one?).
Lunches of Swiss cheese omelet a and fries at the French Diner before opening up the bar on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, strong tea and a bagel from Sugar before a long double behind the bar at Taqueria, shorts and Doc Martens in the summer, stomping down the street, drinks and shots after work with everyone, walking up the street day in, day out, sliding on the ice, gliding through the humidity. Veggie sides from Georgia's and cheese quesadillas with guacamole, dealing with leaking basement roofs at 2am on a Saturday night while 6 months pregnant, Rock Trivia every week at 200, hummus and falafel dinners from Bereket, late, late nights and early, early mornings, special breakfast sandwiches from Sugar at 5am and so many wonderful people in and out of each other's lives, leaving a lasting mark and a memory forever.
I won't see the block again before it is partially demolished and transformed into condos. I don't know if I really want to. But a while back I took a bunch of black and white photos of the block and of a lot of the people who made that block home for me. It doesn't have everyone on it, but it's a good glimpse of what it was like at that moment in time.
The Orchard St photo album is HERE.
Great memories and great friends; wonderful times and wonderful people.