GREENWICH VILLAGE

Friday, March 7, 2025

History of Caffe Reggio

Caffe Reggio

Greenwich Village

New York

CAFFE REGGIO

The Movie

MACDOUGAL STREET

GREENWICH VILLAGE

DOMENICO PARISI

The Founding Father of CAFFE REGGIO

Domenico Opened Caffe Reggio in 1927

He had a Barbershop there before, but it was always his dream to open an Italian Caffe. He scraped together the money to buy an Italian Espresso Machine that cost $1,000. A huge some in 1927. He opened the caffe, which was the 1st caffe in America with a coffee machine like they had bacck in Italy, but America never had one, not until Domenico purchased his and brought it to Geenwich Village, New York.

Domenico Parisi was from Reggio Calabria in Calabria, Italy, near Sicily. This is where his caffe gets its name Caffe Reggio from.

Dominico's Magnificent Machine

Mr Cavalacci

With DOMENICO'S MAGNIFICENT MACHINE

The CAVALACCI FAMILY bought Caffe Reggio from the Parisi's in the late 1950s.

CAFFE REGGIO

Circa 1950s

NYC

CAFFE REGGIO

Photo Daniel Bellino Zwicke

Caffe Reggio

Painting from The SCHOOL of CARAVAGGIO (Upper Right Corner)

A RENAISSANCE BENCH

From a MEDICI PALACE

FLORENCE

This bench is a Museum Piece, but it is not roped-off as one would think. You can actually sit in it, sipping your Cappuccino, people watching, as you admire a painting from The School of Caravaggio and other antiques and artwork. It's just magnificent, and only in New York, as they say, could you sit in a Renaissance Bench.

"And not only that. Look what;s Next !"

A CEILING FAN From CASABLANCA

The GREATEST MOVIE of ALL-TIME

Starring : HUMPHREY BOGART , INGRID BERGMAN

SIDNEY GREENSTREET, PETER LORRE

and CLAUDE RAINES

Interview with FABRIZIO CAVALACCI

Owner of Caffe Reggio Since 1972

His Family bought the Caffe in 1955

Fabrizio tells the hsitory of Caffe Reggio. He said that before Dominic Parisi opened the caffe, he had a Barber Shop in the space. A Haircut was 10 Cents and took about 20 minutes to do one. Fabrizio says that Domenico's customers demanded a cup of Espresso with their haircut. After a while Domenico figured he'd open a caffe, as he could serve many more customers and make better profit than doing haircuts which he could only do 2 or 3 in an hour. And so Caffe Reggio was born in 1927 on Macdougal Street in Greenwich Village, New York.

AL PACINO

At CAFFE REGGIO

Christopher Walken

NEXT STOP GREENWICH VILLAGE

In The Movie SERPICO

AL PACINO plays Frank Serpico

Frank Serpico (in the Movie) lives on 5-7 MINETTA STREET

around the block from Caffe Reggio. In the movie, Serpico is taking Spanish Class at New York University, and one of his classmates, a girl says that she works at CAFFE REGGIO ...

SUNDAY SAUCE

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT RECIPES

SPAGHETTI SAUCE alla PACINO

Greenwich Village New York Places

VESUVIO BAKERY

ITALIAN BREAD BAKERS

NEW YORK CITY

Get a FINE ART PRINT of VESUVIO

From - FineArtAmerica

The WHITE HORSE TAVERN

GREENWICH VILLAGE

GET a FINE ART PRINT of The WHITE HORSE

From - FineArtAmerica

CARBONE

GREENWICH VILLAGE

NEW YORK

FineArtAmerica

MINETTA TAVERN

MINETTA LANE

GREENWICH VILLAGE NY

FINE ART AMERICA

WHITE HORSE TAVERN

GREENWICH VILLAGE

by Ellen Bradshaw

SINATRA SAUCE

aka The SINATRA COOKBOOK

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

His FAVORITE ITALIAN RECIPES

AMAZON.com

The White Horse Tavern

The WHITE HORSE TAVERN

GREENWICH VILLAGE

GET a FINE ART PRINT of The WHITE HORSE

From - FineArtAmerica

WHITE HORSE TAVERN

GREENWICH VILLAGE

by Ellen Bradshaw

SINATRA SAUCE

aka The SINATRA COOKBOOK

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

His FAVORITE ITALIAN RECIPES

AMAZON.com

DYLAN THOMAS & The WHITE HORSE TAVERN

White Horse Tavern

Greenwich Village

We've lost far too many great old restaurants, bars, and hsitorical buildings over the years, thankfully a few have survived, like John's of East 12th Street, McSorley's Ale House, Th Old Town Bar, and the White Horse Tavern, which recently changed ownership and had New Yorker's worried we'd lose another great old joint. In the past few years, sadly we lost DeRobertis Italian Pastry Shop and Lanza's Restaurant two doors away from DeRobertis. This great old Sicilian-American food establishments were both more than 110 years old before shuttering their doors for the final time. It's an absolute "Sin" we lost these two great old Italian spots, that are irreplaceable.

Well back to the White Horse Tavern on Hudson Street in Greenwich Village. Yes we all had quite a scare when the White Horse closed a few months ago. Luckily, it was just temporary. The new owners have re-opened the place and promise to keep the charming old decor much the same, though the type of food and place the White Horse will be, is going to change. We here, the place is going to have a more upscale (expensive) menu, akin to places like Minetta Tavern and what Chumley's became, after the building collapsed, was re-built, then Chumley's was re-opened not as the modest (inexpensive) casual old bar of Greenwich Village that it was its whole life, it re-opened as another Minetta Tavern / Waverly Inn wannabe (expensive). Cocktails are $15, tax and tip, which comes to about $20 a drink. That's not cheap. Three drinks there will cost you about Sixty Dollars. Dylan Thomas would be appalled.

Now we have nothing against these higher-priced restaurants that take over great old Greenwich Village spots (or do we), we're just reporting, and stating facts. The facts are, that you can't get a cheaper dinner at these place, and so they are just about prohibitive to a certain portion of the population. No longer spots for starving artists, writers, or Beat Poets.

Now a little on the history of the beloved White Horse Tavern of Greenwich Village. The bar opened in 1880, at which time it was primarily a bar that longshoremen, sailors, and other blue-collar workers frequented. In the 1950s the White Horse Tavern (nicknamed "Horse") had become favored by writers, artists, and poets. One poet in particular who frequented the White Horse was the Welsh Poet Dylan Thomas, who after having 18 shots of Whiskey at "The Horse," collapsed outside in front of the White Horse, and was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital nearby, where he later died. Jack Kerouac, Anis Ninn, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, James Baldwin, and Mary Travers (of Peter Paul & Mary) also frequented the White Horse Tavern over the years.

Dylan Thomas

At the Bar

At The WHITE HORSE TAVERN

"The HORSE"

GREENWICH VILLAGE

NEW YORK

The WHITE HORSE TAVERN

NY NY

The White Horse Tavern

Circa 1920s

Dylan Thomas

Behind The Bar

At "The HORSE"

Greenwich Village

NEW YORK

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Cafe Fanelli New York City

CAFE FANELLI

PRINCE STREET

NEW YORK CITY

Painting by Ellen Bradshaw

EllenBradshaw.com

Fanelli Cafe is a historic New York City restaurant and bar considered the city's second-oldest food-and-drink establishment in the same locale, having operated under various owners at 94 Prince Street since 1847. It served as a gathering place for artists during the transition of Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood from a manufacturing area to an arts community.

Erected in 1847, the retail site at 94 Prince Street, in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City's Manhattan borough, operated as a grocery store from that year to 1863. It then became a saloon for two years before becoming again a grocery for a year, and reverting to a saloon in 1867. Various owners followed, with Harry Green operating it as the Prince Cafe from 1905 to 1922. That year, Michael Fanelli purchased the business and rechristened it Fanelli Cafe. In 1982, his family sold it to Hans Noe, who continued it under that business name. Years later, Noe in turn passed it on to his son, Sasha.

The establishment operated as a speakeasy during Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933.

It did not become a tavern until 1863, but through its grocery roots is considered New York City's second-oldest food-and-drink establishment in the same local predated only by the Bridge Cafe (1794). In that respect, according to historian Richard McDermot, the site's continuous operation since 1847 predates those of Pete's Tavern (1851) and McSorley's Old Ale House (1862).

The ARTISTS

Along with the restaurants Food, Cafe Rienzi, the O.G. Dining Room and the Spring Street Bar, Fanelli Cafe was among the gathering places for the artist community that settled in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood from the Beat Generation era to the 1980s, between the neighborhood's times as a manufacturing center and an upscale shopping district. "Whatever work went on in the local studios was fueled by conversations that took place, and partnerships that formed, around these communal tables during the day and in neighborhood kitchens, bars and bedrooms after dark."

Artist Chuck Close was a habitué, as were boxing champion Rocky Graziano and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Close biographer Christopher Finch wrote:

In the late 1960s, Fanelli's daytime patrons were a comfortable mix of artists and the local blue-collar workers who had sustained the place prior to the artists' arrival. ... Until the Spring Street Bar opened in the early seventies, Fanelli's was the only saloon in SoHo proper that stayed open past about 6 p.m., and in the early evening after the blue-collar crowd headed for home, the cafe turned into an artists' bar. Since it was almost next door to Paula Cooper's gallery, it was also a place to hang out before and after readings or performances, though this was subject to [owner] Mike's unpredictable whims regarding closing time.