Tony the Tour Guy's Mostly 1970s NYC History Blog

Welcome to Tony the Tour Guy's blog! Here we feature Tony's rants about various topics in New York City history, with particular emphasis upon that typically unappreciated decade, the Seventies. For our purposes, the era began roughly at the time when Jimi Hendrix died (9/18/70) and ended with the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the freedom of the Iran hostages (1/20/81). We cover everything from Pet Rocks to the Moonies to Checker Taxicabs here, and welcome your participation.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Who Needed Starbucks? The Great Chock Full o' Nuts

Before a $4.00 cup of coffee was a status symbol there was Chock Full o' Nuts.

Chock ran a series of coffee shops throughout the city well into the 1980s. Like fast food restaurants, all had the same decor and products. You could sit at the U-shaped counter, or get your coffee to go in one of two sized containers. This wasn't the gourmet stuff that they sold in Zabar's or the Leaf and Bean, but it was damn good- definitely a step up from diner or deli Java. It also packed a pretty solid kick. The food menu was limited, but many of us recall fondly the cream cheese and nut sandwich, served on delicious dark bread. There were also those fantastic small, crusty donuts.

Everyody ate at the Chock. There were no coffee shops at the time catering to yuppies, or kids, or the self-employed needing access to Wi-Fi, so we all had our caffeine together.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home