Comments on: Bickford’s: Inwood Memories Wanted

By: James Renner

James Renner — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:50:31 +0000

I just emailed this to Jeffrey Bickford who had contacted me about the Bickford’s restaurant on 181st Street and Broadway.

By: John Kourabas

John Kourabas — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:34:39 +0000

So many memories of Bickford’s on Friday and Saturday at about 3 or 4 am but the best story ever was the time a few of us were eating breakfast when a guy stumbled in went to the counter and ordered eggs, pancakes, bacon and sausage his tray was full. He then proceeded to a table but they hadn’t cleaned it so he placed his tray down on one of the chairs and proceeded to remove the dirty dishes and glasses from the table. At first he had forgotten where his table was but we kind of pointed to it and refreshed his memory. He proceeded to the table and without hesitation sat down right on top of his tray and was looking for his food. He had no clue that it was beneath him ,THAT IS HOW DRUNK HE WAS. I remember laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face. I miss those nights.

By: Steve Harris

Steve Harris — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:26:50 +0000

We went there almost every night after the bowling alley closed. English muffins and coffee.
The waitress behind the counter was called Rita. She was a small middle aged woman in a mustard yellow uniform. After we would ask for the English Muffin, she’d always say “jelly or marmalade”?. Somehow we thought that was funny and would impersonate her for years afterward. This was in the late 50′s thru the late 60′s.

The bars closed at 2 AM during the week and 3 Am on Saturday. We’d look at our watches and if it was closing time we say let’s go watch the main event. That meant Bickfords to watch the action. Tables, chairs, glasses, flying. The cops didn’t even come in.

Amazing that you tweaked my memory of those days.

By: Don

Don — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:13:19 +0000

We often went to Bickfords for breakfast after a night out in the bars in the middle to late sixties.

By: Rob Menken

Rob Menken — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:49:00 +0000

As a kid in the 50s, Bickfords was where we would go if we didn’t have the money for a drink of water (usually soda was 7 cents for a small cup). There was a dual water fountain with glasses in a rack above and nobody would give us anything but smiles despite coming in for free. In the early 60s the glasses were replaced by paper cones when one of the local gangs spoiled the process by coming in and knocking most of the glasses to the floor.