Shawna Kent
2 King Street
mother/assistant manager at a book warehouse on Broadway
I miss West Broadway during the days it wasn't fancy. There was an old-school coffee shop on the corner of Prince and West Broadway. Like a small diner. It was wonderful. Later it became a t-shirt store. I miss the old "Whole Foods" that was I think, the first 'health food store' in New York. I miss FOOD, the restaurant where I once was in the cafeteria line with James Taylor and Kathryn Walker. I miss the original Dean & DeLucca's that was a huge loft-like space on Spring (or Prince?). with a coffee and pastry bar in the front, and a wide open space with cafe tables in the back. I miss the original Le Gamin on MacDougal Street, the French cafe that we watched from our living room windows as it was being created.
My then-husband got a job in Brooklyn. The apartment we had at 2 King Street was tied to his Manhattan job, so we had to leave.
When we lived on King Street we were lucky to have a group of families with young kids living in the building or within a couple of blocks. The parents used to hang out on the wide sidewalk there while the kids rode bikes and played games. It was a real community.
If I could affort to move back to King Street I would. It's a truly special neighborhood. But the memories of the past would perhaps overshadow any new life I could live there.