SBARRO
Sbarro is an airport food-hall staple and it seems like there’s one around every touristy corner. (That’s not entirely your imagination: there are 600 locations in 28 countries.) The brand can be traced back to Besonhurst, Brooklyn, where Italian immigrants Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro started up an Italian grocery story in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The family held on until 2007, when the chain flipped to private equity investors.
TGI FRIDAY’S
Today TGI Friday’s can be found in 55 countries, with over 600 locations. But location #1 was right here in Manhattan. The address is 1152 First Avenue to be precise, and remnants of that first version can be seen in the current tenant at the space, the bar Baker Street Irregulars. TGI Friday’s started off on March 15, 1965, when Alan Stillman launched the concept in his search for a bar where singles could mingle — a space between male-oriented beer joints and private cocktail parties. He helped launch the singles-bar genre, before selling his stake in the company and moving on to steak (he co-founded the Smith & Wollensky chain).
The Escalator
NYC had the world’s first elevator, and the first escalators as well. Several inventors came up with the concept but didn’t actually produce one. That honor goes to Jesse W. Reno, who put the world’s first escalator into place alongside the Old Iron Pier on Coney Island in 1896. The second installation was also in New York, on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, given a trial run a few months later. Today, it’s estimated 3.5 billion people use an escalator every single day.
Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York
Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann