So I am decidedly decided against fighting the fact that retro is in fact, in, and furthermore, am starting to recognize its coolness, which means that I’ve finally become as culturally savvy as the characters on sit-coms for children. That’s all right with me. There are some excellent dressers on some of these shows, and I would give a month’s salary for some hints on accessorizing, and maybe a short shopping trip with their wardrobe team. It does bother me, however, when I see that the kids on the shows seem to know more about Manhattan than I do, even though I was born here, and even though I’m not a cartoon character come to life. But we all seem to agree that retro is in.
This suggests to me that we’re coming to see that some of the best things in life have not changed all that much. The idea of visiting New York, and staying in a hotel near Central Park, is still an iconic notion that always turns out to be a great idea when it’s realized. There’s something about it that goes back a few decades, and has the same shine on it now as it did back then. There’s a lot about New York then that’s appealing to us now. It might have something to do with the idea of recycling, where ideas and institutions get thrown into the mix, and it might have something to do with how we’re all starting to save things again, and reuse, and that builds a kind of instant nostalgia for the things that vanished. Chock Full O’Nuts is a great example of this.
Most people know it as a kind of coffee. New Yorkers over 30 recognize it as an important institution, as the homey diners of the same name, that served the coffee, along with a lot of other things. Their sandwiches were supposedly untouched by human hands, prepared with tongs. Their nutted cheese sandwiches made every kid feel the first pangs of pleasure from comfort food. Thankfully, this institution is going the way of all retro things, by coming back from vanishing away. They’re opening Chock Full O’Nuts eateries all over New York, and in New Jersey, to remind the next generation of the things that made their parents happy, so we can pass it on to our kids, who have so much to teach us about retro.