Beloved 90-year-old candy shop owner attacked; a classic Nabisco cookie factory crumbles; iconic diners for sale (and one renovated) | Rolando's Roadside Roundup

Plus, dozens of additional stories making headlines on the American roadside

Feb 05, 2023

Ray’s Candy Store with its previous sign (Photo: Rolando Pujol/2018)

Ray Alvarez recently turned 90, and his birthday was a cause for celebration here in New York’s East Village. So beloved is his Ray’s Candy Store, where he’s worked for more than half his life, that the shop recently received a life-sustaining infusion of GoFundMe cash.

People love Ray’s and a big reason for that — beyond the homey atmosphere and the throwback menu items like egg creams — is Ray Alvarez himself.

Though he has entered his ninth decade, Ray is very much the face of Ray’s, and not simply on the storefront. He doesn’t just check in on his shop from time to time. He works there, and at all hours. Like 3 a.m. Thursday, when he was savagely beaten outside his shop by a man who was trying to sell Ray some seltzer water, according to authorities. Another employee was also injured in the attack by a second man. EV Grieve has been leading coverage on this and has more details.

“One of them hit [my employee] in the chest and the other guy said, ‘Hold this, I want to kill this bastard,’” Alvarez told the Daily News. “He took something that looked like a belt with a stone on it and he swung and hit me in the head. I fell down on the floor outside — I was bleeding and bleeding.”

Though he had been knocked out moments earlier, Ray, with a black eye and gash on his forehead — simply went back to work behind the counter. He had to be coaxed to go to the hospital, where the severity of his injuries — broken facial bones, a dislocated jaw — was discovered.

The NYPD’s Ninth Precinct reported Saturday morning that the man suspected of attacking Ray has been arrested.

This is just such an awful story. I wish Ray the fastest of recoveries, and encourage all of you to support his shop.

Sign Highlight: The Three Decker in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

The Three Decker looked awfully appealing as I ran past while running the New York City Marathon back in November 2019. Manhattan refers not to the borough but the name of the avenue on which the diner sits here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

Change is inevitable, and often not very good when it arrives at stalwarts like the Three Decker Diner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. But in its latest iteration, this classic diner will be a lot like its previous.

The new owners say they know the charm here comes from the diner aesthetic, and they have no plans to mess with a good thing. The place has been renovated and upgrades to the menu are under way (including cocktails) but those walking in will very much still feel at home.

“We’ve been slow to make changes, because, despite our backgrounds in restaurants, diners are a whole other beast. From the start, our main goals were to make sure we kept the entire staff and regulars alike,” co-owner Gavin Compton told Eater.

Compton told Greenpointers: “Our biggest goal is to keep it Three Decker Diner. We don’t want to change everything.”

This is one of my favorite storefronts in New York City, and I’m glad it’s under the care of proprietors who get it.

Sign Highlight: Henry’s Diner is for sale in Burlington, Vermont

The neon sign for Henry’s Diner in August 2022 (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

I finally visited Burlington, Vermont, this past summer, and Henry’s Diner was at the top of the list. The harsh midday sun — and the fact that it was closed that day — was not ideal, but at least I got some photos.

Nothing like harsh midday August sun to complicate a photo! (Rolando Pujol)

Henry’s is now for sale, and the idea of dropping everything, moving to Vermont and running a diner is sort of appealing to me. If it is to you, too, or if you’re just curious, here is the real-estate listing. The price of $275,000 is certainly compelling, though that’s just for the business, not for the building itself, apparently.

There’s been a diner here since 1925, and the lucky new owner would have the privilege of running what’s described as Burlington’s longest continuously running restaurant.

The current owners, Bill and Naomi Maglaris, at one point ran several diners in the area, but Henry’s is the last one the retirement-minded couple is unloading. The real estate broker who spoke to Seven Days said the couple was saving “the cherry for last,” referring to Henry’s.

The ever-so-photogenic Parkway, below, was one of their diners. I had the pleasure of visiting this summer, as well.

The Maglaris family once owned the Parkway Diner in South Burlington. (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

More diner news down in the Notes From the Road section.

Demolishing is such sweet sorrow — goodbye, Nabisco building

The Nabisco Tower as it looked in July 2021 (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

The site of the 1958 Nabisco complex, with its stylish office tower, was a feast for the senses.

The eyes got to bask in midcentury office-park modernism, complete with a nice, leafy campus. The vintage Nabisco logo was always a treat, too. But the nose, ah the nose — the nose got to enjoy the smell of baking cookies, the same cookies that would soon be on supermarket shelves.

Parent company Mondelēz International Inc., shut down the operation in 2021, and demolition began on the complex last month. The almost 40-acre site sold for an extraordinary $146.5 million to Greek Development of East Brunswick, which, reports NorthJersey.com, “builds cold-storage warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities.”

The Nabisco logo was a skyline mainstay here in suburban Fair Lawn. (Photo: Rolando Pujol/2021)

Here’s my tribute to the Nabisco building, which I shared with you first in 2021 on my Instagram page:

If you’ve ever fiddled with the middle of an Oreo cookie, or nibbled on a Ritz cracker, you’ve enjoyed baked goods that probably came from the oven that is as long as a football field at the Nabisco Factory on Route 208 in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
One of the joys of driving past here, or living in nearby neighborhoods, was inhaling the snacks as they came to life well before they hit supermarket shelves. Nabisco moved here in 1958, and the tower and campus were a relic of the midcentury America I love exploring.
Nabisco embraced the suburban corporate look after leaving its historic urban warehouse in Manhattan that is today known as Chelsea Market.
That warehouse, once blighted before a retail and corporate revival in the 1990s, recently sold to Google’s parent company Alphabet for over $2 billion.
When you walk its halls, you can still savor traces of Nabisco -- displays of ephemera, ghost signs, plaques -- paying tribute to the people who brought the National Biscuit Company to life starting in 1898.
Nabisco history on display at Chelsea Market (Photo: Rolando Pujol)
When the Fair Lawn factory in New Jersey closed last month, the future of that site, and whether there would be any tributes left behind to honor the baking legacy there, was far from clear. Parting was far from sweet here -- bitter is the right word.
Over 600 people were out of good-paying jobs. Another Nabisco factory, in Atlanta, closed around the same time, with parent company Mondelēz International arguing these operations were hopelessly outdated and investment would have been prohibitive.
Local politicians and workers sought to understand the decision, unsatisfied with the corporate talking points. Far be it from me to shed any light. I can only share in everyone’s disappointment. America’s supply of Oreos, of course, will not be interrupted -- factories in Richmond, Virginia, Chicago and Portland carry on.
In a bittersweet twist, the world’s first Oreo Cookie cafe opened last week at the American Dream mall at the Meadowlands, just 14 miles from the now padlocked Nabisco tower. Too bad the cafe’s cookies won’t be coming from New Jersey.
I hope these pictures, taken at the golden hour, the sign still lit, about a week after the factory closed for good, serve as a simple tribute to the men and women who worked here, and brought a lot of smiles to faces young and old for generations.
Thanks for the sweet and savory memories.

Notes From the Road

cheapoldhouses

A post shared by Cheap Old Houses ™ (@cheapoldhouses)

Almost a dozen people reached out to me about this former hamburger “castle” that’s free for the taking in Kansas. In case you missed it, the viral post from Cheap Old Houses is above. As I told folks, I’d snap that up in a heartbeat and turn it into a home office — if I had unlimited funds and a vast backyard, and I possess neither! [KWCH]
The father of that sweet if polarizing Easter treat, the Peep, has died. Bob Born was 98. He gets less credit for coming up with the recipe for Hot Tamales candy! [NPR]
Macon Hardware in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a longtime Black-owned shop in Brooklyn, is closing after its matriarch’s death. [Brooklyn Paper]
The Shipwreck Diner, decked out for the holidays in 2021. (Photo: Rolando Pujol)
The Shipwreck Diner in Northport, Long Island, is now sailing under new hands, but expect things to be steady as she goes. [Patch.com]

The wonderful Northport Sweet Shop, across the street from the Shipwreck. (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

Right across the street in this charming village is the Northport Sweet Shop, which I profiled last year for ABC’s Localish and Channel 7. [ABC7NY]

The Northport Delicatessen adds to the vintage charm here on Main Street. (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

And right next door to the sweet shop is the Northport Delicatessen and its lovely neon sign, above.

So when are you going to Northport? :)

Phil @CincinnatiPhil

Checked out the 'Wise Guys' film set that's going up on 8th Street downtown (Cincinnati). The film stars Robert DeNiro. 🎥🎬 (thread, 1 of 6)

A stretch of Downtown Cincinnati has been transformed to look like 1950s New York City for a Robert De Niro film, “The Wise Guys,” now in production. [Cincinnati.com]
My friend Jared Presley on Instagram has also been documenting these storefronts from the shoot. They are so nice I’m tempted to fly out for a look.

jaredpresley5

A post shared by Jared Presley (@jaredpresley5)