Greenwich Village Gazette

Coffee was 10 cents
with free refills

VILLAGE DRUGSTORE
Sheridan Square South

Where all the Greats and Not so Greats Met
by Richard Schiff
 

It was a quiet but large store. A pharmacy, with a food counter. Quite common years ago. But that food counter was different. It was in the heart of Greenwich Village, and so, unlike any other in the world.

I had my first giant hamburger patty on a too small bun in late winter of '65. I had just rented a small studio on Morton Street, from old Mr. Levine, who owned Levine Paints a few blocks north. It was on the second floor. My toilet was down the hall, shared with a neighbor or two, but my shower was my very own.

It was down in the cellar, two floors below, in the boiler room. The kind of concrete floor shower you find in summer campgrounds. But back to the Village Drug Store.

The very first celebrity I encountered was James Coco. He lived in the large postwar brick apartment building on the west side of Bleecker just down the block.

That wintry night he came rushing in, as often, in his pajamas, robe and slippers. And what a sight he was, huge and Balzac-like, with just a touch of Zero Mostel. I would share lunch with many well known writers and artists, I just a pip squeak at the time.

This was the meeting place of artists and workmen from the surrounding community. Here a handy man could chat about politics with the likes of Edward Albee (below right).

And the elder statesmen of coffee clotching, Benny and JB, kept the Java flowing. Oh, coffee was cheap back then, a dime a cup with constant free refills, till you twitched yourself into a back- to- work frenzy. Benny was a master conversationalist, and JB would wise crack at Benny's loud jokes. But we all had a great time.

The place was owned by two brothers from Long Island, they were the registered pharmacists who paid the rent. I was a daily regular. Until, in 1971, one of the brothers dropped dead in his car en route to open one morning. The other brother was devastated and it wasn't long after the Village Drug Store closed it's doors for good. The art crowd, and the Village workers were lost. Where was Benny? Where was JB?

A few months later the Sandolinos opened a place on Cornelia Street. A fancy restaurant. Really fine Italian food. But they were overloaded every morning with the lost souls of the Drug Store Counter. They gave up the fancy food and became a hash house, and hired benny to run the kitchen. We still saw Benny, but he was behind a wall now, with only a serving window through which he'd wave hello, while frying burgers . But the Village Crowd had found it's coffee, even if the refills were no longer free.

Eventually, Benny suffered a heart attack, and was forced to retire. I don't know whatever happened to Benny, or JB. But I will never forget the hours of warmth we all passed thanks to their service.

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