Urban Archeology: In Search of Schrafft’s
More than 100 years after Frank Shattuck opened the first Schrafft’s restaurant and candy store on the site where Macy’s now stands, the legendary restaurant chain has been effaced almost completely from the cityscape. No small feat, this wholesale erasure, when you stop to consider that at its peak, there were more than fifty Schrafft’s in New York City, offering three full-service meals a day, drinks, and desserts in well-appointed and obsessively clean dining rooms. Schrafft’s occupied a territory somewhere between a diner and moderately-priced American restaurant– there really is no modern equivalent.
Despite the fact that both HungryMan and I are both too young to remember visiting Schrafft’s, we have been thinking quite a lot about extinct eateries recently after reading Joan Kanel Slomanson’s When Everybody Ate at Schrafft’s: Memories, Pictures, and Recipes from a Very Special Restaurant. The book got us thinking about NYC dining history, about how food in the city has changed, and about the kinds of grooves we might have worn in the city’s sidewalks, had we been alive 75 years ago. Where, we started to wonder, would we have eaten, and even more interestingly, what?
None of this is to say that Slomanson’s book is a good read– it is not. Disjointed, rambling, and often embarrassingly poorly-written, When Everybody Ate at Schrafft’s is little more than a very sloppy corporate kiss with a few recipes thrown in for good measure. But even those disappoint: Slomanson includes a few treasures (Cheese Bread Made Two Ways, and the Hot Fudge Sauce), but she also apparently can’t be bothered to scale down some industrial recipes for home cooks– if you find yourself in need of five quarts of barbecue sauce though, this is the book for you. Both HungryMan and I found ourselves entranced by idea of Schrafft’s, but appalled by the book’s lazy writing and editing, not to mention Slomanson’s overly nostalgic bleating for ‘the good old days.’ So we took matters into our own hands and started a search party for a chain of restaurants that has been gone for more than 25 years.
Using the reproduced Schrafft’s Walk Guides that Slomanson includes on the front and back endpapers of the book, we set out to see if any remnants of former Schrafft’s restaurants in Midtown could still be found. The first two images in this post show the same site: 556 Fifth Avenue, just off the corner from 46th Street. What was once the Frank Shattuck Building is now the Philippine Consulate– with the resurfacing of the facade, there is now no trace at all of the old Schrafft’s that once stood there.
In many cases, buildings had been renumbered when old structures were demolished and new ones– wider or narrower than their predecessors– were erected. One example of this is particularly striking: A Schrafft’s once stood at 1237 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), but today there is no such address. The McGraw-Hill Building squats on that entire block, having engulfed all other street numbers in its enormity. And as with every other location we visited, not a single memento of Schrafft’s persists.
If you’re wondering what happened to Schrafft’s, there is a not-so-simple answer. In 1978, the entire company was bought out by the Riese Organization, the company that licenses T.G.I. Friday’s, Charley O’s, and Lindy’s franchises. In purchasing the real estate as well as the rights to the restaurant chain, Riese made a prescient move, because as you can see from the photos here, they acquired some of the most prime real estate in Gotham in the bargain. All of the Schrafft’s restaurants soon closed (including the ones in Boston, Connecticut, and Philadelphia), and the building space left behind was then either sold or repurposed, until Schrafft’s faded away as just a memory in the minds of Northeasterners of a certain age. Well, sort of… .
Very recently, the Schrafft’s brand has been reanimated like a pet schnauser in a Stephen King novel and put to work selling premium ice cream in the Northeast US. (The name was actually licensed once before in the late 1980’s, for the same purpose.) But even more surprising is that there is also now a Schrafft’s ice cream shop on The Strip in Las Vegas, where it sits alongside simulacra of the Great Pyramids, Venice, and the Eiffel Tower. It might not be your mother’s Schrafft’s, but we bet the ice cream is still better than what you’d get at the Philippine Consulate.
Update (26 July)– A reader named plainclothes left us a comment last week, telling us that he had spotted just a hint of an old Schrafft’s restaurant on Smith Street in Brooklyn. He and Antoinette Indge snapped a few photos of the building and its fading Schrafft’s logo, and they’ve been kind enough to let us put them on Flickr to share with everyone. Enjoy!
Well, I’m old enuf to remember Shraffts. I remember my grandmother forcing a chopped egg on toasted cheesbread sandwich on me—it was probably delicious, but I wouldn’t eat it. I think some Schraffts also had bars and served drinks—so secretaries could have the aforementioned sandwich with a few Grasshoppers. Now, does anyone remember Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room (which was near the late great Altmans)? THAT was some good eatin!
Comment by howboy — July 21, 2006 @ 9:02 am
This piece got me thinking that maybe the proliferation of shopping malls might also have killed Schrafft’s. I can say without even thinking too long that those and the riots did so to Sanders restaurants in Detroit. I understand that someone has opened a “Sanders” on the east side of Detroit, but it just isn’t the same. When I worked nearby for two summers during college, a friend and I would go to the local Sanders once a week for lunch. They always had a special that was less than $2 and we would usually get whatever that was and then splurge on a sundae. That particular one closed after the riots in 1967, as did most businesses on that section of Woodward Ave. By then, the downtown area was pretty weak. It wasn’t too long after that J.L. Hudson closed the store downtown and imploded the building. By the time the riots happened, they had moved out to Birmingham. Several of the killings in the riots took place from their old building where a sniper picked off people walking down the sidewalk. Am sure that building is long gone, too. It should have been gone when I worked there!
Comment by MooseMa — July 21, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
If you are willing to expand your search to Brooklyn, there is (or was, not to long ago)the clear remains of a Schrafft’s storefront sign (in iron?) near the Jay St. stop of the B61 bus (near the corner of Jay and Willoughby, sorry I cannot recall exactly, maybe near the Brooklyn Tabernacle?). I could try and photograph it for you on monday. I noticed it a few years ago because I believe a few of J.D. Salinger’s characters ate there.
Comment by plainclothes — July 21, 2006 @ 2:34 pm
Plainclothes, we’d love to see that. We stuck to Midtown, but there were Schrafft’s restaurants in all five boroughs. It would be great if there were just a ghost of a hint remaining still of the chain, something not next to a casino.
Comment by Nosher — July 21, 2006 @ 2:44 pm
I remember going to a Schrafft’s in Westchester when I was a kid. It’s really too bad that they are all gone. I often long for the simple but good WASP comfort foods of my youth.
Comment by RM — July 21, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
I remember eating at Schraffts with my grandmother. I believe there is an old Shraffts location — a white, freestanding building (now an antique shop) — on East 79th Street, just East of Lexington, on the north side of the street (153?). That Shraffts became a Chinese restaurant in the 70s, whose proud and hard working owner resisted alleged mafia pessure to use their table cloth service. He was shot one night after closing, and the restaurant set on fire. Anyway, so much of the Shraffts experience is connected to parts of our culture that are pretty much lost — like men and women of all classes dressing in a more formal, dignified way, children being expected to sit quietly in a restaurant. Not to mention the old expectation that you could reasonably leave your desk during lunch, and also live in Manhattan and be middle class. Anyone eating at a Shraffts of the past now would miss modern culinary developments like the abundance of fresh vegetables available year round. Many thanks to NYCNosh for your fun archeology section.
Comment by nyhistorybuff — July 21, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
While it still stands, you might try to see the building on the Southeast corner of 13th Street and Fifth Anenue. Once a Schrafft’s, then the Lone Star, and most recently a salad-bar-type deli, it had a fire late this past winter or early spring. Demolition doesn’t look imminent but somehow seems likely.
Comment by DavidMcD — July 21, 2006 @ 6:20 pm
The remains of a recognizable Schrafft’s were, until recently, still visible at 61 5th Avenue (corner of 13th Street). In the 70s-80s, the building became the famous Lone Star Cafe (with a giant iguana on the roof), but when that moved, the lovely building became home to one more greengrocer/deli in Manhattan.
I used to live around the corner from the place, but don’t get to that neighborhood much anymore. I was walking by there in April, turning the corner from 13th to 5th when I caught a nasty, smouldering smell in the the air and saw that the former Schrafft’s had been gutted by a fire. I had to stop and mourn a few minutes before continuing on my way.
No idea what’s happened there since . . .
Comment by Ian W. Hill — July 21, 2006 @ 6:33 pm
I remember Schraffts very well. My father was one of their house electricians. Poor guy, he carried a heavy toolbox on the subway going from restaurant to restaurant for years. My mother and I would meet him from time to time for an ice cream soda or something. It was a nice place for well-behaved children and the ladies who lunched…..and, yes, they did serve cocktails.The waitresses wore black dresses with white aprons. Didn’t Kirk Douglas work at a Schraffts counter once upon a time? For many years my parents had Schraffts china in their kitchen….indestructible stuff. I think I spotted some once at Fishs Eddy. They sold chocolates, too…..how I loved those flat little boxes of chocolate “cigarettes”.
Comment by Birdski — July 21, 2006 @ 10:17 pm
I wonder if there are scenes in a film where the characters are in a Schraffts?
Comment by Ron — July 22, 2006 @ 9:24 am
When I was little, my Grandmother would take me to Radio City to see the Christmas show, and we’d have lunch at Schrafft’s. I don’t remember the food at all, but I do remember going there.
I think there was one downtown on Broad Street, on the west side of the street right by the southern stairs to the J train.
Comment by LarryB — July 22, 2006 @ 7:29 pm
I used to dabble in magic and card tricks and and after my Mother took me to Tannens magic shop on 45th st, we ate at Schraffts downstairs. I totally remember it. I miss those days.
Theres remnants of one right off the train near Fulton St still..I gotta take a photo of it next time i’m there.
Comment by matt melnick — July 24, 2006 @ 11:42 am
When I was a kid from Rye, New York in the mid-70’s, my folks used to drive us up the Post Road for ice cream at the Schrafft’s in Port Chester, just up the hill from the old Capitol Theater.
I recall butterscotch/hot fudge sundaes, candy sticks in little glass jars and, perhaps, taffy?
Good times.
Comment by Matt — July 24, 2006 @ 12:22 pm
I remember Schraffts, my mom always used to take me there after we saw a matinee. I also remember Horn & Hardardt - where all the food was behind little glass doors and you had to put coins in a slot to get the door to open. They had great pie.
Comment by Sarah — July 24, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
Funny that the various comments mention both a Schraffts and Horn & Hardart. The picture that plaincloths posted is actually the Jay Street side of a Schraffts whose entrance was on Fulton St…diagonally across the street from an H&H Automat that was also on Fulton St.
My mother used to take me to this Schraffts in the early 60’s for an ice cream treat that she was sure I would love…a butterscotch sundae. She never could understand why I didn’t like it, since it was always her favorite Schraffts treat back when she was a kid in the 1920’s. Schraffts was definitely a big hit with old dowagers and the lace-curtain-Irish set.
Comment by Brooklyn 8 Phil — August 7, 2006 @ 12:27 pm
I am working on a project renovating the old Schraffts store on the corner of 13th and 5th Ave. Does anyone have interior shots of what these places used to look like?
Comment by bomzi — August 7, 2006 @ 4:14 pm
Bomzi, there are lots of photos of Schrafft’s interiors in the Slomanson book– I’d start there, if I were you. Sounds like a fantastic project; keep us updated.
Comment by Nosher — August 7, 2006 @ 4:27 pm
It’s tragic that this great restaurant chain has been erased from the Manhattan landscape. The sundaes, the chicken a la king, the perfect food and most of all the candy are sorely missed. I wholeheartedly agree that Ms. Slomanson’s book is inadequate at best–poorly written and I know that her book is misleading and littered with blatantly false information. She disregards the fact that Schrafft’s candy was the backbone of every one of the restaurants throughout the Northeast–if anyone wants to revisit what Schrafft’s was, travel to Boston and see the historical landmark Schrafft’s candy factory.
Comment by Catherine — August 18, 2006 @ 12:26 am
Bomzi, I may be of help to you. What’s your project entail?
Comment by Catherine — August 18, 2006 @ 12:29 am
Very good reading. Peace until next time.
WaltDe
Comment by WaltDe — September 1, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
ABOUT 1946 I SAW MILTON BERLE AT THE CAPITOL THEATER. IN HIS ACT, HE MENTIONED THAT HE JUST HAD LUNCH AT SHRAFFTS. “YOU KNOW. sCHRAFFTS. THAT’S THE PLACE WITH THE SOCIAL SECURITY WAITRESSES.” WHEREUPON, BERLE DID A STAGGER OF AN OLD LADY HOLDING AN IMAGINARY TRAY WHILE PUSHING AN IMAGINARY WALKER. HE GOT SCREAMS WITH THAT! (THEN) TODAY, I DON’T FIND THAT FUNNY. TODAY, I’M THE GUY WITH THE WALKER. AND IT AIN’T IMAGINARY!
Comment by GENE ALLEN — September 26, 2006 @ 3:23 pm
As a wee girl my dear Aunts would take me shopping and always lunch at Schraffts. The lovely waitresses in their black dresses and white aprons were always Irish. I loved to hear them speak.
Comment by Bunny Kendrick — September 29, 2006 @ 10:57 am
My Grandfather, Gabriele Antico, was the manager of the entire candy floor when I was a child.
In the 1940’s Mom used to take my sister and me to have lunch in the VIP dinning room at the factory. Then we would tour the candy floor and watch all the ladies at work. I especially remember the “dippers”.
When my grandfather came here from Italy in 1905, he started at Schrafft’s as a “Chocolate Boy” carrying pails of chocolate. His name is on a plaque in the factory building.
Comment by Antoinette Thompson — October 10, 2006 @ 3:33 pm
My senior year at Emerson College (’91), Boston, I did an extensive audio documentary project about the history of the Schrafft’s candy factory, in Charlestown MA (literally a stone’s throw from Boston. One of the people I interviewed was the great-great (if I remember correctly) grandson of W.F. Schrafft. He had some wonderfully intersting anecdotes to share.
What prompted that was, when I was a child, my parents and I would drive by the factory on the way to my father’s women’s coat store in what was the garment district of Boston, up untill the late 1980s.
Living in the college dorm, I realized I was a subway ride away from finally seeing the building up close. It was (is) gorgeous, and I loved the Art Deco style anyway. Anyway, the factory (which closed in 1984) had been converted into an R & D property w/ multiple companies renting space. I managed to convince a plant manager to let me up on the roof of the clock tower, on a brisk, windy December day. What a view of the city!
I was very lucky to get inside access & interview the people I did. They ranged from someone who actually worked on the line, another with fond childhood memories of the restaurants in New York (”They were forever chipping things onto toast.”), to a disgruntled former manager (then working at Necco, at the time of the interview!), and then of course, the relative of W.F.
After I graduated, I got to play the documentary on the air, at a little local AM station I was working at.
Comment by Schrafftologist — October 19, 2006 @ 7:35 pm
My father and two of his brothers used to work for Schrafft’s at a distribution/warehouse center somewhere downtown (I think)before it closed and moved to the South Bronx. During the holidays, my Dad brought home mince, apple and pumpkin pies. Their fruit cake - unlike the flavorless bricks they sell these days - was to die for. We grew up sampling every ice cream flavor they had to offer. I used to literally cry when my Dad gave away pumpkin pies. When they finally went out of business, I was forced to learn to make my own pumpkin pies which has become an annual tradition in our home.
I remember seeing an old menu with ridiculously low prices on it. Sadly, Schrafft’s like a lot of other smaller chain resturants could not withstand the McDonalds juggernaut.
Comment by Joe D — November 19, 2006 @ 5:29 pm
Shortly after arriving in the United States from Argentina, I went to work for a fashion store called Famous Fashions Shop on 23rd Street, New York. My english was not very good yet but I struggled through!
The funny part is that my future husband’s first job when he was sixteen years old, several years earlier, was at a restaurant across the street named Schraffts. I used to buy breakfast and lunch at Schraffts, small world! Of course we did not know each other then. We met in 1968 and were married the following year. We will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary in February, 2007.
Comment by Norma Mulvey — November 28, 2006 @ 2:39 pm
I write a weekly q&a antiques and collectibles column for a daily paper and am presently researching an inquiry about a demitasse or cocoa spoon made by Oneida, pattern name is “Shraffts” (no c). Made in 1922, the spoon was also issued with a fancy bowl inscribed, “Souvenir of Coney Island.” Since it is not uncommon to see pattern names incorrectly spelled when recorded, it has been suggested to me that the spoons may have been part of Oneida’s restaurant/hotel line of silverware and made for Schraffts. I would like to know if anyone knows if there was a Schrafft’s restaurant at Coney Island or if anyone remembers the spoons and I would be very appreciative of any information that can be provided here or at alycehand@aol.com. Many thanks. Alyce
Comment by Alyce Benham — December 1, 2006 @ 2:23 pm
was there a Schraffts in Coney Island?
Comment by Bonnie — December 2, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
As a child I lived in New York on 57th Street. We would go to Schraftts all the time and I remember it well. Their fudge was the best I have ever had. In fact, while I was looking for a recipe for it I found this site. I remember they also had these wax figures with chocolate inside. You would scrape the chocolate out to eat. They also had the greatest chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting and chocolate drizzled down the sides. Boy, that was a wonderful place! Thanks for the memories.
Comment by Elizabeth Greenwood — February 4, 2007 @ 1:09 am
my folks have been married for over 50 yrs and every yr my dadgave my mom a box of candy for Val. day and one box happens to be a Schraffts heart shaped box. we are putting all 50 box on up on panels and takeing pics of them.
Comment by lance bult — February 9, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
Growing up in San Francisco, the only thing I knew about Schrafft’s was that, after a fight between Ricky and Fred, Lucy and Ethel agreed that they could always “meet secretly for lunch at Schrafft’s”. So when I came to New York for the first time in October 1980 and saw my first Schrafft’s on Fifth Avenue at 38th Street, across from Lord & Taylor, despite my limited budget (I was staying at the Y for $13 a day), I went in for lunch (chicken sandwich) and a hot fudge sundae. When I came back to NY in 1982, Schrafft’s was gone. And gone too is the soup bar on Lord & Taylor’s 10th floor, and the Charleston Garden at Altman’s.
Comment by Paul — April 17, 2007 @ 11:55 am
I remember Schrafft’s well. They were scattered around NYC. When I was a boy, my Mom would take me for lunch and I would always order a hamburger and french fries. One memory sticks out. There would never be a ketchup bottle on the table! The waitress ( Irish, dressed in starched black and white uniform) would bring a white paper shaped like a Mr. Coffee filter but the size (small) of a Reeses peanut butter cup with ketchup in it and a flat wooden spoon like you would get with an ice cream cup. The payoff was that they had a terrific ice cream sundae for dessert! It was better table service than Howard Johnsons!
Comment by David — May 7, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
I am the great granddaughter of Frank G. Shattuck, and your website has been a real treat for me. I have enjoyed reading all of the wonderful memories that people have posted of the candy, the restaurants, the waitresses, the good food, and especially how Schraffts played an important part in their celebrations and good times when they were growing up. Very special. Thank you!
Comment by Lynn — May 9, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
Hi Lynn,
Thank you so much for your very kind words. We’re glad you enjoyed the piece–we loved writing it and seeing the phenomenal public response!
Nosher
Comment by Nosher — May 9, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
I have been searching for traces of Schrafft”s Candy Co from Charlestown MA. We have about 35 members of our family that had worked there from the 1920’s through 1982. I’m looking for any evidence that they worked there (other than a few obituaries!). Any holiday partypictures or anecdotes or people that would be open to checking their family history for some of my family members.
We had many members of the family who used to travel to NYC to see a show and of course, eat at Schrafft’s. Seeing some of the old pictures was great.
Dean D
Comment by Dean — July 16, 2007 @ 10:23 pm
I earned my way through both college and law school working at Schrafft’s. Indeed I met my wonderful wife in Schrafft’s at 2519 Broadway, at the southwest corner of West 94th Street, now the site of a greeting card and gift shop called Urban Cottage. I worked in very many of their restaurants at the soda fountain.
Their food was always well prepared and their own brands, especially their ice cream, were superb.
Comment by Michael Greene — September 11, 2007 @ 2:55 pm
The Fifth Ave. and 13th Street building mentioned in some comments may have been one of the last holdouts. I remember it was still functioning in the early 70s. (When I noticed the building again in the 80s, it was a Tex-Mex bar and nightclub called Lone Star.) The Schrafft’s location I knew best, on the north side of 51st St between Sixth Ave and Rockefeller Plaza, has passed through many coffee-shop incarnations, but still has the same shape and approximate layout it had in the 1960s.
Comment by Sallie Parker — October 10, 2007 @ 9:59 am
I am writing regarding Ms. Lynn’s comment. I am in search of any historical facts on the Shattuck estate in Oyster Bay.I am fascinated by Long Island history and have found nothing on this remarkable piece of property. I was able to backtrack to the orgins of the restaurant but that is it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.It saddens me to know that we as “Long Islanders” are not aware or concerned of our amazing history. Thank you in advance for any help you can supply and also thank you for a interesting article on a long lost gem!
Comment by Kim — November 7, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
No one has mentioned one of the biggest Schrafft’s of all–the one in Scarsdale/Eastchester in Westchester County. I worked there through high school (First I was a relish/bun girl who offered you carrots, celery, and black and green olives from my big brass bowl of crushed ice, accompanied with cottage cheese or corn relish or piccalily or mustard pickles when you sat down. I also offered you warm walnut or corn muffins (the types changed daily) as soon as your entree was served. When I was 18, I became a waitress till I graduated college. Our uniforms were gold with white collars and cuffs and then later black with white. The food was prepared with care and cleanliness was utmost; service was an art, and the customer was ALWAYS right. We’d get you anything you wanted. I have looked all over for recipes for Schrafft’s Chocolate Souffle or rissole potatoes; anyone out there know how Molly, the cook, made the potatoes? I have fond memories of the entire experience. (I also went to HS with the Shattucks, but they did not work there.)
Comment by Jane — November 24, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
The Schrafft’s on 13th and Fifth became a Brew Burger in the early 70’s, prior to it’s incarnation as the Lone Star, in the mid-70’s.
My Schrafft’s was located on the NE corner of 57th and 3rd Avenue. The building is still there. The restaurant was the entire ground floor.
Remember the green tea-pots with (2) cups of tea in them? And the Manhattans at the bar. Schrafft’s was one of the few places a single woman could enjoy a cocktail in the city back then.
Comment by Mark — December 6, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
Thanks for an enjoyable read! I am an amateur genealogist and have discovered that George Schrafft’s wife Elizabeth Lambert (who later married singer Gordon MacRae) is a distant relative. Nosher, I would appreciate it if you would connect me with any of the other post-ers here (such as Lynn, Frank Shattuck’s great grand-daughter) who might have any personal information about George and Elizabeth.
Comment by Herschel53 — December 21, 2007 @ 10:32 am
I was hoping that you might be able to shed some light regarding Schrafft’s. My Grandmother was the very first Schrafft’s Ice Cream Pagent Queen…somewhere between 1920 and 1928 the first pagent was held (I believe it was held for only the empolyees)… My Grandmother has since passed away and were trying to create a Family Biograpghy. We have photos of her as the Queen but unfortunately with her passing, the memory and the story was lost with it.
If you could somehow lead me in the right direction of were I can find information on this I would greatly appreciate it.
Comment by Michael Gonzalez — January 3, 2008 @ 11:02 am
My mother worked for Schrafft’s for over 40 years. When I was young she was the lunch manager of the store on Maiden Lane, opposite the US Treasury building in lower Manhattan. That is now 1 Federal Plaza, I believe - anyway, the older buildings are complettely gone. Late she was at 58th and Madison, then ended her career in the main offices on 34th St. I don’t know about the corporate takeover history, but eventually she received pension checks from Pet, Inc. Alan Alda used to come into one store where she worked - I belive his aunt worked there. I remember many nights waiting downstairs in Maiden Lane for her to finish her work so my father could drive her home to Queens - that was a great store with a wonderful soda fountain and a candy counter and a baked goods display on the way to the back and the stairs to her desk.
Comment by Michael Moran — January 9, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
While browsing through the “forgotten things” I recall a Schaffts on Fordham Rd near the interection of the Grand Concourse I used to have lunch there a few days of thewek cica 1972
Comment by Rock Tripodi — January 24, 2008 @ 9:11 am
what about the Schrafft building in Boston? was it part of the restaraunt chain? the sign is still there. I’am a Schrafft from Boston & wonder how the name came to be schrafft from shattucks? Does the book explain the history of the restaraunts and the name?
Comment by sheila schrafft — February 12, 2008 @ 5:58 pm
Does anybody remember Schrafft’s hotels? I was raised in Niagara Falls, New York and remember that the closest hotel to the bridge to Canada was Schrafft’s. It still operates as a Days Inn. It was built in the late-50s, early-60s. I’ve seen no mention of a hotel as part of Schrafft’s so I thought I’d mention it.
Comment by Paul Mezhir — February 28, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
My great-grandmother worked at a Schraffts. Were there any located way uptown, like near 189th Street? I’m doing a lot of genealogical work, so any information would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
Comment by Rob — March 5, 2008 @ 6:49 pm
The nearest store to 189th Street was on East Fordham Road in the Bronx. Less than a block from the intersection of East 188th Street and East Fordham Road. I worked there for a while on the soda fountain while attending law school in the late 1950’s.
My mother worked at the Maiden Lane store mentioned by Michael Moran.
There was a Schrafft’s hotel in the Rochester, NY area. It was actually in the Town of Greece, on Ridge Road. After Schrafft’s closed it, it became a Holiday Inn. It was totally destroyed by a fire around 1970.
Schrafft’s also operated a hotel in Durham, NC.
Comment by Michael Greene — March 7, 2008 @ 12:01 pm