Broadway Danny Rose

Woody Allen's 1984 movie Broadway Danny Rose is a great film for looking at a vanished New York, the world of old vaudeville acts and second-story talent agents, a Times Square filled with starry-eyed ventriloquists, tap dancers, and players of the glass harp.

There's also a scene at the end where Woody Allen goes running up 7th Avenue, from 54th to 55th, chasing after Mia Farrow. We see the whole block, from Oyster Bar to Carnegie Deli.


all b&w pics from Broadway Danny Rose


all color pics from Google Streetview

I thought it might be fun to take a look at it, frame by frame, alongside today's images from Google Streetview.

The Oyster Bar still stands and it has expanded into what was once a record shop. While many of the shops have changed, they all still have a funky, beaten-down look about them. A very unusual case. The landlords here must be old-timers who haven't given in to greed.





Wilson's Cleaners and Ballantine Hairstylists became a Gift Shop and Electronics store. An empty storefront papered with flyers and a FOR SALE sign is today a David Z shoe store.



The Smiler's is still a Smiler's, though it has lost its neon signs, shining clock, and smiler in chef's hat for a duller version.





The Continental Coffee House is now the China Regency--scratch that, with a FOR RENT sign in the window, it may be something else by now.





And the Carnegie Deli, of course, is still the Carnegie Deli. (The place on the very end doesn't look much different, either.) After the filming of this movie, the deli named a big, fat pastrami and corned beef sandwich the "Woody Allen."





As a bonus, traveling a few blocks south at Broadway and 49th, we find a vanished Howard Johnson's resplendent in neon signage--and surrounded by people not on cell phones. (Take another look in color.)

In its place today is Ruby Foo's.