Once upon a time, (nearly) everyone smoked.
And once upon a time, (nearly) every restaurant and business promoted itself by handing out personalized matches.
Check out Chip Stephens’ vintage collection:
Some of these — Westport Bank & Trust, Three Bears, Manero’s, Sakura (!) — are long-time local institutions.
Some — Beefsteak Charley’s, Tanglewoods, Leong’s Palace, Premier Market — are great mind-joggers.
But Boss Tweed’s?! That must have been here for a New York minute.
I have a 10″ bowl of different match book covers here at The Skillful Shopper — come check them out. I love them. My Nana Rita had a large vase filled with all the places should would dine. These remind me of her and her independent spirit. 🙂
*She would dine.
I am continually amazed that many restaurants continue to hand out boxes of matches — even though they are “no smoking” establishments, and, of course, few of their customers smoke. But everybody has to light candles now and again, I guess.
At least there are no doctor’s offices!
Boss Tweed had a home on an island in Greenwich harbor. The home is gone but the island is still named Tweed island on nautical charts.
Charlie & I never smoked but we did collect both swizzle sticks and match covers. I’ll have to check our collection and see what we have. Really this is a trip down memory lane.
We used to go to Connolly’s a fair bit, right up until they closed, they had a great salad bar. I also remember going to Beansprout, which I think was where Panda Pavillion was… That was a long time ago!
Growing up there always seemed to be at least one Peppermill matchbook in every drawer!