13th and Fifth Avenue

The photo on the right is one that I took yesterday of the corner that, when I first moved to NYC in 1987, looked more like the photo on the left. The Lone Star Cafe closed in 1989 but I did go there once shortly after I arrived—by myself, as I recall, although I'm not sure why: I've never been one to go alone to a bar very often and I didn't go to hear music. I don't think I was homesick, per se, but I may have just liked the idea of going to a Texas-style bar and drinking beer that I wouldn't have crossed the street to get back home (I'll drink a Lone Star if it's available in an NYC restaurant, like Marfa, but it's not a very good beer). The iguana stayed on the roof for a number of years until the building was converted to a deli in the '90s (I used to go there occasionally when I worked at a place down 13th Street a few doors) but it's been empty for four or five years. Now it's gone and I'm disappointed: it was a cool old building that will almost certainly be replaced by a high-rise luxury condo.