Bohemian Greenwich Village Remembered In Memoir Based On Iconic Diner

WEST VILLAGE, NY - Long before exorbitant rents and chain stores invaded Greenwich Village, there was Shopsin’s – a diner that personified the Bohemian side of the neighborhood.

The restaurant owner’s daughter Tamara Shopsin serves up memories of the diner and its quirky customers in her new memoir, “Arbitrary Stupid Goal.”

There are anecdotes like the time a waitress poured a Coke on an annoying customer’s head and an incident in which owner Kenny Shopsin threw flour in a city inspector’s face, according to The New Yorker which first reported on the book.

It's "full of the spry, witty spirit of the old Village, the neighborhood’s magical realness,” the magazine said.

Shopsin’s lost its lease on Morton and Bedford Streets in the early 2000s. The diner was later reincarnated inside the Essex Street Market.

In spite of “Arbitrary Stupid Goal’s” elegiac tone, Shopsin told the New Yorker, “I just feel, like, New York has so much, and even though it’s hemorrhaging small businesses and things it’s still totally the best city.”

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Lead image of Essex Street Market via Google Maps.