A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from May 31, 2006
Coffee Regular
Today, a coffee in New York City is Starbucks. However, some insist that "true" New Yorkers have a "coffee regular" that includes milk and sugar.

The Mother Tongue: English & how it got that way
By Bill Bryson
New York: William Morrow
1990

Pg. 104:
Why do we have all these regional variations? Why do people in Boston and New York call white coffee "regular" when everywhere else regular coffee is black?

Blythe
By William Bryan Rooney
Xlibris Corporation
2000

Pg. 51:
There are a million places to eat. Lots of Dry Cleaners. Good bagels. Coffee regular means milk and sugar.

...
Hairdresser to the Stars: A Hollywood Memoir
By Ginger Sugar Blymyer
Haverford, PA: Infinity Publishing Co.
2000

Pg. 77:
Our first day of shooting was at a park located at the foot of the United Nation's Building. We filmed little old Italian men playing Bochi Ball. That day I discovered that the "regular" coffee sold on the streets was loaded with sweet Eagle Brand canned milk. Yum, it was tasty.

Murder at Yaquina Head
by Ron :Lovell
Sunstone Press
2002

Pg. 82:
In that arrogance that only New Yorkers possess, coffee regular (Pg. 83 -- ed.) means coffee with milk, something every vendor waitress will give you without fail unless you specify coffee black.

31 July 1994, New York Times, "Java Jive" by Jim Frederick, pg. SM10:
What if you can't be bothered by such arcana and all you want is a regular coffee. Be forewarned. The mere mention of the word "regular" has been known to throw baristas into fits of frustrated rage, because "regular" means "black" in Chicago, "with milk" in Boston, "with milk and sugar" in Rhode Island and just about anything in New York.

31 May 2006, New York Post, pg. 39:
Do: Say "Coffee, regular," which means coffee with milk and two sugars.
Posted by Barry Popik
Food/Drink • Wednesday, May 31, 2006 • Permalink


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