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 January 08, 2010
“Eat Now—Pay Waiter” (restaurant sign)

“Eat now, pay later” is standard procedure at many restaurants. In Glendale (MO) in 1964, a restaurant sign was: “Eat Now Pay Waiter.” The one-liner still appears in some collections of food jokes.
 
 
16 January 1964, Altoona (PA) Mirror, pg. 7, col. 8:
ST. LOUIS (UPI)—A restaurant sign at nearby Glendale, Mo., says “Eat Now Pay Waiter.”
   
Google Books
The Gigantic Joke Book
By Joseph Rosenbloom
Sterling
1981
Pg. 10:
Sign in a restaurant window:
EAT NOW— PAY WAITER.
   
Google Books
July 1981, Boys’ Life, “Think & Grin,” pg. 81, col. 3:
Sign on a restaurant window: “Eat now, pay waiter.” — Sam Treib, Beulah, N.D.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York City • Food/Drink • Friday, January 08, 2010 • Permalink


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