Wallet Card at Bickford's

Bickford's restaurants were cafeteria-style eateries, basically one step up from fast food, from the 1920s to the 1970s. The Bickford's pictured here, at 488 Eighth Avenue, went out of business in the mid-1960s, as rising crime in the city deterred the late-night crowd that was a key part of Bickford's success.

After Bickford's the location was home to a restaurant called Snacktime and then an adult book store. The Bickford's facade was revealed followed by the removal of the adult store's sign when it closed in 2000, and it remains to this day, with the building's current tenants, a pizza place and a hair removal spa.

In the 1950's Bickford's expanded into New England, and to this day there are still several of them around, mostly in Massachusetts, operating more as pancake houses. Also, the pawnbroker next to Bickford's in the photo, which also has a pretty cool old sign, has been in business at that location since 1901!