Christopher Walken Remembers the Upper West Side of the Early 1980s

“Ever since I moved out of my parents’ house in Astoria to live in the city, I’ve always lived within the same two or three blocks of the Upper West Side. In 1981, I lived on 79th and West End; it was tiny but very comfortable. I’ve always been a pretty good cook, and I could make these very good dinners in this tiny kitchen. The Upper West Side has always been a great place to buy food, with terrific places for fish and vegetables. The apartment had this old refrigerator that didn’t have room for much, so in the winter I’d keep everything out on the fire escape. There was a place called Columbus, on Columbus Avenue and 69th Street. It was a restaurant—a modest place, like an Italian restaurant—but really it was an actor’s hangout. You’d walk in there and all the actors would be sitting around, it was almost like a club, and you’d see all these people: Danny Aiello, Warren Beatty. At night, if I was just sitting around and wanted to amuse myself, I’d walk down to Columbus and say hello.” 

From Christopher Walken’s interview with the New York Times for “24 Hours in the Life of the City;” photo by Marco Grob (@marcogrob) 

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