Rian James, Dining in New York, 1929. Dust jacket artist unknown.

This is a New York booklet written for New Yorkers. James offered a unique slice of the New York dining scene just before the October 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. The good times were to end soon after.

While there were a ton of contemporary guidebooks published about New York City, very few delved into the restaurant scene. James’s punchy one-line descriptions tell you a lot more than many a detailed review. The writing has some jazz age jargon such as “Beeway” for Broadway and “black and tan” for an establishment that has race mingling between Blacks and Caucasians.

Some excerpts:

MAXL’S – 86th St. near 3rd Ave. Tyrolean Sausage and Sauer Kraut and Tyrolean high jinks after theatre.

THE BLUE RIBBON-145 W. 44th St. German. German cuisine, and plenty of German celebs.

HENRY’S – 69 W. 36th St. Swedish. Roll your own hors d’oeuvres, from a huge center table.

CEYLON INDIA – 148 W. 49th St. East Indian. Curried dishes that are hotter than a Sophie Tucker finale.

DINTY MOORE’S-46th St. west of Beeway. Irish Corned beef and marv lemon pies and giant baked potatoes. Favorite of Ziegfeld, Berlin, Will Rogers, et al.

HOTEL ALGONQUIN – 44th St. bet. 5th and 6th Aves. The snootier of the literati lunch here. The pastry is grand.

GYPSY TEA SHOP – 435 Fifth Ave. Your fortune, from tea leaves, gratis, and all you want to eat, for 75¢.

GREENWICH VILLAGE INN – 6 Sheridan Sq. What customers from Hoosick Falls would he disappointed at not finding.

THE EVERGLADES – Beeway at 48th St. An extravagant floor show with considerable costume economy, and ex-Vanities girls to sit it out with you.

THE MADHOUSE – 169 W. 133rd St. All the name implies. For colored whoopsters chiefly, but whites admitted. Come here after all the others have closed, and SEE things!

For more excerpts and more about the author, see Stuff Nobody Cares About.