something new coming to that tiny spot on 16th st

i think the philippine take out place has been gone since the summer. i think it was only there about a year. i remember when they were handing out all the flyers for it.

that space is actually where universal video first opened in the 1980‘s. they were only there about a year before moving to the bigger space across the street where they were until the end. but for the brief time they were there lots of people would come in and their about the only business i can recall that seemed to do well in that space. after universal moved across the street i remember they briefly tried making that space a store that sold nothing but magazines but it didn’t last. their magazine selection wasn’t any better than jimmy’s at the stationary across the street or krupa‘s grocery. i also remember they tried opening a little barber shop there but it didn‘t last very long. besides that i think it’s just been all different kinds of food there over the years

it was pretty tiny. i think the counter was a little further back then it is now but it was still really tight. believe it or not they also managed to squeeze one video arcade game in there because they were so popular back then. i think they basically only had new releases for their movie selection. the owner just sat behind the counter on a spin around desk chair and when you handed him the box for a movie he’d just spin back to match it with the actual video tape

the owner was related to the owner of the 24 hour deli. they use to have it so when you wanted to return videos to the video store but they were closed, you could just return them to the deli. my guess would be that the universal owner just asked his cousin “i want to open a video store but can’t afford to right now, so can i just convert your deli’s back closet into a video store?” i don't think there was any store there before universal

it sounds bizarre but he did better than anyone else in that tiny spot, and did great in the bigger space for so many years