The Regulars - James & George at breakfast

Credits: below - Manhattan Times; Top: Pete & Luis - waiter and counterman Susan Sermoneta

Minor celebrity has found me.  The Manhattan Times - the local freebie weekly -did a profile of the Greek coffee shop (nee Angela's now Vicky's).  It featured me: the guy who sits in the window seat with his loyal dog staring patiently, waiting.  Most people have commented on Vicky's reference to me as a "souvenir", and an "antique".  She tells me that is because I am valuable.  Hmm.


The Regular - 10 years in the same seat
by Adam Garrett Clark, Manhattan Times 

Every weekday morning for the last 10 years or so a little after 8:30 a.m., George Conk ties up his yellow Labrador Retriever, James, outside Vicky’s Diner on W. 187th Street, takes his usual seat in the corner by the door and has the usual: a bowl of oatmeal, glass of grapefruit juice and a coffee.

The regularity is good for his “Circadian rhythms,” he explains, eating at the same time everyday is healthy for the digestive system. For a long time the waiter, Pete Mousaeakas, knew Conk’s “usual” to be a fried egg, light over easy, on buttered whole wheat toast, but Conk is trying to watch his weight.  

Conk is what owner Vicky Limberis calls one of her “souvenir customers:” he’s like an antique she explains, a historical fixture in the restaurant whose daily appearances predate her taking over the business.

The rest of the story is HERE