Part of why I chose to live in Brooklyn was to start fresh. To avoid walking past this building or that and think “oh, that used to be…”

But nostalgia comes anyway. Sometimes because I go looking for it. Case in point: Stingy Lulu’s. It was my spot.

Via Vanishing New York

I hung out there a ton circa 1995-97. My good friend S, who I knew from college, and I went there often, usually weekly. We got to know one of the staff members pretty well, Harlow. She was probably the first transgender person I had gotten to know. Her vulnerability was apparent, as was her humor.

S and I were 21, 22. I usually drank a cocktail with pureed strawberries and cheap Champagne. It all seemed so exotic then. I’m trying to find a more original way to say “the world was our oyster” but right now, I can’t. It fits.

I walked down Avenue A one day last fall, not long after moving back to NYC, afraid to look. When I didn’t see Stingy Lulu’s familiar facade, I convinced myself that perhaps I had missed it, or maybe forgotten the exact address (St. Mark’s Place and A – duh).

But Stingy Lulu’s is gone of course. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to find some tidbits about my old hangout.

I didn’t realize SL was in the movie Uptown Girls.

After SL closed, it became a beer bar.

Like this blogger, I used to get the penne ala vodka.