2007-04-16

We Are Happy To Serve You

To get to high school I used to take the B22 bus (renamed the Q24 in 1988) and get off at the corner of Van Wyck and Jamaica. There was a small deli on the corner. Days when I wasn’t too late or too broke, I would stop off and get a buttered bagel and cup of hot chocolate. The bagel went in my pocket.

The hot chocolate came in a blue and white paper cup with a Greek urn on the side and a rectangular pattern across the rim. In a white square on the front of the cup it said “We Are Happy To Serve You.”

I drank the hot chocolate during the rest of the 12 minute walk.

Those mornings came rushing back to me when I got an early birthday present.

We Are Happy To Serve You Coffee Cup


The Sweetheart Cup Company released a ceramic version of the classic NY coffee cup. The cup thousands of us expats grew up drinking from is now available online.

We Are Happy To Serve You Coffee Cup Bottom
We Are Happy To Serve You Coffee Cup Seam


It’s the same size and shape. The ceramic “seem” is right where the paper one was 20 years ago. Holding the cup feels right. Feeling it in my hand takes me right back to all those blustery mornings when I was getting ready to change the world.

We Are Happy To Serve You Coffe Cup in hand

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Waaaah! I want to go back to New York! Happy belated birthday. I was so wrapped up in my own birthday I guess I forgot about yours! And what's this craziness? Girls can go to Molloy??

Jon Clarke said...

You mention anything in NY, Lisa wants to go back.

That cup just reminds me of the old guys in the local donut store in Rockaway. It kinda gives me the creeps. And why is it greek?

Anonymous said...

and the problem with that is...?