Ben’s Pizza at McDougal and W3rd Street — © Brian Rose

Back when I was hanging out in folk clubs in the late ’70s and early ’80s, I survived on two basic food groups, falafel and pizza. Ben’s was and is a small pizza joint located–in those days–equidistant between Folk City and the Speakeasy, two places where I used to perform. Both long gone. Ben’s is still there, wholly unchanged, and the pizza by the slice remains above average. When the weather is mild, the walls and doors are opened, and restaurant and street merge in a colorful, tawdry mess.