29 Union Square West when it was Jason's Restaurant, 1978. In the 1890s this plot was the location of a five-story brick building that housed the Bank of the Metropolis. In 1903 the bank moved across the street to a new building at 31 Union Square West (where they had been founded in 1871). The building at no. 29 was demolished by 1928, and a one-story structure was erected on the site (likely as a taxpayer during the years of the Depression). The current blue-walled midcentury mundane building currently on the lot rose in 1959. It is unknown when the iconic coffee sign was installed. In the 1960s it was a coffee shop called Chase, and it was Jason's in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Coffee Shop, a dependable late-night spot opened in 1990. Slinging coffee, cocktails, and Brazilian fare, the locale became a well-known spot for a diverse crowd of students, East Villagers, scenesters, and celebrities. It often appeared on the show, Sex, and the City. After 28 years the restaurant closed in mid October 2018. A rumor the next week suggested that the location was to become a Chase Bank (ironic given that its first coffee shop tenant was Chase too)

Streetcar tracks alongside the high pressure water system trench on Union Square West; undated photo. At left is the shop of Victor S. Flechter, violin dealer, at No. 23 Union Square West. Flechter was not a merchant of high moral character: He twice ran afoul of the law during the 1890s: first for selling an imitation violin as a Gasparo Duiffopruggar original; and again in 1896, for possessing a Stradivarius violin stolen from the late Prof. Jean Joseph Bott, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison.