Goulash Alley or Goulash Avenue (Second Avenue, between 79th and 86th Streets)

“Goulash Avenue” in the 1890 and early 1900s was located in Manhattan’s East Village, around East Houston Street and Second Avenue. “Goulash avenue, a name under which the lower part of Second avenue is known on account of the good goulashes to be had there” was cited in 1910. Goulash is a popular Hungarian stew.
 
“Goulash Avenue” moved to Yorkville, at Second Avenue between East 79th and East 86th streets, by the mid-1900s. The nickname “Goulash Alley” was also used. However, the Hungarian influence mostly disappeared by 2012, when the Hungarian Meat Market closed.
 
Another name for “Goulash Alley/Avenue” is “Hungarian Boulevard” or “Hungarian Broadway.”
   
 
Wikipedia: Goulash
Goulash (Hungarian: gulyás) is a soup or stew of meat and vegetables, seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating from the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, goulash is also a popular meal in Central Europe, Scandinavia and Southern Europe.
 
Wikipedia: Yorkville, Manhattan
Yorkville is a neighborhood in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Its southern boundary is East 79th Street, its northern East 96th Street, its western Third Avenue, and its eastern the East River.
 
The neighborhood, in Manhattan Community Board 8, is among the most affluent in the city.
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79th Street was a hub for the Austro-Hungarian populace. Popular restaurants included the Viennese Lantern, Tokay, Hungarian Gardens, Robert Heller’s Cafe Abazzia at 2nd Avenue, Budapest and the Debrechen. There were also a number of butcher stores and businesses that imported goods from Hungary. Churches included St. Stephen Catholic Church and the Hungarian Reformed Church on East 82nd Street. In addition, Czechs, Poles and Slovaks lived from 65th to 73rd Street. Besides Ruc, a Czech restaurant off Second Avenue, there were sokol halls on 67th and 71st Streets. There were other Czech and Slovak businesses, such as Czech butcher shops, poultry and grocery stores, and shops that sold imported goods such as Bohemian books, leather products and crystal.
 
Google Books
Langenscheidts Sachworterbucher:
Land und Leute in Amerika
By Carl Naubert and E. Fleugel
Berlin-Schöneberg: Langenscheidt
1909
Pg. 19:
Goulash Avenue P wird die 2. Avenue in New York genannt, da dort viele Österreicher und Ungarn wohnen. grand Klavier.
 
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
6 October 1910, Daily People (New York, NY), “Fun for the Millions,” pg. 2, col3. 3-4:
What on earth could the “alte Tante” mean by that, judging others by itself, the letter was a fabrication by some comrade who lives on Second avenue, nicknamed “Goulash avenue.”
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Mr. G. appeared in person in Goulash avenue, a name under which the lower part of Second avenue is known on account of the good goulashes to be had there.
     
Google Books
Manhattan User’s Guide:
The Guide to New York for New Yorkers
By Charles A Suisman and Carol Molesworth
New York, NY: Hyperion
1996
Pg. 111:
By WW1, E. 86th St. was known as the “German Broadway,” First Ave. as the “Czech Broadway,” and Second Ave. as the “Hungarian Broadway” (also known as “Goulash Avenue”).
 
Google Books
Fodor’s New York City 2009
By Maria Teresa Burwell,  Erica Duecy and Jennifer Paull
New York, NY: Fodor’s, Inc. Fodor’s Travel Publication
2009
Pg. 143:
Few remaining shops recall the neighborhood’s German and Hungarian immigrant past (which earned 2nd Avenue the nickname “Goulash Avenue”); one delicious reminder is the 1937 food shop Schaller & Weber (1654 2nd Ave. at E. 86th St.), where you can pick up homemade bratwurst or imported stollen, cookies, and other goodies.
 
Daily News (New York, NY)
HUNGARY FOR BAGELS
BY PASCALE LE DRAOULEC NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, April 24, 2002, 12:00 AM
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Karoly Nagy was a shoemaker and now works as a hospital handyman. “We came to America with so much hope,” he says. In the 1970s, this stretch of Second Ave. (roughly 79th to 86th Sts.) was known as “Goulash Alley.”
 
The Upper East Side Informer
4/22/2010
Goulash Avenue
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When I returned to the Hungarian Meat Market & Delicatessen at 1560 2nd Avenue, I learned that the market was established in the 1950’s on “Goulash Avenue” when Hungarian immigrants populated Manhattan’s Yorkville district. The delicatessen continues to be family owned and the employees in the market are from Hungary. As Yorkville’s last Hungarian meat market, they are committed to preserving Hungarian culture and cuisine as well as familiarizing Upper East Siders with its famous Kalosca paprika, apricot jam, and Kashkaval cheese among other delicacies.
 
Lost City
14 SEPTEMBER 2012
Hungarian Meat Market Closes for Good
On June 17, 2011, the wonderful Hungarian Meat Market in Yorkville was ravaged by fire. The institution, which traces its history back to the 1950s, when the area was still a Hungarian stronghold and Second Avenue was called “Goulash Avenue,” said at the time that the closure was temporary. “Due to an unfortunate fire accident, our store on 2nd Avenue is temporary closed!,” read the store’s website. “We are going to reopen after the remodeling of the store, probably around September.”