New York Restaurant (New York Cafe)

The New York Cafe was a restaurant open to African Americans in the mid-1900s. The restaurant was advertised in The Green Book from 1950-1957 and 1959-1967.The restaurant was located at 108 E. Hargett Street in Raleigh, NC.¹

The New York Cafe was owned by William Michael (Murle) Moras. William Moras was born in Sparta, Greece in 1885. William married Ethel Clara Coup before 1907. The building that housed the New York Cafe was built in 1920 and the cafe was noted to be open as early as 1928. Its address was originally 106 E. Hargett Street; the address changed in 1935. Previously, in 1927, William Moras had managed the Coffee Shop Cafe (which was then taken over by Michael Thevis, co-owner of Pete & Mike Grill). Working as a family business, the Moras family children helped to manage and staff the New York Cafe. Out of the six children that the Moras couple had, Leon Moras, the first son, was a waiter for the cafe and the second son, William Moras Jr. managed the cafe. Along with the family, there were many other waitstaff, includingWilliam Marsh, Stephen Morning, Benjamin Robinson, Joseph Yoines, and Maryland Campbell, who were all African American.²

William Moras died on June 4, 1980 from an artery vascular disease. He was widowed at the time of his death and was buried in Montlawn Memorial Park in Raleigh, NC. The entire Moras family is buried in Montlawn Memorial Park.³

The building that was the New York Cafe currently houses, the London Bridge Pub (bottom floor) and the Architect Bar (top floor) since 2016.⁴

Essay by Miranda Clinton, 2019

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1956 Green Book, 46; Green, 1957 Green Book, 47; Green, 1959 Green Book, 52; Alma D. Green, 1960 Green Book, 73; Green, 1961 Green Book, 69; Green, 1962 Green Book, 74; Green, 1963-1964 Green Book, 58; Green, 1966-1967 Green Book, 58.
2. Death Certificate, Familysearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9P2-YSN7-R; “Ethel Clara Coup Moras,” FindAGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121153240/ethel-clara-moras; Hill’s 1935 Raleigh City Directory (Hill’s Directory Company: Richmond, VA, 1935), 369, 734; Hill’s 1936 Raleigh City Directory (Hill’s Directory Company: Richmond, VA, 1936), 415, 816; Hill’s 1937 Raleigh City Directory (Hill’s Directory Company: Richmond, VA, 1937), 417, 882; Hill’s 1938 Raleigh City Directory, 375, 633, 828; Hills 1927 Raleigh City Directory, 417; Hills 1928 Raleigh City Directory,184; Hill’s 1934 Raleigh City Director, 290; Hill’s 1933 Raleigh City Directory, 239;  Hill’s 1933 Raleigh City Directory, 239; Hill’s 1935 Raleigh City Directory, 431; Hill’s 1937 Raleigh City Directory, 642; Hill’s 1938 Raleigh City Directory, 100.
3. Death Certificate, Familysearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9P2-YSN7-R; “Ethel Clara Coup Moras," FindAGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121153240/ethel-clara-moras.
4. Bowers, Katherine, Derek Huss, and Rachel Jacobson, “The Green Book Assignment, North Carolina, Durham, Wake, Halifax, Vance: Historical Structure Report for the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office,” HI 587: Cultural Resource Management, North Carolina State University, Spring 2016, 19.