NY1 Reporter Hunts For Iconic Coffee Cup
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Leslie Buck, designer of the famous “We Are Happy To Serve You” coffee cup, died this week at age 87. In his honor, NY1’s Roger Clark went in search of the cup, which many say is getting harder to find. I was on a mission. I went to store after store in Brooklyn attempting to find the classic city coffee cup. When I thought I finally spotted a woman carrying the iconic blue and white Grecian design, I was disappointed to discover it was just a knock-off.
"This is the only cup they always have in Coney Island," said the coffee drinker.
And so the search continued, along the way resulting in more bad news at Coney Island Old Time Bagels.
"We have designed coffee cups here in Coney Island; we're cool like that,” said a store worker. “You could definitely be looking for quite awhile."
At a store on the corner of Stillwell and Mermaid, I hit another dead-end.
"I saw them maybe around three, four, five years ago,” said a worker there.
When I was just about ready to give up hope, there it was, the holy grail at the Golden Bell Deli on Avenue X. The store’s owner said the cups remain popular.
"Everybody like this at my store, a lot of people,” she said.
Among those who said they preferred the Leslie Buck design from the 1960s was Rob Fewer.
"Periodically you'll run into it. It's like a comfort,” Fewer said. “It's one of those things in the five boroughs, ‘oh, they've got the cup.’ It's absolutely true."
Coffee fan Donald Sanchez said Buck's design said it all.
"We are happy to serve you! What better sentiment can you get? Even if the coffee is lousy!" laughed Sanchez.