NOW

Calexico began as a food truck run by three brothers. Jesse, Brian, and David Vendley grew up near Calexico, a real place located on the border between Mexico and California. Missing the food from their hometown, the three began cooking and serving their grandmother’s recipes out of a truck on the streets of New York. They earned their first Vendy award in 2006. That award was followed by many more, and they eventually opened their first brick and mortar location, collaborating with Chef Pete Oleyer, in 2009 in Brooklyn. The restaurant on East 78th, as advertised, is a delightful mixture of Mexican and American culture, complete with portions of the menu in “Spanglish.”

THEN

This highly-detailed brick and stone tenement at the corner of Second Avenue and East 78th Street was built in 1905 and designed by the architecture firm Bernstein & Bernstein. The firm was prolific throughout the city at the turn of the century, designing many brick tenement buildings. The Real Estate Record does not mention stores at the ground level of the building; these were likely added during alterations that took place in 1924. During the 1930s, there were both a delicatessen and a shoe store at the building. The tenement stands today almost entirely unchanged, boasting its charming stone enframements and water table, and detailed cornice.