The 1964 photos of 100-102 Jefferson Street in downtown Albany reveal a building whose better days are well behind it and whose days ahead are seriously limited. Indeed, the building next door has already been torn down to make way for the coming South Mall project, later renamed the Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza.

But anyone who thought “Rocky” Rockefeller’s bulldozers could forever doom the Palais Royale grill didn’t know Victorocco “Rocky” Nigro.

Yes, the photos seem to capture the sad end of an era. The living quarters are decidedly modest, the furnishings sparse and tired. The grill bears the words LIQUORS, BAR, and HOT DOGS. Glimpses inside reveal an establishment lost to time, its wooden booths empty, its jukebox silent, its huge fan stilled. On the porch, a small man gazes up the street, toward the future.

Never been to the current Palais Royale, although I've been by it many times. I'm sure some point after Covid-19 I'll get there.