In the 90s in Manhattan, almost everything was closed on Sunday until the evening. When I asked our hotel receptionist about it, she said, "It's so everyone has enough time to read the New York Times Sunday Edition". I'd like think that's apocryphal but as a teen at the time I believed it.

It stood out to me because in California most everything was open on Sundays. So it seemed to be more of an East Coast thing.