[289, 291, 293 Church Street, Manhattan, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view, with one person at a window, another atop a fire escape..]
This tax photograph follows from last Sunday’s photograph of Needle & Thread Grill: here we see the side of the restaurant and the establishments that follow: Sidney’s Luncheonette (289), Schroeder & Tremayne Inc., Sponges–Chamois (291), and Holland Tire Distributors (293). It’s like something from the world of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer.
Schroeder & Tremayne and Holland certainly had their pick of places for lunch: if they didn’t want to walk all the way to the Needle & Thread, they could have had a quick bite at Sidney’s. There’s no listing for Sidney’s in the 1940 Manhattan directory, but Holland is in it, at a different address. Maybe the food choices drew Holland to Church Street. Or drove them away.
[Click for larger sponges.]
Schroeder & Tremayne was in business in St. Louis as early in 1918 as a wholesaler of — you guessed it — sponges and chamois. The firm made a splash with a “tasty display” at the 1918 convention of the National Association of Retail Druggists.
[N.A.R.D. Journal 26, no. 27 (1918). Click for a larger view.]
Back to food: the oddest detail in this tax photograph is CHOP SUEY, the stylized (clichéd) letters squirming every which way against a giant T. (Why?) There’s no restaurant in sight other than the Needle & Thread Grill, so the grill must have been taking its menu in a new direction.
In today’s Tribeca, Sidney’s appears to be a residential property. Schroeder & Tremayne houses apexart, a not-for-profit arts organization. Holland Tire Distributors is now OD Studio, home to a personal trainer. No spare tires to be found there, I’m sure.
Related reading
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)
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Sunday, November 10, 2024
Chamois chop suey
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comments: 7
There's a lot to absorb. Wonder if those cars are part of a fleet, look similar?
Could be. Elaine noticed how close they are to one another. And with the truck in front, the first car looks really boxed in. Maybe they deliver sponges and chamois all over Manhattan?
A sponge store is a rare thing! There used to be one in Toronto (I saw it years ago). It was mentioned in one of Margaret Atwood's novels.
This establishment was a supplier to stores. But a store devoted to sponges is an extraordinary thing.
My dad always used natural sponges in his work as a tileman. I think they must have come from a hardware store.
I revised to make it clear that Schroeder & Tremayne was not a retail store.
sponge and chamois display
https://books.google.com/books/content?id=Z3o3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA293&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&bul=1&sig=ACfU3U1cBlYlBIJ-Fn4rcrvpwxhvntgBXQ&w=1025
Interesting how they seemed to form a commercial pair.
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