Poe Poe

[2432 Grand Concourse, Bronx, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

Poe, Edgar Allan, and more Poe. The 1940 Bronx telephone directory has listings for a Poe Beauty Parlor, a Poe Cozy Nook Restaurant, a Poe Park Luncheonette, a Poe Park Restaurant, Poe Park Tailor, a Poe Park Tavern, and a Poe Television Company. And in this photograph we have the Poe Garage and the Poe Raven Restaurant (click to embiggen and you’ll see it). I suspect that a New York Times reporter paged through a later directory for an article about the Bronx, “The World’s Capital — The Bronx” (March 17, 1946):

They have named a beauty parlor, a garage and a tavern after him, and one can eat in the “Poe Cozy Nook” restaurant as well as in the “Poe Raven” restaurant.

Why so many Poes? As a reader may already know, Edgar Allan Poe at one time made his home in the Bronx, in a modest dwelling on Kingsbridge Road. The residence, now known as Poe Cottage, was moved in the early twentieth century and now stands in Poe Park on the Grand Concourse.

Poe Garage still stands on the Concourse as the Poe Building, with retail businesses at street level and office space above. As for the Poe Raven Restaurant: “Nevermore.”

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