Three in a row

[1116 Remsen Avenue, Canarsie, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

[1124 Remsen Avenue, Canarsie, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

[8913 Glenview Road, Canarsie, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

Candy Stationery Cigars, Stationery Candy Soda Cigars, Cigars Stationery Candy: these establishments indeed stood in a row, across the street from an elementary school (P.S. 114, built and expanded between 1907 and 1912) and the Remsen Playground. The name Remsen in Brooklyn goes back to the seventeenth century. Canarsie takes its name from the Canarsee people. My brother Brian found the store in the middle, which he identified as Mike’s Stationery. I’m sure that the kids in Canarsie found their way to all three stores. The store with all the kids outside is the one closest to the school.

There are two unusual items atop Mike’s building. The one on the left is likely an elaborate weathervane. Can anyone suggest what the one below is? Google Image Search says that it’s an antenna atop the Empire State Building. My guess is that it’s a weather station of some sort.

[Click for a larger view.]

The school, the playground, and these three (now repurposed) buildings still stand, with different doodads atop Mike’s.

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