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Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935

"106 Suits Filed Under Mob Law in Harlem Riot," World-Telegram, July 23, 1935 [clipping]

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Benjamin Zelvin's jewelry store looted Benjamin Zelvin locked his jewelry store at 372 Lenox Avenue around 11.30 PM on March 19. Although there are no reports of looting in this area at that time, there apparently were crowds or other activity that led him to seek police protection for his store before leaving it. The World-Telegram reported that he told a representative of the city Comptroller's office that he waited more than half an hour after calling the station house before police reached his store. Those officers apparently did not remain at Zelvin's store as it was later looted; police told Zelvin "they didn't know anything about it." However, Officer Astel of the 25th Precinct arrested two men, John Henry, a sixteen-year-old Black student, and Oscar Leacock, a twenty-year-old Brazilian laborer around 2.15 AM at Lenox Avenue and 126th Street, and reported that he found on them a quantity of jewelry, which the men admitted they had taken from Zelvin's store. The officer then had the men take him to the store, which was only three blocks north, where he found all the windows broken. Zelvin later identified the jewelry found on the men as coming from his store. In the charge against Henry and Leacock the value of the jewelry is initially typed as $100, but then struck out and $75 handwritten in its place. The value may have been even less, as the grand jury reduced the felony charge against the men to a misdemeanor, a change only possible if the goods they had taken were worth less than $25. Zelvin later assessed his total losses as far more. When he joined other merchants in suing the city for losses suffered in the disorder, the World-Telegram reported that he asked for $2685 in damages (stories reporting those suits in the New York Sun and New York Post did not mention Zelvin). The New York Evening Journal reported Zelvin told the Comptroller that his losses were "because of the lack of police protection."

There is no newspaper coverage of the looting; Henry and Leacock appear only in the four most comprehensive lists of those arrested published in black newspapers and the New York Evening Journal. The details come from the District Attorney's case file; as the grand jury sent the cases to the Court of Special Sessions, the only information is from the Magistrate Court affidavit. The 28th Precinct Police Blotter recorded that the judges convicted both men.

Zelvin appears in the Harlem Magistrate's Court on March 21 to charge an additional man, a thirty-one-year-old Black man named Henry Goodwin, with burglary (the only other individual charged for an offense related to the disorder in the court that day is John Henry, although Zelvin is not listed as the complainant in that case). Goodwin appears only in the docket book and the 28th Precinct Police Blotter; there are no details of his alleged crime. If he did take goods from 372 Lenox Avenue, they were of little value. When Goodwin appears again the charge is reduced to petit larceny and the Magistrate transferred him to the Court of Special Sessions. Like Henry and Leacock, the Police Blotter records that the judges convicted him.

It is possible that Zelvin did not continue to operate his jewelry store. It does not appear in the MCCH Business survey in the second half of 1935, which has no record for 372 Lenox Avenue. The Tax Department photograph taken between 1939 and 1941 is from an angle that does not offer a clear view of the business at that address.
Irving Stetkin's stationary store looted When someone on Lenox Avenue threw "the first stone" at the windows of Irving Stetkin's stationary store at 371 Lenox Avenue, he called police, according to the New York Sun report of his suit against the city. There is no mention in the newspaper stories that report Stekin's account of when that stone was thrown, but crowds appear to have been on the avenue by sometime after 10.30 PM. He waited two hours before a police car containing two officers arrived in response to his call, a detail reported in the New York Sun, New York Post and World-Telegram. There is no mention of what Stetkin did in the interim; but he could have done little to prevent people damaging and looting his store given the size of the crowds, so most likely retreated to the rear rooms to avoid injury. When they arrived, the police officers fared no better. Stetkin told the city Comptroller that "The police didn't do anything. They couldn't do anything. The mob was too big for them," according to a report in the World-Telegram. He had joined other white merchants in suing the city for damages on the basis that police had not protected businesses, so he had an incentive to emphasize police failures. Nonetheless, the extent of the attacks on businesses and violence in this area, and the small number of arrests, most of which came several hours after crowds first arrived on the avenue, add weight to his complaint. No one among those arrested for looting was identified as taking goods from this store.

The only details of the damage to Stetkin's store is in newspaper stories about the civil suits against the city brought by white merchants. Stetkin is not part of the group of twenty who brought the first suits, but is mentioned in stories published at the end of July, by which time 106 merchants had filed suits. He appears as an example because of the large damages he sought, $2068, as a result of which, the New York Sun reported, Stetkin "is not in business anymore." Or at least not at that location. He also sued for damages to a second unspecified business, at 363 Lenox Avenue, four buildings to the south of the stationary store, according to the New York Times, where he was still in business in 1942. In 1930, the federal census records that Stetkin had lived above the store at 363 Lenox Avenue, a building anomalous in this area of Harlem in being home to only white residents. The six other households included three headed by men who owned stores in Harlem later looted during the disorder who joined Stetkin in suing the city, William Gindin, Jacob Saloway and Michael D'Agostino. There is no evidence of whether Stetkin still lived there in 1935; Gindin at least had relocated to another building on Lenox Avenue by the time of the disorder.

After the city lost the civil case that went to trial to test the merchants' case, Stetkin's actions for damages were one of seven cases taken to the Supreme Court to determine the city's liability. The damages claimed in those cases totaled $20,000, according to a report in the New York Times; Justice Shientag awarded a total of only $1200. Stetkin received the largest award, although newspaper stories disagreed on the amount. The New York Times identified the award as $550 for damages to both the stationary store and the business at 363 Lenox Avenue that he had valued at more than $2000, while the New York Amsterdam News identified the award as $700. While the New York Times reported that the city would appeal the decisions, there is no evidence that happened.
Henry Goodwin arrested Officer Le Sage of the 76th Precinct arrested Henry Goodwin, a thirty-one-year-old Black man, who was charged with burglary. There is no evidence of the timing or details of the arrest or his alleged crime as the only sources in which Goodwin appears are the Harlem Magistrate's Court docket book and the 28th Precinct Police Blotter. Goodwin is not in the lists of those arrested published in either the Black newspapers or the New York Evening News, perhaps because he was arrested after they were compiled. He does not appear in court until March 21, a day after almost all those arrested during the disorder.

Benjamin Zelvin is recorded as the complainant against Goodwin in the docket book. He owned a jewelry store at 372 Lenox Avenue that suffered extensive looting in the hours after 11.30 PM , when he closed the store. All the windows were broken by 2.15AM, when Officer Astel arrived there with Oscar Leacock and John Henry, who he claimed had admitted taking goods from the store when he had arrested them several blocks south of the store. Those men allegedly had about $75 of goods in their possession when arrested, according to Zelvin's Magistrate's Court affidavit. When Zelvin joined other merchants in suing the city for losses suffered in the disorder, the World-Telegram reported that he asked for $2685 in damages. Goodwin is likely to have taken some of the additional missing merchandise. If so, he had traveled some distance from his home at 17 East 119th Street, below Mt Morris Park, ten blocks south of Zelvin's store.

If Goodwin did take goods from 372 Lenox Avenue, they apparently were of little value. Charged with burglary when he first appeared in court, Goodwin was held on bail, and then returned to court the next day, March 22. At that time the charge against him was reduced to petit larceny, and Magistrate Renaud transferred him to the Court of Special Sessions, to tried for a misdemeanor. The Police Blotter records that on March 28 the judges convicted him, and sentenced him to six months in the workhouse.
Harry Piskin's laundry looted Harry Piskin's laundry at 100 West 126th Street, just off Lenox Avenue, was first the target of stones, according to testimony he gave to the city Comptroller reported by the New York Sun. The intersection of West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, and the blocks of the avenue to the north were the site of multiple acts of violence and attacks on businesses during the disorder, but there is no clear evidence of when crowds would have first arrived at the laundry other than the report that looting of a store at the intersection started around 10.30 PM. The stones were eventually followed by a bullet fired into the show laundry's show window, Piskin testified, according to the New York Sun. The story quoted an exchange in which the Comptroller asked Piskin if he had heard other pistol shots; he answered "plenty." There are no other mentions of guns being fired in attacks on businesses; shooting is instead associated with police responding to looting. As in other stories about the disorder, shooting signifies a greater level of violence than stones being thrown. At issue in this case is the police response: the Comptroller's next question in the exchange reported by the New York Sun was "Did [the police] send protection?" Piskin answered, "they did not."

Instead, after the shot at the window, Piskin testified that "they looted his laundry, broke all of his machinery and drove him out of business." George's Lunch, the neighboring business on the corner of West 126th Street and Lenox Avenue, suffered similarly extensive damage. At some point he sought help. He first found a police officer a block away at the intersection of West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue: "Report it--I can't leave my post," the officer told him, according to the New York Post. He continued across town to the police station on West 123rd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues: "Oh we know all about it," was the response there. Later, a police officer responded to Piskin's complaints about the lack of police protection by telling him, "My life is more important to me than your business is to you," testimony reported in the New York Post and World-Telegram. Piskin had joined other white merchants in suing the city for damages on the basis that police had not protected businesses, so he had an incentive to emphasize police failures. Nonetheless, the extent of the attacks on businesses and violence in this area, and the small number of arrests, most of which came several hours after crowds first arrived on the avenue, add weight to his complaint. No one arrested for looting was identified as taking goods from the laundry.

The only mention of the damage to Piskin's laundry is in newspaper stories about the civil suits against the city brought by white merchants. Piskin is part of the group of twenty who brought the first suits identified by the New York Sun, and is mentioned in stories published by the New York Sun, New York Post and World-Telegram at the end of July, by which time 106 merchants had filed suits. He appears as an example in those stories likely because he sought the largest damages, $14,125 (the next largest claim was for damage to the adjacent business, George's Lunch), well above the median reported claim of $733. The city lost the civil cases that went to trial to test the merchants' claims, so it is likely that Piskin received some damages. His was not among the seven awards made in March 1936 by the Supreme Court, which was responsible for large claims.
Anthony Avitable's food market looted Anthony Avitable's business, the Savoy Food Market at 383 Lenox Avenue, was closed when crowds appeared on Lenox Avenue. Around midnight Avitable got news of the disorder in Harlem, and drove back from the Bronx. He told the city Comptroller that as he drove over the 138th Street bridge he saw crowds "just breaking into my store," the New York Sun reported. Seeing no police near the store he drove on to the 28th Precinct Station on West 123rd Street and at 12.30 AM report the looting, according to the New York Post. Officers there said they "couldn't do anything for me," and that he should contact police headquarters. When Avitable called, "a police officer at headquarters told him over the phone: "I'll have men there in two minutes." They took 45 minutes to arrive. No one arrested for looting is identified as having stolen goods from the store.

Joining with other white merchants to sue the city for failing to protect his business, Avitable accessed the damage to his food market at $537. The New York Daily News published a photograph of the clean-up on the section of Lenox Avenue containing the Savoy Food Market the morning after the disorder. The market's windows have been smashed and the display emptied. Some goods appear to have been thrown on to the street; a man is clearing debris with a shovel. Another man can be seen through the window, inside the store; that may be Avitable cleaning up. The two other businesses visible beyond the market also have no windows and empty displays and shelves. Both Manny Zipp, who owned the grocery store next to Vitable's business, and Jacob Saloway, who owned the cigar store on the corner, also sued the city for damages.

The only mentions of Avitable's business are in newspaper stories about white merchants suits against the city. Both Avitable and the Savoy Food Market are listed among the first twenty suits against the city in the New York Sun, Avitable seeking $204.70 and the Savoy Food Market seeking $537, both with an address of 383 Lenox Avenue. In the stories from July reporting the appearance of some merchants before the Comptroller, the New York Post and World-Telegram identify Avitable as the owner of the food market, and the New York Sun notes he was seeking damages of $537. That evidence suggests that the separate listing for Avitable in the story from April is likely a mistake, perhaps from confusing him with Manny Zipp, who newspapers in July reported sought damages for the destruction of his grocery store at 383 Lenox Avenue (which the New York Daily News photograph shows was actually in the building at 381 Lenox Avenue).

The MCCH business survey found a white-owned food market located at 383 Lenox Avenue in the second half of 1935, suggesting that Avitable was likely still in business. The location is still a food market when photographed by the Tax Department in 1939-1941, but operating under a different name, suggesting Avitable may have left the business.
George Chronis' restaurant looted George's Lunch, the lunchroom at 319 Lenox Avenue, on the southwest corner of West 126th Street, owned by George Chronis, was open for business when crowds appeared on the street. The intersection of West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, and the blocks of the avenue to the north were the site of multiple acts of violence and attacks on businesses during the disorder, but there is no clear evidence of when crowds would have first arrived at the restaurant other than the report that looting of a store at the intersection started around 10.30 PM. Chronis told the city Comptroller that the lunchroom was staffed by one white and two Black workers that evening, according to a story in the New York Post. The Black men reacted to the disorder by leaving the restaurant, while the white man called the police station house and then locked himself in a washroom. No police responded to his call.

Chronis heard about the disorder and tried to get to his business, but the New York Post reported he told the Comptroller that police prevented him from doing so for several hours. It was 1.00 AM when he got to the restaurant, where he found his white staff member still locked in the washroom, and the lunchroom "completely demolished," according to the story in the World-Telegram. The business next door, Piskin's laundry, was also destroyed. The only mention of the damage to George's Lunch is in newspaper stories about the civil suits against the city brought by white merchants. Chronis is not part of the group of twenty who brought the first suits, but is mentioned in stories published at the end of July, by which time 106 merchants had filed suits. He appears as an example in those stories because of the large damages he sought, $14,000, because, as the New York Sun put it, his business was "completely wiped out by looters."

Police did make arrests in the vicinity of George's Lunch around that time that they allowed Chronis access, indicating the presence of officers, although not in sufficient numbers to prevent ongoing attacks on businesses. But by then, the damage to the restaurant had been done and no one was arrested for those attacks. The city lost the civil cases that went to trial to test the merchants' claims, so it is likely that Chronis received some damages, but those awards were for only a portion of the claims. It is no surprise then that Chronis appears not to have reopened his business, which is missing from the MCCH business survey in late 1935 and replaced by another store in the Tax Department photograph taken in 1939-1941.
Manny Zipp's grocery store looted Manny Zipp's grocery store at 383 Lenox Avenue, was looted during the disorder. There are no details of those events other than Zipp's statement to the city Comptroller that "everything in his store was taken," forcing him out of business, as the New York Post reported it. He had been operating the store for only three days. That section of Lenox Avenue was one in which businesses suffered extensive damage and looting, based on the claims for damages made by owners. Zipp was one of seven business owners mentioned in stories published in the New York Post, New York Sun and World-Telegram on July 23 describing testimony to the Comptroller from white businessmen suing the city for damages based on the failure of police to protect their stores. He was not in the list of those who brought the first twenty suits published earlier in the New York Sun. No one among those arrested for looting was identified as taking goods from this store.

The three stories all reported his name differently: the New York Sun called him "Manny Zipp," the New York Post reported his name as "Manning Zipp," and the World-Telegram "Manny Vitt." The name used here, Manny Zipp, combines the most frequently repeated elements of those variations.

Zipp sought $721 of damages, close to the median reported claim of $733. He was one of two businessmen suing the city who listed 383 Lenox Avenue as the location of their stores. The New York Daily News published a photograph of the clean-up on the section of Lenox Avenue containing his grocery store the morning after the disorder that shows the other business, the Savoy Food Market, at 383 Lenox Avenue. To its left is a grocery store that must be Zipp's business, notwithstanding that the address appears to be 381 Lenox Avenue. The store windows are missing, and both the display and the shelves within the store are empty. Some goods appear to have been thrown on to the street; a man is clearing debris with a shovel. The two businesses either side of Zipp's store also have no windows and empty displays and shelves. Both Anthony Vitable, who owned the Savoy Food Market, and Jacob Saloway, who owned the cigar store on the corner, also sued the city for damages.