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

Abe Mohr's store looted

Abe Mohr's store at 2131 7th Avenue was looted during the disorder. There were no details of those events other than the amount of the owner's claim for losses: $167.50. At least one other store in that row of one story businesses, Joseph Cohen's store at 2129 7th Avenue, was also looted. Windows in those stores could have been broken by groups coming from 125th Street beginning around 8:30 PM. Looting likely did not take place until around 10:30 PM, when enough damage was done to windows to allow merchandise to be taken and the owners had closed the businesses and left.

The only evidence of the looting was the store's appearance in lists of the first twenty white business owners filing claims against the city for damages published in the New York Sun and New York Amsterdam News. By the time the city comptroller heard testimony from those making claims, 106 owners had sought damages. Mohr was not among those whose testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that proceeding, nor did he appear in any of the trials to resolve those claims. No one arrested for looting was identified as having stolen goods from the store.



Mohr's claim for $167.50 in losses was well below the median claim of $733 of those reported in the press. The city lost the courts cases, so Mohr likely was awarded some amount of damages, but based on those cases it was likely only a small proportion. It was not clear if he was able to remain in business. The MCCH business survey did include a white tailor's store at 2131 7th Avenue in the second half of 1935 that could have been Mohr's store. The Tax Department photograph of the address in 1939–1941 was taken at an angle that did not show the storefront.

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