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Cozy Shoppe windows not broken
Both the New York Evening Journal and New York Post stories reported that the business suffered no damage, which the newsreel footage confirms. It shows both windows of the Cozy Shoppe intact and no debris in front of the store, in contrast to the two stores to the restaurant's south visible in the image, Lazar's cigar store and K. Percy's tailor and cleaning store. The glass is gone from window to the right of the cigar store's entrance, and parts of the display are hanging out over the street, suggesting its contents have been taken, while a large hole is visible in the window to the left. The one visible window of the cleaning store closest to the camera is also missing a large section, with debris scattered on the street in front of it. The other three white-owned businesses in this block of 7th Avenue suffered similar damage and loss of merchandise. Unlike those five businesses, neither the condition of the Cozy Shoppe or the other Black-owned business, a beauty parlor, was recorded in the survey undertaken by MCCH investigator James Tartar gathering information on police shooting Lloyd Hobbs on 128th Street just west of the intersection, suggesting that the beauty parlor was also undamaged.
The MCCH business survey misrecorded the address of the Cozy Tea Shoppe as 2158 7th Avenue, on the north rather than south side of 128th Street (there are several other mistakes and businesses missing from the MCCH survey for this block). The shop owners were part of the group of Black business-owners interviewed by MCCH staff conducting the business survey. The investigator described the Cozy Shoppe as "a moderate-sized restaurant, containing booths and tables for 30 people, & counter chairs for 8 or 9 more. It is quite clean, attractively furnished, & quality of food & service is high." The business had opened at this address six years ago, with three owners and five staff.
The business at 2154 7th Avenue in the Tax Department photograph taken between 1939 and 1941 has signwriting on the windows in a different style than appeared in the newsreel footage, but must still be the Cozy Shoppe as the restaurant appears in an advertising story in the New York Age in 1949.
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This page references:
- James Tartar, "Survey made of neighboring storekeepers of the Greenfield Tire and Supply Store," (April 20, 1935), "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University)
- "Harlem: Survey - Business, Reports (4)," 1935, Roll 82, Subject Files, Office of the Mayor, Fiorello H. La Guardia records (New York City Municipal Archives)
- [Newsreel] Two damaged stores and the undamaged Cozy Shoppe with "Colored Shoppe" written on window, Excerpt from unidentified newsreel, in New York: A Documentary Film, episode 6, "City of Tomorrow," directed by Ric Burns, 2001, PBS, 1:32:01 (Amazon)
- C. C. Nicolet, "One Dead in Wake of Harlem Riots," New York Post, March 20, 1935 [clipping]
- Joseph Mickler, "Harlem Shuffles Along, Blaming Reds for Riot. 'Sure Sumpin! Negroes Say of Shootings," New York Evening Journal, March 20, 1935, 3.
- James Tartar, Drawing of businesses on 7th Avenue, 127th to 128th Street [signed & dated] (April 20, 1935), "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- "Where to Eat Tout de Suite," New York Age, October 15, 1949, 28.