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

Harry Levinson's store looted

Harry Levinson's store at 100 West 129th Street was looted during the disorder. There are no details of those events. That section of Lenox Avenue was one in which businesses suffered extensive damage and looting, based on the claims for damages made by owners. Levinson appears in a list of white business owners who brought the first twenty suits for damages against the city for the failure of police to protect their stores, published in the New York Sun. The list includes only a name, business address, and the amount of damages sought. By the time the city Comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. Levinson is mentioned in only one of the three newspaper stories about that proceeding, with the New York Sun reporting that the "mob cleaned out" his store, but no other information. No one arrested for looting is identified as having stolen goods from the store.

Levinson sued for $4805 in losses, one of the larger reported claims, is well above the median claim of $733. The city lost the test cases, so he likely was awarded some amount of damages, but based on those case it was likely only a small proportion. The New York Sun reported that he told the Comptroller that he had been forced to retire. No store appears at his address in the MCCH business survey in the second half of 1935; the Tax Department photographs do not include a clear view of the address.

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