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Irving Stetkin's store looted
The looting of 363 Lenox Avenue is not mentioned in the newspaper stories about business owners suing the city published at the end of July, in which Stetkin described the attack on his stationary store and the failure of police to protect his business. 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. Stories on the case identify Stetkin because he received the largest award, for damages to both his stores, 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, 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.
Stetkin had sought $2068 for damage to the stationary store and an unspecified amount for 363 Lenox Avenue. The New York Sun reported he was "not in business anymore" in describing the damage to the stationary store; there is no indication whether that statement also applied to the store at 363 Lenox Avenue. The MCCH business survey found two white-owned businesses at the address in the second half of 1935, a delicatessen and a stationary store, but there is no evidence of their owners in the survey or in the Tax Department photograph from 1939-1941.