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

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).

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Cozy Shoppe windows not broken Sometime during the disorder, "Colored Shoppe" was written in white on the window of the Cozy Shoppe at 2154 7th Avenue, on the southwest corner of 128th Street. That wording was reported in a story in the New York Post, and is visible in newsreel footage shot on 7th Avenue in front of the cleaning company two shopfronts to the south looking toward the Cozy Shoppe. The New York Evening Journal described alternative wording, "Colored Tea Shoppe," adding the sarcastic commentary that the owners had been "consistent even in the midst of the riot," "the need for speed apparently not making for simplified spelling" [i.e. shop rather than shoppe]. Both newspapers identified the business as the "Cozy Tea Shoppe," but the signage visible on the windows in the newsreel footage reads "Cozy Shoppe," with "Tea Room" in the windows running across the top of the entrance doors. The MCCH business survey and the drawing of the block by MCCH investigator James Tartar both recorded the business name as "Cozy Shop."

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. Across 7th Avenue from the Cozy Shoppe, the Black-owned Williams drug store did have windows broken, but those which had "Colored Store, Nix Jack!" written on them. So too did the Black-owned Battle's Pharmacy across 128th Street from the restaurant at 2156 7th Avenue.

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.
Greenfield Auto Equipment store looted Around 9.00 PM, while Louis Eisenberg and three of his staff were dressing one of the show windows of his store, Greenfield Auto Equipment, at 2150 7th Avenue, someone threw a brick through the window. A group of Black men rushed into the store, and Eisenberg told police he and his staff fled out a rear window, into the back yard of the store. They did not leave the yard until around 11.30 PM, when they avoided the "mob" on the street by jumping in a passing taxi. In his complaint to police the next day, Eisenberg had said the window was shattered about 10.00 PM, but he told James Tartar, an investigator for the MCCH that five windows were broken between 8.30 PM and 9.00PM. Tartar also recorded information from the white owners of four of the six other occupied stores on this block of 7th Avenue, between West 127th Street and West 128th Street, who reported windows broken sometime between 8.45 PM and 11.00 PM. The owner of the cleaning store neighboring Eisenberg's store specified that the windows in the auto equipment store were broken before those in his store, four of which targeted between 8.45 PM and 9.30 PM. The Black-owned Cozy Shoppe at 2154 7th Avenue, on the corner of 128th Street, was undamaged; someone from that store had written "Colored Shoppe" on the store window. Tartar included the "Cozy Shop" on his drawing of the block, together with a Black-owned beauty parlor to the left of the auto equipment store, but neither appear in his list of looted businesses, suggesting the beauty parlor may also have been undamaged.

When crowds that had been focused on the block of West 125th Street housing Kress' store began moving to other parts of Harlem, the blocks immediately north on 7th Avenue were among their first targets. As they had on West 125th Street, people threw objects at the windows of white stores, at whites on the streets, and around 11.00 PM, at a passing Fifth Avenue Company bus, and later looted stores. The time the crowds appeared was early enough in the evening that most of the stores would still have been open for business, or at least still staffed, as Greenfield Auto Equipment was. That all those interviewed by Tartar could give a time when people threw objects that broke their store windows indicates they were present. The store owners also provided the value of the stock stolen from their stores. Eisenberg put the value of stock stolen from his store at $850; when he reported the theft to police he provided a two-page list of merchandise without information on its value. While Eisenberg's account of men rushing into his store implies that goods were stolen as soon as the window was broken, the more fragmentary responses Tartar recorded from the other store owners suggest that looting may have happened later, as more general narratives in the press relate. The owner of the saloon on the corner of West 127th Street, the Harlem Grill, reported one window broke around 9.00PM, and two more at least an hour later. Crowds smashed windows in stores on the opposite side of the street apparently without looting them around 9.45 PM, when a police officer arrested Leroy Brown for urging a group of people to follow his lead after he threw a tailor's dummy through a window.

Whenever the looting started, by around 11.00 PM, when Howard Malloy passed the store, all the goods in the display window had been taken, he told Tartar in an interview on April 5. On March 20, Detective O'Brien visited the store and reported that he found "five (5) windows of the store broken and merchandise strewn about the floor and window. Also noted that the street in the immediate vicinity was littered with broken glass, bricks, stones and other heavy objects." There is no evidence that Eisenberg reopened the store after the disorder: it does not appear in the MCCH business survey taken in the second half of 1935 (although neither do the Harlem Grill and tailor shop on the block that appear in later tax photos), and it is definitely gone by 1939, when a billiard parlor is photographed at the location.

Information on the Greenfield Auto Equipment store, and those store neighboring it, appears in the records of the MCCH because of what happened after the looting, or at least after the looting had started. Around 12.55 AM, two police officers in a squad car traveling south on 7th Avenue reported hearing smashing glass, and seeing Lloyd Hobbs, a sixteen-year-old Black student standing in the store window passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. They stopped their car and chased after the crowd. As Hobbs ran across west across 128th Street Patrolman McInery shot the boy in the back. Although the officers transported him to Harlem Hospital, Hobbs died on March 30. He and his younger brother had been at a show at the Apollo Theater until 12.30 AM, when they emerged to find "general disorder and many broken windows." Russell told Tartar that they wanted to "see and hear what was going on," so walked along 125th Street and up 7th Avenue, passing a crowd in front of Eisenberg's store at the time the police car arrived. Both boys denied they had looted the store; they had simply joined the crowd in running when the police car stopped, and McInerny had shot Lloyd without warning when he split from the group and turned west on 128th Street, back in the direction of the family home. Three Black eye-witnesses, including Howard Malloy, confirmed that account. Police insisted Hobbs had stolen goods from the store, but they did not produce the items they claimed to have found on him - a horn and socket set - until several weeks after the shooting. The grand jury twice declined to indict McInnery for shooting Hobbs, accepting his claim that it was justifiable homicide. The MCCH did not agree, and Hobbs became a central part of their report on the events of the disorder.

No other people were arrested or charged with looting the Greenfield Auto Equipment store, or the other stores on this block of 7th Avenue. Without the attention brought by McInerny's killing of Hobbs, the extensive damage and loss of property would not be visible in the historical record, as was the case with a significant proportion of the attacks on property during the disorder. The store appears to have remained in business after the disorder, as white-owned auto supply store is recorded in the MCCH business survey (mistakenly located at 2152 7th Avenue rather than 2150 7th Avenue). But by 1939 the store was gone, with a billiard parlor in its place in the Tax Department photograph.
Alfonso Principe's saloon looted Around 9.00 PM, an object thrown from the street broke the first window in the Harlem Grill, a saloon at 2140 7th Avenue, the manager, Louis Fata told James Tartar, an investigator for the MCCH. Over an hour later, between 10 and 11:00 PM, more objects thrown at the saloon broke two more windows. At some point in the evening, individuals went further into the business, stealing "about $700" of stock Fata estimated. Further examination clearly revealed fewer losses, as when the owner Alfonso Principe sued the city, he asked for damages of only $453.90, according to the New York Sun. Tartar also recorded information from the white owners of four of the other six occupied stores on this block of 7th Avenue, between West 127th Street and West 128th Street. They reported windows broken sometime between 8.45 PM and 11.00 PM, and stock losses ranging from $33 at the cigar store at 2154 7th Avenue, $200 at the grocery store next to the saloon at 2140 7th Avenue, $150 at the cleaning company at 2152 7th Avenue to $850 at the auto equipment store at 2152 7th Avenue. None of those neighboring storeowners were among the twenty-seven identified as suing the city for failing to protect their businesses, but an additional eighty-five who brought suits were not identified. The Black-owned Cozy Shoppe at 2154 7th Avenue, on the corner of 128th Street, was undamaged; someone from that store had written "Colored Shoppe" on the store window. Tartar included the "Cozy Shop" on his drawing of the block, together with a Black-owned beauty parlor to the left of the auto equipment store, but neither appear in his list of looted businesses, suggesting the beauty parlor may also have been undamaged.

When crowds that had been focused on the block of West 125th Street housing Kress' store began moving to other parts of Harlem, the blocks immediately north on 7th Avenue were among their first targets. The saloon sat on the corner of 7th Avenue and West 127th Street, so only two blocks from where the disorder began. As they had on West 125th Street, people threw objects at the windows of white stores, at whites on the streets, and around 11.00 PM, at a passing Fifth Avenue Company bus, and later looted stores. The time the crowds appeared was early enough in the evening that most of the stores would still have been open for business, or at least still staffed, as the saloon apparently was. That all those interviewed by Tartar could give a time when people threw objects that broke their store windows indicates they were present. Someone was also present in the Cozy Shoppe to write on its window that it was a "Colored Shoppe." It is not clear if the white business were occupied when they were looted. Tartar recorded the value of the stock stolen from their stores, suggesting that looting may have happened some time after windows were broken, as more general narratives in the press relate. Crowds smashed windows in stores on the opposite side of the street apparently without looting them around 9.45 PM, when a police officer arrested Leroy Brown for urging a group of people to follow his lead after he threw a tailor's dummy through a window. No one arrested for looting is identified as having stolen goods from the saloon.

James Tartar investigated the Harlem Grill, and those businesses neighboring it, because of what happened after the looting, or at least after the looting had started. Around 12.55 AM, two police officers in a squad car traveling south on 7th Avenue reported hearing smashing glass, and seeing Lloyd Hobbs, a sixteen-year-old Black student standing in the store window passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. After they stopped their car and chased after the crowd, one, Patrolman McInerny, fatally shot Hobbs. Hobbs and witnesses at the scene said he had been passing by not taking goods from the store. The only other source that mentioned the Harlem Grill is the New York Sun list of the first group of businessowners to sue the city (which gave the address of the business not its name). By the time the city Comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. Principe is not among those whose testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that proceeding, nor does he appear in any of the trials to test the claims.

The claim for $453.90 in losses is less than the median reported claim of $733. The city lost the test cases, so Principe likely was awarded some amount of damages, but based on those case it was likely only a small proportion. However, it appears he was able to remain in business. The Harlem Grill appears in both the MCCH business survey conducted in the second half of 1935, and in the Tax Department photograph of 2140 7th Avenue taken in 1939-1941.
Mr Lazar's cigar store looted Around 9.30 PM, an object thrown from the street broke a window in Lazar's cigar store at 2154 7th Avenue, the owner told James Tartar, an investigator for the MCCH. By 10.30 PM, more objects thrown at the store had broken two more windows. Newsreel footage shot on 7th Avenue in front of the cleaning company to the south of the cigar store looking toward the corner shows the glass gone from window to the right of the store's entrance, whose contents appear to have been taken, and a large hole in the window to the left. Lazar's losses totaled $33, Tartar recorded. He also spoke to the white owners of four of the other six occupied stores on this block of 7th Avenue, between West 127th Street and West 128th Street. They reported windows broken sometime between 8.45 PM and 11.00 PM, and stock losses ranging from $150 at the cleaning company at 2152 7th Avenue, $200 at the grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue, $700 at the saloon next to the grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue, to $850 at the auto equipment store at 2150 7th Avenue. The Black-owned Cozy Shoppe on the right of the cigar store was undamaged; someone from that store had written "Colored Shoppe" on the store window. Tartar included the "Cozy Shop" on his drawing of the block, together with a Black-owned beauty parlor to the left of the auto equipment store, but neither appear in his list of looted businesses, suggesting the beauty parlor may also have been undamaged. Lazar was not among the twenty-seven identified as suing the city for failing to protect their businesses, but an additional eighty-five who brought suits were not identified. Although Tartar recorded "losses" rather than "stock losses" in the case of the cigar store, raising the possibility that only Lazar's windows were damaged, rather than the store being looted, one window visible in the newsreel appears to have items taken from it, with parts of the display hanging out over the street.

When crowds that had been focused on the block of West 125th Street housing Kress' store began moving to other parts of Harlem, the blocks immediately north on 7th Avenue were among their first targets. As they had on West 125th Street, people threw objects at the windows of white stores, at whites on the streets, and around 11.00 PM, at a passing Fifth Avenue Company bus, and later looted stores. The time the crowds appeared was early enough in the evening that most of the stores would still have been open for business, or at least still staffed, as the cigar store apparently was. That all those interviewed by Tartar could give a time when people threw objects that broke their store windows indicates they were present. Someone was also present in the Cozy Shoppe to write on its window that it was a "Colored Shoppe." It is not clear if the white business were occupied when they were looted. Tartar recorded the value of the stock stolen from their stores, suggesting that looting may have happened some time after windows were broken, as more general narratives in the press relate. Crowds smashed windows in stores on the opposite side of the street apparently without looting them around 9.45 PM, when a police officer arrested Leroy Brown for urging a group of people to follow his lead after he threw a tailor's dummy through a window. No one arrested for looting is identified as having stolen goods from the store.

James Tartar's survey is the only source that mentions the grocery store. His investigation was related to what happened after the looting, or at least after the looting had started. Around 12.55 AM, two police officers in a squad car traveling south on 7th Avenue reported hearing smashing glass, and seeing Lloyd Hobbs, a sixteen-year-old Black student standing in the store window passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. After they stopped their car and chased after the crowd, one, Patrolman McInerny, fatally shot Hobbs. Hobbs and witnesses at the scene said he had been passing by not taking goods from the store.

It is not clear if Lazar was able to remain in business. The MCCH business survey does not record any stores at 2154 7th Avenue, but given that the survey locates the Cozy Shoppe at 2158 7th Avenue, instead of 2154 7th Avenue, the white-owned stationary store recorded as being at 2156 7th Avenue may be Lazar's business. The nature of the businesses at 2154 7th Avenue is not visible in the Tax Department photograph taken in 1939-1941.
K. Percy's tailor and cleaning store looted Around 8.45 PM, an object thrown from the street broke a window in the N. Y. Cleaning and Dyeing Company store at 2152 7th Avenue, the owner Mr. K. Percy told James Tartar, an investigator for the MCCH. By 9.30 PM, more objects thrown at the store had broken three more windows. At some point in the evening, individuals went further into the business, stealing $150 of stock. Newsreel footage shot on 7th Avenue in front of the cleaning company shows the window to the right off the door missing a large section, with debris scattered on the street in front of it (the rest of the store is out of shot). Tartar also recorded information from the white owners of four of the other six occupied stores on this block of 7th Avenue, between West 127th Street and West 128th Street. They reported windows broken sometime between 8.45 PM and 11.00 PM, and stock losses ranging from $33 at the cigar store at 2154 7th Avenue, $200 at the grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue, $700 at the saloon next to the grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue, to $850 at the auto equipment store at 2150 7th Avenue. The Black-owned Cozy Shoppe at 2154 7th Avenue, on the corner of 128th Street, was undamaged; someone from that store had written "Colored Shoppe" on the store window. Tartar included the "Cozy Shop" on his drawing of the block, together with a Black-owned beauty parlor to the left of the auto equipment store, but neither appear in his list of looted businesses, suggesting the beauty parlor may also have been undamaged. Percy was not among the twenty-seven identified as suing the city for failing to protect their businesses, but an additional eighty-five who brought suits were not identified.

When crowds that had been focused on the block of West 125th Street housing Kress' store began moving to other parts of Harlem, the blocks immediately north on 7th Avenue were among their first targets. As they had on West 125th Street, people threw objects at the windows of white stores, at whites on the streets, and around 11.00 PM, at a passing Fifth Avenue Company bus, and later looted stores. The time the crowds appeared was early enough in the evening that most of the stores would still have been open for business, or at least still staffed, as the saloon apparently was. That all those interviewed by Tartar could give a time when people threw objects that broke their store windows indicates they were present. Someone was also present in the Cozy Shoppe to write on its window that it was a "Colored Shoppe." It is not clear if the white business were occupied when they were looted. Tartar recorded the value of the stock stolen from their stores, suggesting that looting may have happened some time after windows were broken, as more general narratives in the press relate. Crowds smashed windows in stores on the opposite side of the street apparently without looting them around 9.45 PM, when a police officer arrested Leroy Brown for urging a group of people to follow his lead after he threw a tailor's dummy through a window. No one arrested for looting is identified as having stolen goods from the store.

James Tartar's survey is the only source that mentions Percy's store. His investigation was related to what happened after the looting, or at least after the looting had started. Around 12.55 AM, two police officers in a squad car traveling south on 7th Avenue reported hearing smashing glass, and seeing Lloyd Hobbs, a sixteen-year-old Black student standing in the store window passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. After they stopped their car and chased after the crowd, one, Patrolman McInerny, fatally shot Hobbs. Hobbs and witnesses at the scene said he had been passing by not taking goods from the store.

It appears that Percy was able to remain in business. Although the MCCH business survey does not include a store at this address, a tailor and cleaning store appears in the Tax Department photograph of 2152 7th Avenue taken in 1939-1941.(Tartar's sketch of the block in 1935 identified Percy's business as a tailor, while the newsreel footage shows a sign advertising prices for cleaning).
J. P. Bulluroff's grocery store looted Around 8.45 PM, an object thrown from the street broke a window in J. P. Bulluroff's grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue, he told James Tartar, an investigator for the MCCH. By 10 PM, more objects thrown at the store had broken two more windows. At some point in the evening, individuals went further into the business, stealing $200 of stock. Tartar also spoke to the owners of four of the other six occupied stores on this block of 7th Avenue, between West 127th Street and West 128th Street. They reported windows broken sometime between 8.45 PM and 11.00 PM, and stock losses ranging from $33 at the cigar store at 2154 7th Avenue, $700 at the saloon next to the grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue, $150 at the cleaning company at 2152 7th Avenue, to $850 at the auto equipment store at 2152 7th Avenue. Bulluroff was not among the twenty-seven identified as suing the city for failing to protect their businesses, but an additional eighty-five who brought suits were not identified. The Black-owned Cozy Shoppe at 2154 7th Avenue, on the corner of 128th Street, was undamaged; someone from that store had written "Colored Shoppe" on the store window. Tartar included the "Cozy Shop" on his drawing of the block, together with a Black-owned beauty parlor to the left of the auto equipment store, but neither appear in his list of looted businesses, suggesting the beauty parlor may also have been undamaged.

When crowds that had been focused on the block of West 125th Street housing Kress' store began moving to other parts of Harlem, the blocks immediately north on 7th Avenue were among their first targets. As they had on West 125th Street, people threw objects at the windows of white stores, at whites on the streets, and around 11.00 PM, at a passing Fifth Avenue Company bus, and later looted stores. The time the crowds appeared was early enough in the evening that most of the stores would still have been open for business, or at least still staffed, as the saloon apparently was. That all those interviewed by Tartar could give a time when people threw objects that broke their store windows indicates they were present. Someone was also present in the Cozy Shoppe to write on its window that it was a "Colored Shoppe." It is not clear if the white business were occupied when they were looted. Tartar recorded the value of the stock stolen from their stores, suggesting that looting may have happened some time after windows were broken, as more general narratives in the press relate. Crowds smashed windows in stores on the opposite side of the street apparently without looting them around 9.45 PM, when a police officer arrested Leroy Brown for urging a group of people to follow his lead after he threw a tailor's dummy through a window. No one arrested for looting is identified as having stolen goods from the store.

James Tartar's survey is the only source that mentions the grocery store. His investigation was related to what happened after the looting, or at least after the looting had started. Around 12.55 AM, two police officers in a squad car traveling south on 7th Avenue reported hearing smashing glass, and seeing Lloyd Hobbs, a sixteen-year-old Black student standing in the store window passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. After they stopped their car and chased after the crowd, one, Patrolman McInerny, fatally shot Hobbs. Hobbs and witnesses at the scene said he had been passing by not taking goods from the store.

It appears that Bulluroff was able to remain in business. A grocery store, the Harlem Market, appears in the Tax Department photograph of 2140 7th Avenue taken in 1939-1941, with Bulluroff's name visible on the awning in the photograph of 2142 7th Avenue. (However, the MCCH business survey identifies the grocery store at 2140 7th Avenue as a black-owned business named the Economy Grocery Store).