348 Lenox Avenue, c. 1939-1941.
1 media/nynyma_rec0040_1_01725_0072_thumb.jpg 2024-06-03T21:13:09+00:00 Stephen Robertson a1bf8804093bc01e94a0485d9f3510bb8508e3bf 1 2 Michael D'Agostino, Sam Apuzzo, and Jack Stern all owned businesses at this address. D'Agostino likely owned the food market on the right, while Apuzzo and Stern owned the two smaller stores on the left. Source: DOF: Manhattan 1940s Tax Photos (New York City Municipal Archives). plain 2024-06-03T21:13:25+00:00 nynyma_rec0040_1_01725_0072 20180326 080511+0000 Stephen Robertson a1bf8804093bc01e94a0485d9f3510bb8508e3bfThis page has tags:
- 1 2023-12-13T11:08:36+00:00 Anonymous Department of Finance, Manhattan 1940s Tax Photos: Lenox Avenue Anonymous 4 plain 2023-12-13T16:17:17+00:00 Anonymous
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2021-05-18T20:55:45+00:00
Michael D'Agostino's market looted
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2024-06-03T21:14:03+00:00
Michael D'Agostino's food market at 348 Lenox Avenue was looted during the disorder. There are no details of those events other than the amount of the owner's claim for losses: $146.75. No one among those arrested for looting was identified as taking goods from this store. However, two unidentified men arrested for looting are both carrying full shopping bags labelled Rex Food Market, 348 Lenox Avenue, in the photograph below published in the New York Evening Journal. Those bags suggest that two of the sixteen men arrested for looting unidentified locations had taken merchandise from D'Agostino's market. Two other businesses at the same address were also looted and appear among those whose owners made claims for losses, stores owned by Sam Apuzzo and Jack Stern. The business in the neighboring building to the south, Young's Hardware at 346 Lenox Avenue was also looted, although Young was not among those identified as suing for damages.
D'Agostino appeared twice in a list of the first twenty white business-owners who filed claims for damages published in the New York Sun and New York Amsterdam News with a second business at 361 Lenox Avenue. In 1930, the federal census records that D'Agostino lived at 363 Lenox Avenue, a building anomalous in this area of Harlem in being home to only white residents. The six other households included three headed by men who owned stores in Harlem later looted during the disorder who joined D'Agostino in claiming damages from the city, William Gindin, Jacob Saloway, and Irving Stekin. There was no evidence of whether D'Agostino still lived there in 1935; Gindin at least had relocated to another building on Lenox Avenue by the time of the disorder. By the time the city Comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. D'Agostino was not among those whose testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that proceeding. However, he was one of seven store owners in the case before the Supreme Court in March 1936, identified as having received the lowest award. The two newspaper stories on those decisions differed on the details of the award; the New York Amsterdam News reported D'Agostino received $24 for the losses he claimed at 348 Lenox Avenue, whereas the New York Times reported he received $70, for claims at "248-261 Lenox Avenue," likely a misrecording of 348 and 361 Lenox Avenue, for which he had claimed a total of $343 in losses.
The claim for $146.75 in losses was one of the smaller claims reported in the press, well below the median claim of $733. However, D'Agostino did appear to have been able to remain in business. The New York Times identified D'Agostino as a fruit dealer, so he was likely the owner of the white-owned food market at 348 Lenox Avenue identified in the MCCH business survey in the second half of 1935. The Tax Department photograph of the address in 1939–1941 also showed the Rex Food Market. -
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2021-05-18T20:50:58+00:00
Jack Stern's store looted
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2024-06-03T21:15:32+00:00
Jack Stern's store at 348 Lenox Avenue was looted during the disorder. There are no details of those events other than the amount of the owner's claim for losses: $308.72. Two other businesses at the same address were also looted and appear among those whose owners made claims for losses, Michael D'Agostino's food market and a store owned by Sam Apuzzo. The business in the neighboring building to the south, Young's Hardware at 346 Lenox Avenue, was also looted, although Young was not among those identified as suing for damages.
The only evidence of the looting was the store's appearance in a list of the first twenty white business owners suing the city for damages based on the failure of police to protect their stores published in the New York Sun and New York Amsterdam News. By the time the city comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. Stern was not among those whose testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that process, nor did he appear in any of the trials to resolve claims. No one among those arrested for looting was identified as taking goods from this store.
The claim for $308.72 in losses was one of the smaller claims reported in the press, well below the median claim of $733. The city lost the court cases, so Stern likely was awarded some amount of damages, but based on those cases, it was only a small proportion. It is not clear if he was able to remain in business. The MCCH business survey did include a white-owned food market at 348 Lenox Avenue in the second half of 1935, suggesting that D'Agostino may have reopened after the disorder, but not another business that could have been operated by Stern. The Tax Department photograph of the address in 1939–1941 also showed a market, with a beauty parlor and a business that cannot be identified. -
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2021-05-18T19:57:57+00:00
Sam Apuzzo's store looted
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2024-06-03T21:16:04+00:00
Sam Apuzzo's store at 348 Lenox Avenue was looted during the disorder. There are no details of those events other than the amount of the owner's claim for damages: $195.69. Two other businesses at the same address were also looted and appear among those whose owners made claims for losses, Michael D'Agostino's food market and a store owned by Jack Stern. The business in the neighboring building to the south, Young's Hardware at 346 Lenox Avenue, was also looted, although Young was not among those identified as suing for damages.
The only evidence of the looting was the store's appearance in a list of the first twenty white business-owners suing the city for damages based on the failure of police to protect their stores published in the New York Sun and New York Amsterdam News. By the time the city comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. Apuzzo was not among those whose testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that proceeding, nor did he appear in any of the trials to resolve claims. No one among those arrested for looting was identified as taking goods from this business.
The claim for $195.69 in losses was one of the smaller claims reported in the press, well below the median claim of $733. The city lost the court cases, so Apuzzo likely was awarded some amount of damages, but based on those cases it was only a small proportion. It is not clear if he was able to remain in business. The MCCH business survey did include a white-owned food market at 348 Lenox Avenue in the second half of 1935, suggesting that D'Agostino may have reopened after the disorder, but not another business that could have been operated by Apuzzo. The Tax Department photograph of the address in 1939–1941 also showed a market, with a beauty parlor and a business that cannot be identified.