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

[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)

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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 the 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 nor 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.
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, 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 showed 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 side 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 appeared in his list of looted businesses, suggesting the beauty parlor may also have been undamaged. Lazar was not among the twenty-seven owners identified as having sued the city for failing to protect their businesses, but an additional eighty-five owners who brought suits were not identified. 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. However, one window visible in the newsreel appeared to have items taken from it, with parts of the display hanging out over the street.

The times that the windows were broken was early enough in the evening that most of those 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 indicated that they witnessed the attacks. Someone was also in the Cozy Shoppe to write on its window that it was a "Colored Shoppe." It was 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 was the only source that mentioned 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 window of the auto equipment store at 2150 7th Avenue passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. Hobbs and witnesses at the scene said he had been passing by not taking goods from the store. After stopping their car, one of the officers, Patrolman John McInerney, chased after the crowd and fatally shot Hobbs.

It was not clear if Lazar was able to remain in business. The MCCH business survey did not record any stores at 2154 7th Avenue, but given that the survey located the Cozy Shoppe at 2158 7th Avenue, instead of 2154 7th Avenue, the white-owned stationery store recorded as being at 2156 7th Avenue may have been Lazar's business. The nature of the businesses at 2154 7th Avenue was 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, and $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 window of the auto equipment store at 2150 7th Avenue passing merchandise to a crowd of people on the street. After they stopped their car and chased after the crowd, one, Patrolman McInerney, 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 did 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.)