This page was created by Anonymous. The last update was by Stephen Robertson.
Sav-on Drug Store looted
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. The drug store was one of three businesses where the store name was included rather than the owner's name. The only other information provided was the address and the amount of the claim. By the time the city comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. The drug store was not among those whose owner's testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that proceeding, nor was it the subject of 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 $572 in losses was one of the smaller claims detailed in the newspaper stories, less than the median reported claim of $733. The city lost the court cases, so the store owner likely was awarded some amount of damages, but based on those case it was only a small proportion. Whatever the award, the store appeared to have been able to remain in business. The MCCH business survey included a white-owned Sav-on Drug Store at 327 Lenox Avenue in the second half of 1935. The business also appeared in the Tax Department photograph from 1939–1941.