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As SoHo wraps up its busy holiday shopping season, let’s look back to the business and retail scene of Broadway’s past. The corridor has gone though many iterations, and the Municipal Archive’s collection of street photographs from the NYC Tax Department from 1939-1941 offers us a glimpse of businesses of the area’s past.
Today, Broadway in SoHo is an international shopping destination with brands from all over the world. As one-stop corridor featuring clothing, shoes, jewelry, beauty, food, and more, SoHo provides convenient and exciting shopping options for visitors. By the 1940s, business in the district was well established with companies producing, distributing and selling a wide range of goods. A September 1939 issue of the New York Times noted that Broadway between Worth Street and Prince, still yet to be christened SoHo, was seeing an increased demand for leases. However, the variety and type of storefront tenants was very different than today’s.
Viewers can quickly identify a pattern when looking at SoHo Broadway’s storefronts in the 1940s. Fabric stores and companies producing, distributing, and selling underwear, suspenders, socks, and other undergarments clearly dominated. This concentration of similar stores may have drawn buyers who wanted to ensure they could get what they needed in one trip.
Lamport Company, Inc., located at 507 Broadway, was one of the most widely known American exporters of cotton in the 1930s and 1940s, in part due to its generous owner Samuel C. Lamport. Lamport inherited the company from his father, and used his wealth and standing to support causes he believed in. He personally bought $1 million worth of Liberty Loan bonds to support the American war effort in WWI, frequently gave to Jewish philanthropic and educational institutions, and advocated for shorter hours and higher wages for textile workers.
While many businesses from the early 20th century are no longer operating, J.S. Woodhouse Co. is still active. First founded in Western New York in 1843, the company has sold agricultural equipment for over 150 years. Part of this longstanding history took place at 587 Broadway, as seen in the photo below. The company was initially located in the city to serve nearby farmers, but industrialization led to a change in ownership and audience for the company. Although it is no longer on Broadway, the longevity of J.S. Woodhouse Co. is worth noting, and is possibly the oldest agricultural distributor in North America.
The Eagle Diner and Scher’s Luncheonette were just two of many eating options along the Broadway corridor in the 40s. The Eagle Diner, located on Prince and Broadway, was a favorite haunt of artists who moved to the area in later decades and has previously been featured in the Lookback series. Residents recalled the cheap prices and endearments from waitresses. Scher’s Luncheonette, located at 489 Broadway, does not have an internet footprint, but we can see from the photo that it advertised “soda” and “candy”, hoping to tempt the passersby who had a sweet tooth.
All photographs are courtesy of The 1940s Tax Department Photographs collection from the New York City Municipal Archives, City of New York.
