By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group
Welcome to another installment in the Rag’s Historical Photo Challenge. The image above was taken somewhere on the Upper West Side, sometime in the past. Can you figure out where, when, and what it shows? Look closely; this week’s challenge photo, like the others in the series, includes clues that will help you identify the scene, if you’re a dedicated UWS history sleuth. And even if you don’t recognize the picture—not to worry! Come back in two weeks and I’ll decode it, show you the clues that help identify it, and—best of all—tell you a story the image unlocks, because this column isn’t just a test of your neighborhood knowledge; it’s also a rolling celebration of the people, buildings and events that wove the tapestry of the Upper West Side.
Ready? If you think you know where and when the photo was taken and what it shows, post your answer as a comment on this column.
Solution to Photo Challenge #2
Subject: World War I Submarines and the submarine tender USS Tonopah
Location: Hudson River at West 135th Street
Year: May 1915
Image Source: Library of Congress; used with permission
Shoutout to readers: Plenty of you sharp readers identified Palisades Amusement Park and thus the 130th Street piers; Kimberly Haslinger, Glen, DonB, Patxi, and Elgin93 were among those who figured out it was the 1915 presidential naval review. And thanks for a couple of readers who defended my stretching of the boundaries of the UWS. It won’t be the last time I do so!
Clues: Well, we’re obviously on the Hudson—but where? There are two large signs on the New Jersey side: Warner’s Sugar at the shoreline, and Palisades Amusement Park on the hillside. That tells you we’re in the West 130s, and the car near the pier suggests 1910s-1920s. The very substantial pier is one of those at 134th and 135th Streets. A 1911 fire insurance map, together with a view of the submarines looking back at the Manhattan shore, confirms that the subs are docked at 135th Street, in front of a Gordon Brothers coal yard and a large gas tank. Our mystery photo was probably taken from the viaduct spanning Manhattanville.
The rest of the story: The picture was taken May 10, 1915. The city, the country and indeed the entire world were on edge because three days earlier a German U-Boat had sunk the Lusitania, causing the death of more than 1,200 people. Europe was already at war, but President Woodrow Wilson was navigating strong isolationist sentiment in the United States. Neutrality was the stated policy of America and would be for another two years. In the meantime, the U.S. was building up its military capabilities. The submarines docked at 135th Street were part of an Atlantic Fleet review conducted for the president. The review had been planned before the Lusitania sinking but now took on new significance. Newspapers gave extensive coverage to the dozens of warships anchored around New York, and civilians flocked to the waterfront to see them—”Million Persons View the Fleet,” wrote the New York Times, with “Lusitania on every lip.”
…and that’s the story behind the mystery image. Now scroll back to the top of the column and take on your next challenge, Sherlockians! If you’ve missed any pictures in this series, here is the complete collection.
About the author: Rob Garber has lived on the Upper West Side since the late 20th century and is a member of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group. To learn more, visit their website at upperwestsidehistory.org. All photos in Upper West Side History Photo Challenge are used by permission.
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109th Street and Broadway, early 20th Century. This is looking north. The building with the rounded corner is still standing at the northeast corner of 109th and Broadway.
Yes,
Below is now a CHASE Bank
Checked against a Google street view, this looks correct.
The building at the corner totally checks out.
Hard to argue against Lisa, given that she recognizes a specific building. I had thought, yes, Broadway, because of the “Automobiles” sign seen faintly past the “Lovera cigars ” sign. I know that Broadway was a center of automobile showrooms in the early era of cars, but I thought they were concentrated further south, closer to Columbus Circle. As for the date, I notice what looks like a subway entrance adjacent to the second carriage parked alongside the sidewalk. The subway opened along Broadway in 1904. So maybe that’s the earliest possible date. And the presence of the liquor store in the foreground makes 1920, when the Prohibition era began, the latest plausible date. But the style of dress and the design of the carriages put the date much closer to 1904. The Lovera Cigar Company was established by Jose Lovera, 1861-1928. The cigar sign looks quite new, so maybe that, too , might help in dating. Anyone have an idea?
that fire hydrant is a clue, for any fire-hydrant buffs. looks closer to 1904 than 1920
Broadway and 109th Street, northwest corner?
North East Corner
Rob, this was fantastic. Thank you for this. And I’m with you: stretch the UWS boundaries!
East side of Bway between 80 and 81?
i think its the west side of bdway
Near Columbia University
was there a subway entrance on 81 and Broadway?
Picture challenge. Amsterdam and W79th. Nice Matin is there now.
Columbus Avenue between 69 and 68, looking south? Maybe showing new electric lamp posts?
Hi
This picture is taken at 104th street looking down broadway, maybe around 1917.
West 73rd St & Amstterdam Avenue
East side of Broadway and 79th St.,, looking north.
Photo is 68th st and Columbus Ave.
East side of Broadway between 109th and 110 Streets. The building in the foreground at 109th is still standing (part of Chase bank). The large apartment building with the loggia on top at 111th St is still standing (Duane Reade). Clue: Subway entrance at 110th Street. Photo probably taken between 1914 and 1920.
Where was Dreyer’s Liquor store?
NE corner of 109 and B’way , , ,
Benner Motor company?
Uptown at Broadway at 109-110 th street (with 110th St subway station entrance pictured) in the year 1905-06, with the mix of early automobiles and horse carriages, and all the men wearing derby hats and women long dresses.
I agree with northeast corner of 109th and Broadway. Tall builing in background looks like 545 west 111 st., built in 1909. So maybe photo is 1910?
I admit to having gone around the block a few times, but was surprised that I recognized the corner building immediately. It’s still there on the corner of 109th St and Broadway. Now I don’t remember the Lovera Cigar store, (now part of a Chase Bank) but I do remember when the space above the Automobile sign was a Chinese restaurant where would take our kids regularly. Also of note is the large apartment building a few blocks north, which is still there minus the pergola and decorative railings on the roof.
Date: Judging from the preponderance of horse drawn vehicles ( and a few “road apples” on the pavement) and the big Automobile sign on the storefront that it would have to be somewhere around 1905 to 1915.
Thanks for the ride.
It’s amazing that we won any war with that equipment.
Ansonia
I agree it’s 109th/110th (though I myself had only recognized the taller building in background). As to the date, early 1910 seems likely because there are large posters for the play, “Where There’s a Will,” which was originally a 1908 French play by Feydeau. The ibdb data base says it ran Feb 7, 1910 – Apr 1910 at Weber’s Music Hall in New York.
It’s wild that IMDB has the dates of when a small play ran over 100 years ago and we can look it up today
SW corner B’way/77th. Now the Belleclaire Hotel.
The large building in the background with the corner tower is The Rockfall. It still stands today but the tower is gone along with its balconies. I used to live there and volunteered to restore the lobby. Photos on my website: http://www.michaellaudati.com.
Subject: The now defunct Lovera Cigar Shop and other storefronts in the early twentieth century. This must have been before prohibition in the 1920’s.
Location: The uptown corner of 109th and Broadway. Only the corner building, which housed the liquor store, is still standing, which is now a CHASE Bank
Late to the Party: I just saw the posts below 😮
69th and Columbus, looking south.
I think its the block where Zabars is located. The top of one of the buildings looks familiar The street is Broadway between west 80 and west 81
ps..I have lived on the West Side since 1970
Would have been nice to have all those piers in the W 120’s, 130’s.
Northeast corner, W. 109th and Broadway. Looking north. Subway entrance was a helpful hint
The building where Zabar’s is located
SW corner of 84th and Bwy. 5 Napkin Burger there now.
West 81st Street and Columbus
Looks like 81st and Broadway to me, looking south toward The Apthorp to me.
With out question, Absolute Bagels on 107 and Broadway.
Problem solved.
Thank you and have a blessed day.
This historic photograph captures the southwest (or possibly southeast) corner of Columbus Avenue and West 69th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The sign for “Lovera Cigars” aligns perfectly with period photos of the shop located at 190–198 Columbus Avenue at 69th Street
nyc.com
+15
landmarkwest.org
+15
pinterest.com
+15
.
The building itself—a four-story neo‑Grec structure with Queen Anne embellishments—was built in the mid‑1880s by architects Thom & Wilson, and housed Lovera’s cigar shop on the ground floor by at least 1913, as depicted in Museum of the City of New York collections
landmarkwest.org
.
Other details in your photo—like the early automobile showroom sign (“Automobiles”) and a subway entrance—are consistent with Broadway/Columbus Avenue being part of Manhattan’s early 20th-century “Automobile Row.” Taken together, the cues strongly place this image at Columbus Avenue & W 69th Street, circa 1904–1915
I agree with ML – that’s the Apthorp, so we’re on the west side of Broadway looking south from 81st. 1915?
No cheating on Google but I have an advantage. First clue is the reference to Bloomingdale. That refers to Broadway North of 96th Street. Second clue is the location on the block of the subway shed. Here I have the advantage – I lived on Broadway and 110th and Riverside and 103 for years, so I can zero in on this location as the corner of Broadway and 109 looking North. I wonder if it was as rat infested then as it is now. My Jack Russell terrier caught a humongous rat in front of that corner building, currently a Chase branch.
Kinda crazy that the giveaway is the small building on the corner and that it’s still here. I for sure would have thought the tall building in the back with the 3 cutouts in the tower would still be here, but sadly it looks like it’s gone. I wonder what the history of that building was.
Also, why are so many people saying 81 and Broadway?
I now have some doubt in doubt about my early assertion that this is the corner of 109th and Broadway. While the corner building seems to match the one in the old photo perfectly, the history I’ve just read about the Broadway building indicates different retail tenants in that approximate time period: a cafe and then a ladies’ furnishings store. Also the building just north of it (in the historic photo on the Landmark West website, see link below) is different in window configuration than that of the building with the sign “Automobiles” in the mystery photo here.
“In 1915 Kahn & Co., a “ladies’ furnishings” store, took over the former café space. It was still there four years later when an advertisement read, “Salesladies wanted in blouse shop. Must be experienced. Good salary and steady position. 2820 Broadway, corner 109th St.” from https://www.landmarkwest.org/theboulevard/2820-broadway/
The conjecture about 190-198 Columbus Avenue and 69th seems incorrect. The address Ken mentions has a building by the architects he cites, but looks nothing like the mystery photo.
https://www.landmarkwest.org/building/190-columbus-avenue/
See photo of Lovera cigar store at Columbus and 69th. Not at all resembling the corner building in our mystery photo.
https://www.landmarkwest.org/theywerehere/190-columbus-avenue/