A photo of what today is LaSalle Street and Broadway shows how drastically different storefronts were designed and constructed in the past. The top image shows a cafe that used to be situated on this corner of Manhattanville and the domed glass entranceway that reminds one of the old eateries in Paris. At the lower photo, one can see the standard storefront as it stands today. As better business arrive in the neighborhood, the new challenge will be to also add some charm to the street level. A couple of local businesses, such as Lenox Coffee, Pisticci and the new Harlem Shake captures the feel of these classic storefront but nothing as elaborate as the cafe from 1910 has returned to Harlem as of yet.
Archival photo courtesy the Museum of the City of New York
i love it
ReplyDeleteGorgeous original storefront, but prohibitively expensive to produce today with all those curves.
ReplyDeleteSo, Right.. I am hear in one of those lovely cafe's in Paris now. To think that we had similar architecture back home that was replaced by not style is so sad !! Let's hope that as Harlem continues to grow. So will our imaginations. Hope this new business' are listening !!
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