THE ORIGINAL DAPPER DAN SHOP CIRCA 1982

Harlem Bespoke: We always wondered where the original Dapper Dan shop was after seeing images of  the storefront from the exhibit at the Schomburg a couple of years ago.  Other articles mention 35 East 125th Street but looking up the address only comes up with is the Harlem Children's Zone charter school building which is a newer construction at the Corner of Madison Avenue.  

Apparently this part of Harlem was demolished back in 2001 but archival city photos from the 80s show the shop as it once stood at a two level commercial building.  You can see the the striped awning with the yellow Dapper Dan Boutique (1982-1992) signage to the far right of the second photo from the top.  We also dug a little further back to the 1940s photo of the address and apparently there was a cabaret within the building at one point in time.  Check out our latest post on Dapper Dan to see where the new boutique ended up on Lenox Avenue: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021