☞ REMEMBER: MANHATTANVILLE GAS STATION c.1941

Harlem Bespoke:  We are revisiting some of the past features on disappearing gas stations uptown that have been posted on the blog in the past decade and the above example was probably due to population decline.  When the city Harlem lost over half its residents by the end of the last century (57% decrease from 237,468 in 1950 to 101,026 by early 1990s), there was most likely less demand for fuel stops at every part of the neighborhood. 

A photo from 1941 shows the triangular intersection at 125th Street and 12th Avenue that houses the third incarnation of the Cotton Club in Manhattanville.  This peculiar commercial plot has a distinct shape to it and the lower photo shows that the lounge is really just a white stucco version of the original building.  Harlem's first Cotton Club was located more centrally than this location (by West 142nd Street) and the owners eventually moved the venue to midtown in latter years.  This new version of the iconic Harlem boîte was open in more recent decades and does not share the history of the original two.

Wurts Bros. New York, NY, St. Clare and 12th Avenue at 125th Street gas station, 6/21/41 via the digital collection at the Museum of the City of New York