RADIO ROW
Cortland Street between Washington and Greenwich Streets
APRIL 8, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 101

Just north of the Syrian district was Radio Row, a block of stores selling radios and related electrical equipment. The row was dominated by Heins and Bolet, the oldest and most reliable of radio stores, open since 1920. As its competitors came and went, Heins and Bolet endured, maintaining a huge inventory, soundproof booths large enough to demonstrate five console radios at a time, an efficient repair service, and a willingness to give customers a "break." The business did not close until the neighborhood was razed in the late 1960s for the construction of the World Trade Center.

In the background of Abbott's photograph is a whimsical "Swiss chalet" style elevated train station, built in the 1870s and typical of early stations on the Ninth Avenue El--the first built, and torn down four years after Abbott's photograph.

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