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Small Businesses in the Historic Image Archive

Linda Yowell, architect and preservationist, recently donated a wide assortment of photos to Village Preservation’s Historic Image Archive, covering the 1970s through the late 1990s. Among them are images of small businesses that Yowell, who has also been a Village Preservation trustee since 1998, captured during that period. Some of the stores have long since disappeared, but others are still with us. Here’s a quick survey of what you can find among the storefronts in this new collection.

239-235 Bleecker Street, photo by Linda Yowell

Take this photo of Bleecker Street from 1998. No. 237 here is the home of Beasty Feast, a pet food store that opened in 1977. The store has been located at 327 West 14th Street since 2017, and was named our Businesses of the Month in September 2021.

22 Eighth Avenue, Casa Magazines, photo by Linda Yowell

Casa Magazines at 22 Eighth Avenue, which has been located here for five decades, was named a Business of the Month in September 2018 and a winner of our annual Village Awards in 2021

Secondhand Rose, 549 Hudson Street, photo by Linda Yowell

One store no longer with us is Secondhand Rose, a vintage wallpaper shop that opened in 1965 and had been located at 549 Hudson Street and other downtown sites until 2010, when it moved to Fifth Avenue and 27th Street. It currently sells its wares from its online-only store.

Ray’s Pizza, 465 Sixth Avenue at 11th Street, photo by Carole Teller

There are scores more photos of local businesses throughout our Historic Image Archive, including collections from Carole Teller and Meredith Jacobson Marciano. And Village Preservation offers many programs focusing on our local storefronts via our Small Business campaign, including the aforementioned Businesses of the Month, our “Welcome to the Neighborhood” series, and our Small Business, Big History map.

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