Radio Row

The last post made me remember this recording. It was done as part of Lost and Found Sound's Sonic Memorial Archive of the lower Manhattan before its demolition. This was a prelude to the World Trade Center's construction in 1966. I recall making a few trips down to the area as a kid to get tubes to repair our DuMont television set. from the site

June 3, 2002 -- When City Radio opened on New York City's Cortlandt Street in 1921, radio was a novelty. Over the next few decades, hundreds of stores popped up in the neighborhood: Metro Radio, Blan the Radio Man, Leotone Radio, Cantor the Cabinet King. The six-square-block area in lower Manhattan became a bazaar of tubes, knobs, hi-fi equipment and antenna kits. It was the largest collection of radio and electronics stores in the world. Then in 1966, the stores were condemned and bulldozed to make way for the new World Trade Center. As part of Lost & Found Sound's Sonic Memorial Project (in collaboration with NPR and WNYC), we take a look back at the people and stories of Radio Row.
When City Radio opened on Cortlandt Street in 1921, radio was a novelty. Over the next few decades, hundreds of stores popped up. Metro Radio, Leotone Radio, Blan the Radio Man, Cantor the Cabinet King. The six-square-block area in Lower Manhattan became a bazaar of radio tubes, knobs, hi-fi equipment, and antenna kits. It was the largest collection of radio and electronics stores in the world. Then in 1966 the stores were condemned and bulldozed, to make way for the new World Trade Center. A look back at the people and stories of Radio Row.
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.