Monday, June 11, 2012

A Moment Back In Time: Before There Was Union Market On Court Street...

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Here is a wonderful blast from Carroll Gardens' past.  Friend and reader Mary P. recently sent me a link to the New York Municipal Archives Collection and to the great old photos of the one story building at 288 Court Street.
The photos were taken by the NYC Department of Finance for taxation purposes in the mid- 1980's, when the building housed a store that sold Italian decorative items such as lamps, shades, ornate chandeliers and Capodimonte Porcelain, which has been continuously manufactured in Naples, Italy since 1743.

I remember the place well, but by 1984, when I first came to the neighborhood, it seemed as though it wasn't doing cut business any more.  I must admit that I never set foot in it, something I regret now.
I don't even remember the name.
Sometime in the early 1990's the  closed and a sporting goods store took it over.  ATLAS SPORTS only lasted a few years at the location, however, and soon, it became a BLOCKBUSTER Video store.
It sat empty for quite some time after the video store closed, and in 2009, work started on the Union MARKET store that occupies the space today.

According to my good friend Joe Alameda, before the building housed the Italian Decor shop, it was a   school for casino croupiers. But even before that,  Joe told me: "In the 1950's and 60's it was AARON'S Department Store in the 1950's and 60's. They sold juvenile furniture and the really big baby carriages which where called 'Cadillacs'.  Aaron's also sold toys, bicycles and models."

Does anyone remember the Capodimonte store and its actual name?  How about Aaron's or the croupier school?  Do you happen to have some photos?   I would love to find out.

*A big thank you to Mary for sending these photos my way.




5 comments:

landlord said...

i loved the store selling the baby carriages. they would be lined up outside. brings back such great memories for me. i would love if anyone has a pic of that. thx for sharing.

Katia said...

Hi Landlord,
That would indeed be great. How about it? Does anyone have some old photos of the neighborhood that they want to share with the neighborhood?

Anonymous said...

What a great picture..
I'm sure you have seen the end of the movie 'Smoke'.

Anonymous said...

Just letting you know the name of the store before it was Blockbuster was GoldStar sports. Seinfeld evn filmed a car segment on court street in the mid 90s and you can see it as well as Cobble Hill Cinemas.

Anonymous said...

My father had a dry cleaners across the street from the 2960 something to 77