Fur District (New York)

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Around Broadway , flanked by 6th and 8th Avenues , from 26th to 30th streets in New York City is the so-called Fur District of New York, a center for fur manufacturing, fur wholesaling and fur retailing. In 1950 an even larger stretch had been described, between 24th and 31st Streets and Eighth Avenue. With the significant decrease in fur businesses, this name of the quarter is now rarely used.

General

New York City, seal with two beavers

The use of American fur animals for the European market began in the 16th century, initially mainly from beaver skins , the hair of which was used for the production of fine men's hats, the castor hats . The history of the city of New York is closely connected to the national fur supply and the international tobacco goods trade , the trade in fur skins . Two beavers in the city's coat of arms still indicate this today. The entrepreneur and fur trader Johann Jakob Astor (* 1763; † 1848 in New York City) became the richest man of his time and the first multimillionaire in America, starting with a fur trade. The USA was also the leading fur consumer from the 1920s to the 1950s, ahead of all of Europe.

The fur wholesale trade in many countries was concentrated in certain city districts. This brought many advantages for the customers, some of whom came from far away, and the tobacco dealers who also trade with one another. In Germany this was mainly Brühl (Leipzig) and later Niddastrasse in Frankfurt am Main , in London Garlick Hill , the area around the Beaver House fur auction , and to a lesser extent, for example, Michalská Street in Prague . In Greece the whole town of Kastoria was temporarily considered a furrier town and fur center, and the fur industry there still employs a considerable part of the population. Furriers and other fur retail outlets always settled in the vicinity of the fur wholesale district. In the building of the New York Fur Fashion Center alone , "27 top-class fur studios" demonstrated their models around 1949.

The formerly world-famous New York fur district and center of the American fur industry is, according to the description of the location from a story of the New York fur workers' organizations from 1950, in four blocks between 24th and 31st Street. If you crossed this area in the afternoon in the middle of the 20th century, you saw thousands of fur workers pushing one another. In 1950 it said: “These are the men and women who make the neat, elegant winter clothes that are shown in the shop windows of fashionable avenues in every city. And these are the men and women whose inspiring struggles and great achievements are known around the world ”. It is part of the Garment District , which extends to north Manhattan, which performs a similar function for the textile industry.

Man with fox fur, relief next to a house entrance (2009)

Some decorations on their former office buildings still remind of once wealthy fur traders. On 29th Street, two grotesque furriers carved in stone are doing their work, in one a squirrel seems to be biting the furrier's finger, in the other he is caressing a fox's skin or a fox that has perhaps already been made into a fur necklace . There are other such fur-related reliefs in the neighborhood, including a pair of “pretty foxes” guarding an elegant door.

A 1971 situational report by an American business magazine on the rapidly deteriorating fur industry there stated: “The downward trend began when Detroit installed heating systems in automobiles and continued as people moved to the suburbs and one adopted a more casual way of life. ”From 1967 sales“ steadily declined ”. During the recession in the early 1970s, the industry had its worst time in twenty years, with growers and processors leaving the industry "at a record rate". This was accompanied and reinforced by calls for boycotts and demonstrations by anti-fur opponents, a development that has continued outside of America to the present day.

history

Revillon Building, 13-15 West 28th St. (1897). Company Revillon Frères , Paris, "furrier, importers, exporters"
Entrance to the SJM-Building, office building of the tobacco shop Salomon J. Manne

Until about 1830, the fur trade was on Water Street. Around 1735 various companies moved over to Broadway. The reason given was that it was absolutely not in line with today's views about proper fur storage : Damp cellars were viewed as a desirable thing for handling fur. The company headquarters stayed there for over 30 years. Then an upward trend marked the industry. All the retailers moved up into town, and with them the wholesalers.

As early as the 19th century, New York was an important fur trade center, and not only as a hub for the fur skins produced in North America. The Leipzig tobacco company G. Gaudig & Blum , for example, set up a branch here in 1880, before London.

The electrification of Manhattan towards the end of the 19th century made it possible to store fur and textiles in a gently air-conditioned condition. In 1901, the New York Cold Storage Company set up a cold store for furs on the first floor of the ten-story De Corcy Building, 570 to 576 Broadway, "in the middle of the Fur Center" . They took over an English dry air system, which they adapted to American machines and further improved. Two other branches of the company already existed in the city.

The main trading center for North American fur skins was traditionally London, where American skins also formed the main item among the tobacco products traded there. Since the First World War, when the trade routes to London were largely cut off, the first tobacco sales took place in New York City. The choice fell on New York because, on the one hand, in 1913, for example, the annual production here was an impressive 41 million dollars, and on the other hand, due to its geographical location, it offered the best connections for European buyers compared to all other American fur trade centers. In addition to many others, more than twenty European fur traders already had a branch here. In February 1959, around a million mink pelts were auctioned within three weeks. Skins in the new mink mutation color Emba "Violet" fetched a top price of 155 dollars.

A New York City Guide Journal from 1939 described the situation in the Fur Quarter at the time:

“Trucks park, load and unload, messenger boys in a hurry carry furs hanging on coat hangers, sellers, buyers and unions go about their business.
The dealer receives the fur hides directly from the trappers or from the quarterly auctions, and sells them on to the processors of coats, scarves, trimmings and accessories. In contrast to the highly industrialized clothing industry , fur production consists largely of manual labor. The traded in New York City in 1936 fur products had a value of about $ 195 million, the retail prices ranged from a dollar for an uncolored rabbits " necklace " to a few thousand for a sable coat . Of the approximately ninety types of fur traded, muskrat is the most common, rabbit fur comes next in economic importance.
There are about 2,000 factories in the district employing 15,000 workers. It's a seasonal business: between June and July, the workshops work at full speed to be ready for winter demand, and there is a short spurt in November to meet demand for the Christmas business. In total, the fur worker is busy twenty weeks of the year. 80 percent of the workers are members of the powerful International Fur Workers Union (CIO). "

The 1963 large-format New York fur industry telephone directory weighs 1.85 kilos and contains 680 pages. While in Central Europe the production of fur is usually done by only one to three special workers (furriers and fur sewers , possibly separated into machine sewers and hand sewers), at least in the larger companies in the Pelz District this is usually significantly more industrialized and specialized. These can be, among others: Furrier (furrier), Fur Cleaner ( fur cleaner ), Fur Comber (fur-combing), Fur Cutter (fur-cutter), Fur Dresser (fur-refiner), Fur Drummer ( fur- refiner) ), fur feeder ( fur Fütterer ), fur finisher (fur Ausfertiger), fur Glazer (hair press) For Glosser, fur machine operator ( fur machines -Näher), fur Matcher (fur-sorter) and For Nailer ( fur Zwecker ). In addition to the manufacturing companies, suppliers, ingredients dealers , representatives of fur finishers and other companies working in the sector are located in the quarter. In the mid-1940s, in the large workshops, there were 10 fur cutters (cutters), 12 machine sewers (operators), 3 purpose machines (nailers) and 7 finishers (finishers). Medium-sized companies produced around 500 fur coats a week through the effective division of labor.

At the end of the 1940s, New York was home to around 950 tobacco merchants and collectors' firms (brokers), 1,900 fur manufacturers, 120 fur trimmers and dyers, 350 trimmers and 800 detail trimmers, plus 32 jobber businesses (wholesalers with their own clothing, but designed and produced by external companies) and 13 larger and smaller auction companies. Of the 24 New York associations and clubs, the most important were: National Association of the Fur Industry, Fur Merchants Ass., Associated Fur Manufacturers, Fur Dressers & Dyers Ass., Board of Trade of the Fur Ind., Fur Merchants Club, and Fur Retailers of America.

There were 1,184 fur processing companies in the city in 1970, but this was the lowest number since the war year 1944 (earlier numbers are not included). Third-generation fur trader and furrier Stephen Cowit recalled in 2018 that when he entered the fur industry here in 1977, practically every storefront on 28th, 29th and 30th Streets between 6th and 8th Avenues was still full of Fur whips were ("fur floggers"), key fobs made of fur. One colleague blamed the drastic decline in the fur business above all on extraordinary rent increases due to other industries pushing into the area, above all the technology industry and hotels, with the latter also bringing him a lot of new customers.

Between 1910 and 1986, New York made 80 percent of all fur sold in the United States. As recently as 2020, the local fur industry was the largest in the United States, with around 130 fur shops in the city. Approximately 1,100 people in the industry were employed in the Fur District, mostly of Eastern European ancestry, Greeks, Russians and Eastern Europeans, with an annual turnover of 850 million. Sarah Pines stated in a report on the Fur Quarter at the time: “Few stores there are luxury establishments. In many of the small shops lined with linoleum, the furs hanging all around on the walls appear functional and lackluster, thoughts of trappers and fishing on ice lakes arise ”.

As of 1966, there were relatively few second-hand fur shops in New York. The Ritz Thrift Shop on 29th Street is renowned and will still be active in 2020 . Within a few years, the business developed into a company with sales of millions in 1966. Also in the middle of the fur district, on the 10th floor of Building 150 West 28th Street, Irving Shavelson's fur rental shop was located since 1949. Shavelson estimated that about three-quarters of his stock had been made in the Fur District.

The fur district has been shrinking since the 1980s. In 1979 the district had 800 manufacturers, up from 300 in 1989. In 2019 there were 150 fur companies in the city, representing 1,100 jobs. Hotels, condominiums, restaurants and rentals have displaced the furriers due to rent increases.

In 2011, the neighborhood was "currently dominated by a few small warehouses, remaining fur traders and plenty of parking lots, with few retail options and little street life outside of business hours". The construction of a building with 400 residential units on a previous parking lot at the corner of 249 W. 28th Street was approved in order to upgrade and revitalize the area.

The reason for Sara Pines' newspaper article was a bill from a New York City Council from 2019 to ban fur in the entire borough as quickly as possible, with the exception of old fur and Hasidic fur hats , the Schtreimel and its similar variants. Members of the fur industry, on the other hand, in addition to fundamentally rejecting the law, held that New York minorities, who were already discriminated against, traditionally wear fur status symbols. These are mainly African-Americans, who wear fur as festive clothing and a symbol of their newly achieved emancipation, as well as immigrants. In addition to the classic fur hats in the Jewish cult area, fur trimmings are also often worn, which should not be exempted from the ban.

Labor dispute of the fur workers

During the Second World War, the fur companies worked one day a week from old fur vests for the Navy

After a long period of economic depression in the New York fur industry, disputes between workers and employers began as early as 1880. Far beyond New York and the fur industry, a dispute between fur workers and their employers gained attention. The strikes began around the 1920s and sometimes took on bloody forms. This violence was not only related to the employers, but also to the fight against corrupt union leaders. When the young union leader Ben Gold insisted at a union meeting in 1923 that a worker demanded the discussion of an impending union-workers agreement, he was so brutally beaten by thugs that he was hospitalized for two weeks.

A massive strike by New York furriers in 1926 resulted in a lockout of 8,500 workers, to which the unions responded with a general strike of 12,000 fur workers. 10,000 workers took to the streets during a demonstration, and pickets prevented those willing to work from entering the factories. The police responded with thugs and cars drove into the crowd at high speed to break up the pickets. 125 workers were arrested. On May 22, 1926, a mass meeting filled the newly built Madison Square Garden, the largest workers' gathering held in the city to date. In 1937, after assuming senior union posts, Gold approved a sympathy strike by 13,000 fur workers in New York City to aid striking fur workers in Canada. Until the beginning of the Second World War , he continued to pursue an aggressive tariff policy.

After the United States entered World War II, gold showed itself to be an ardent patriot. As war drew near, he held large rallies in New York City in November 1941 urging union members to buy war bonds . He agreed to a seven-day work week after the United States declared war on Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire and a campaign to donate 50,000 fur-lined vests to British sailors.

Web links

Commons : New York Fur District  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Sarah Pines: New York is built on fur - the trade in fur on the Hudson could be banned in the future. There is protest against this - from an unexpected corner. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 12, 2020, p. 19.
  2. ^ A b Philip D. Foner: The Fur and Leather Workers Union - A story of dramatic struggles and achievements. Nordan Press, Newark, 1950, pp. Vii, 8 (English).
  3. ↑ Emily Nonko: Well-heeled New Yorkers are flocking to the 'Fur District' . New York Post , March 14, 2018 (English). Last accessed March 19, 2020.
  4. ↑ Reuben Papert: The Age of Diversity. New York, c. 1971. Kasper's typewriter translation, sheet 2, G. & C. Franke collection .
  5. ↑ Alexander Tuma: Pelz-Lexikon. Fur and Rough Goods, Volume XVIII . Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1949, p. 54 , keyword “Fur fashion Center” .
  6. ^ Jeremiah Moss: Fur District . April 9, 2013. Last accessed March 19, 2020.
  7. ↑ The Furriers Wear a Hunted look. In: Business Week, November 1971. Secondary source: Fur industry in distress . In: Pelz International , March 1972, p. 110.
  8. ↑ Quote: "Damp cellars were regarded as a desirable thing to have in the handling of furs".
  9. ^ Headquarters of the Trade . In: The Furrier No. 11, New York, June 18, 1895 S. 14th primary. Source: New York Shipping and Commercial Ltd . Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  10. ↑ Without indication of the author: 100 years of Gaudig & Blum, Leipzig . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt , Leipzig, August 4, 1931 pp. 5, 7.
  11. ^ A New Cold Storage Company. In: Cloaks and Furs No. 9 April 1901, p. 30 (English). Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  12. ^ The New York Fur Sales . In: Fur Trade Review , November 1914, p. 52 (English).
  13. ↑ A million mink skins . In: Das Pelzgewerbe No. 1, 1959, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., P. 41.
  14. ^ New York City : Vol 1, New York City Guide , 1939 (English). Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  15. ↑ Ready Reference Fur Industry - Telephone Directory . Ready Reference Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 1963.
  16. ↑ a b Alexander Tuma: Pelz-Lexikon. Fur and Rough Goods, Volume XVII . Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1949, p. 31–32 , keyword “America's fur industry” .
  17. ↑ In: Fur Age Weekly . Secondary source: Fur industry in distress . In: Pelz International , March 1972, p. 112.
  18. ↑ Christopher Cameron: New hotels, rising rents plague Manhattan's fur district. NY Post, January 18, 2018 (English). P. 163. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Dr. W. Sch. “: Fur queens and half queens - you can collect fur as passionately as modern paintings. In: Die Pelzwirtschaft , Berlin, June 1966, p. 36.
  20. ↑ Ezra Bowen: Mink for a Day. . New York Magazine, March 31, 1969, pp. 44-47. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  21. ↑ Lucie Levine: From beavers to banned: The history of New York City's fur trade. June 6, 2019 (English). Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  22. ^ Jill Colvin: Council Committee OKs Zoning Plan to Bring Life to the Fur District . dnainfo, September 15, 2011 (English). Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  23. ^ For Trade Holds Rally for Defense . In: New York Times . November 11, 1941 (English).
  24. ^ Grateful for China Aid . In: New York Times , January 24, 1943 (English).
  25. ↑ Backs 7-Day Work Week . In: New York Times , December 18, 1941; Mayor Stitches A Seaman's Vest . In: New York Times , July 29, 1942; Hunters Asked for Fur . In: New York Times , October 23, 1942; Fur-Lined Vests Given to British Seamen . In: New York Times , November 3, 1942 (English).