Rediscover the UWS's Main Street!
"West Seventy Today" introduces you to your business neighbors along West 72nd Street, from Central Park to Riverside Park in weekly installments.
Meet your neighbors, NOW:
Perseverance Meets Community Spirit
By Claudie Benjamin

Donna Schofield, owner of Stationery & Toy World first met Gary Rowe when he was sent over by an employment agency that specializes in referrals of young people who have gotten into trouble and then completed rehab programs. “I tell the guys who apply, ‘It’s like a marriage. If we don’t get along, if you’re not happy and I’m not happy, it doesn’t work.’ I liked that Gary was eager. I liked that go-get attitude.”  As Gary put it, “She gave me a shot.” And, to say the least, that shot at a job and his own perseverance worked out. Now, 15 years later, Gary who had been a vendor of peanuts, and beer at Yankee Stadium prior to working at Stationery and Toy World, cannot say enough good about his incredible bosses Donna and her now retired father Larry Gomez.
 
Learning about toys was the relatively easy part, Gary says, “because I’m basically a big kid.” The stationery side of the business was more of a challenge. But, overtime, thanks to the unending patience and training skills of the father and daughter store owners, he mastered the complexities of ordering, receiving and keeping track of the huge inventory. “After my father retired, he’s my new right-hand man,” says Donna.
Gary grasped the importance of communicating well with customers who frequently request advice about their purchases. Gary gives an example in the context of how toys have changed. In the past, the name of what was in the box pretty much identified its contents. Now, children are fine with having a surprise item that requires instructions or even a YouTube demo, “but a parent may want an explanation of what Pokémon is and what it does.”

Today, one of Gary’s children has graduated from college, another is completing college and his three other children are 10, 7 and 5. Has he gotten discounts on toys over the years? “What do you think?” he answers.

Purchasing a specific notepad or a spiral notebook may be more complicated than a customer expects because there are so many kinds, Gary continually informs himself about these items. Ditto regarding pens, art and school supplies. “People call the same supplies by different names. “I grew up needing poster board for school projects. Some customers come in asking for sheets of oak tag.” KEEP READING
...and THEN:
The New York Diagnostic Clinic
by Tom Miller

In 1885 real estate developer Charles Batchelor hired Martin V. B. Ferdon to design a row of six upscale homes on the north side of West 72nd Street between Columbus Avenue and Broadway. Faced in brownstone, the high-stooped four-story residences were completed in 1887. August M. Weil, a bachelor, purchased 125 West 72nd Street for his sister Fannie and her husband Maurice Aronstein. It was a generous gift, the price equal to about $1.2 million today. 

Maurice Aronstein was born in Germany in 1846 and immigrated to the United States in 1866. He and Fannie had two sons, Albert Sidney and Edgar O. Aronstgein. By the time he moved his family into the West 72nd Street house, he was a senior partner in the lace curtain importing firm of Wolfers & Kalisher. (The junior partner was his brother-in-law, Theodore G. Weil.)

Maurice died in the house on December 23, 1896 and his funeral was held in the parlor two days later. Fannie lived on in the house until her death on September 25, 1917.
When the Aronstein house was constructed, West 72nd Street was known as a “Park Street.” It was maintained by the Parks Department and was highly restricted to both commercial traffic and business. However, by the time of Fannie Aronstein’s death change was coming to that block. Her sons sold the house in August 1918, at which time the Record & Guide pointed out “This is the only block on that street which is not restricted against business.”

Benjamin Weiss, president of the Inwood Realty Company, took full advantage of the slackened restrictions. He purchased the Aronstein house and hired architect Samuel Cohen to make “extensive alterations” at the equivalent cost of $5 million in today’s money. Weiss already had a tenant for the remodeled structure, Dr. M. J. Mandelbaum, who headed the Academy of Diagnosis. He worked with Cohen on the plans for what was to be a “diagnostic hospital.”

Upon the completion of The New York Diagnostic Clinic in May 1919, there was no remaining trace of the Aronstein residence. Cohen had stripped off the façade and moved the front to the property line. KEEP READING
KEEP READING the history of 125 W72nd at 72 Crosstown
72 Crosstown highlights the architectural and social histories of the buildings along West 72nd Street.

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45 West 67th Street NY NY 10023