An Old Saloon

Old saloon remodeled, 1923, v1974.1.182; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, v1974.001; Brooklyn Historical Society.

I am returning to a more arbitrary choice for photo of the week.  This one I came across because it was taken in November.  It piqued my interest because it is a photograph that would interest many of our researchers.  Since the current renaissance of the cocktail started in the 2000s (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/fashion/17shake.html?_r=0) and NY State Law began to allow distilling in 2002 (http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/ABC/5/61), the booze business has been booming.  As a result, the library has been increasingly visited by students, documentary filmmakers, historians, and tour guides seeking out the history of fermentation from both an industrial and a social standpoint.  Unfortunately, photographs and documentation of this subject tend to be rare.

That’s why this photograph is a great discovery. It was taken by Eugene Armbruster who was not only a photographer, but also a little bit of a historian.  His photographs are rich with detail about locations they capture.  Armbruster also gives rich descriptions of the subjects that stand at these locations.  As per the notations on the back of each photograph, this photograph features an old saloon remodeled and reshingled. It was once the shop of Hatfield Fireworks at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Cooper Street in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.  It’s strange that he refers to the structure as a saloon since by 1923 the country would be on the brink of its third year since the passage of the Volstead Act, which banned the production, sale, and transport of alcohol in the United States.  Many of Bushwick’s residents would have felt the economic and cultural impact of the law,  since it was home to many German residents who, when they immigrated to the United States in the mid-19^th century, brought their beer making skills with them. In the late 19^th and early 20^th century, Bushwick included a rich industrial area and a Brewer’s Row to whet the whistles of its workers.

As there is an increasing chill in the air this November, we can be thankful the 18^th Amendment was reversed by the 21^st Amendment in 1933 and Bushwick is once again home to many heart- and body-warming drinking establishments.  Sadly, this one didn’t survive, but I’m sure there’s a new one just around the corner.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our new website here.  To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Fri, 1:00-5:00 p.m.