Image Of The Day: Brooklyn Heights Shoe Master, 100 Henry Street

By on April 3, 2012 6:56 pm in Brooklyn Heights, History, Photography

The Brooklyn Heights Shoe Master at 100 Henry Street, inside the St. George Hotel 2/3 subway entrance, sure looks like it’s been in place for decades. One factoid: A phone number in a lighted box above the store is no longer relevant: 852-2016. Has the joint been there long enough to have had a 212 exchange? (Current tele is 718-243-2355.) Who knows more about this little hole-in-the-wall biz? Let’s go back in time together…

Oh, and… psych! The image above was digitally aged to look as if it’s from a bygone decade. See the April 2012 view below.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

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  • Martin L

    There is a good story here. With a real person serving neighbors using his special skills. This doctored postcard from the subway arcade sure aint it.

  • someone

    852 is a local 718 exchange. Used to have one here in the Heights years ago.

  • lois

    852 is not that old. If it said, ULster 2, that would be old.

  • Andrew

    How about instead of using instagram and guessing about this place, you walk in and talk to that nice looking gentleman and get his story. You know, like what a real reporter would do…

  • M on Willow

    He can fix anything — skillfully and at a fair price.

  • EHinBH

    Cant stand this place. The shoe place on Monty does such a better job — and actually treats customers with respect (and they are actually glad for business, unlike the guy at this place)…

  • Reggie

    ULster 2 began use in Brooklyn in the late-40s, along with HYacinth 7 and STerling 9.

    EHinBH, you and I have had an entirely different experience with the Russian (?) guy on Montague Street. Not only is he brusque to the point of rudeness, he’s really expensive. I live and work in Brooklyn but I now take my shoes to a guy near Wall Street (so don’t tell me his rent is cheaper), where I pay 20 percent less. And, if I bring my Financial District guy several pairs of shoes at one time, he has someone deliver them for free when the work is done.

  • EHinBH

    Reggie — you are right. The sho places in Manhattan are much cheaper. Dont know why — I guess they make it up in volume.

  • persimmon

    I have always had excellent service from the guys at the subway entrance. Their hours are good, too. I have found that their prices are reasonable and I am a stickler for being overcharged.

    Too bad BHB didn’t get to interview them.

  • eg

    I’m living here in the Heights since January 1978 and this man was not there.He may have come in during the 80’s or 90’s when many more Russians arrived. He does a good job on my shoes and watch repair, as well. His prices are reasonable compared to the Polish guy on Montague, who became almost rapacious in what he charges. The shops were built into the subway station and most likely have kept changing renters.

    He is sometimes a bit unhappy about adjusting to the ways of capitolism. A big culture shock.

  • Hicks St Guy

    the older fellow from the Georgian republic is a watchmaker and is extremely capable and skilled. unfortunately for him, most people wear watches that are beneath his skills. he adjusted my mechanical swiss watch and was so happy he almost smiled. yes, he is brusque, and the georgian dvd’s that he plays loudly are torture.

  • AEB

    The advertising card in the sooty window, depicting a Geppetto-like cobbler, plus the shoe-shine stand outside, bespeak a time past. Appealing in one way,in another, not. But the that whole arcade is, for me, a walk on the wild side….