The Re-Birth of Chelsea's Ladies Mile Historic Department Store District in New York City

Peter Allen said “everything old is new again,” and boy was he right. New York is one of those places that constantly re-invents itself and a good example of that is Chelsea’s LADIES MILE shopping district along Sixth Ave. Many years ago when I began leading personalized tours around the Apple (www.jimdykes.com and public tours: www.RichAndFamousTours.com )- I referred to the stretch of Sixth Avenue from 14th Street to 23rd Street as “The Graveyard of Old Department Stores” because of the huge behemoth buildings once built as a shopping “mecca” and long since deserted since many of the big stores followed “society” uptown or went out of business altogether. Many people don’t realize that years ago this was the “heart and soul” of New York City’s most glamourous shopping district, officially known as “The Ladies Mile” since in those days the bulk of shoppers were ladies, corseted into hoop skirts and bustles, and rushing about under the “El” or elevated train that bustled high above Sixth Avenue since 1869.
Today many of these stores are once again inhabited with modern chains but what were they originally? Here’s a rundown for you:
OLD NAVY (Sixth Ave. & 18th St.)--Originally The Price Brothers store (merged with McCreery’s next door) both of these were very popular stores for Upper Middle Class Shoppers. In LIFE WITH FATHER, there’s a famous chapter where “Mother” opens the family’s first charge account at McCreery’s on Sixth Ave.
THE CONTAINER STORE (Sixth Ave. & 18th)-Classic castiron front remains from the original B. ALTMAN’S, long before it moved up to 34th St. and Fifth Ave. Benjamin Altman was a lifelong bachelor retailer known for his exquisite since of good taste. Hmm. Altman’s team of delivery carriages were known for being lacquered maroon with high-stepping gray horses, with a flower in a holder on every carriage. Mr. Altman was known for being the first retailer in New York to shorten the work week from 70 hours to 50 hours and for being the first retailer to build an employee restroom AND subsidized cafeteria. Altman’s former carriage house down the block is now Metropolitan Pavilion, an event space.
BED, BATH & BEYOND, TJ MAX & FILENE’S BASEMENT (Sixth Ave/ 19th St.)- Originally built as SIEGEL COOPER & Assoc., the largest department store in the world at the time. Known for being the FIRST to offer THE FREE SAMPLE. Waiters would circulate thru the store offering FREE samples of chocolates, various edibles, etc. When one entered thru the Sixth Ave. entrance, you came down a marble staircase (now Filene’s escalators) into a wonderland of a store, with a Statue of Liberty in the center of the store surrounded by an ice cream parlor, decorated in colored lights. On the top of the store was a (now long gone) rooftop café with a view over Ladies Mile. The entire building went up in 8 months and was modeled after the architecture from the 1893 Chicago Exposition. The expression “WHITE ELEPHANT” was coined here. They promised patrons they could obtain ANYthing for them so a Fifth Avenue wag tested them by placing an order for a white elephant. Many months later the store telephoned the gentleman to tell him his white elephant had arrived from Africa…”what should we do with it?”

APEX TECHNICAL SCHOOL BUILDING & BALLYS—Originally known as SIMPSON, CRAWFORD, SIMPSON, the most elegant department store in New York. So elegant, in fact, that they never placed prices on items for fear of insulting their shoppers. It’s a quite elegant Italianate structure that is desperate for a makeover.
THE O’NEIL BUILDING CONDOS- originally Hugh O’Neill Department Store, a bargain store for the masses. O’Neill was another blustery Irishman like R.H. Macy and one was always trying to outdo the other one. O’Neill was a devoted Catholic but he was very open-minded with regard to one’s religion and insisted that his employees take off whatever religious holidays that their religions dictated (with pay).
FED EX, etc. (large buildings at 20th St. on Sixth Ave….east side of street) Originally Cooperman’s, the largest shoe emporium in New York.
Former BARNES & NOBLE SUPERSTORE (now vacant) (21st St.)- Originally ADAMS DRY GOODS- elegant dry goods emporium that featured an elegant garden courtyard interior for dining (still there). Also featured large display windows on the second and third floors for riders to window-shop from the elevated trains that passed up and down Sixth Ave.
STAPLES AND BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY (Sixth Ave. & 22nd St.)- Originally Ehrlich Brothers Dept. Store. Joshua Ehrlich’s daughter Julia married John Phillip Sousa, the “march king”….Ehrlich Brothers became famous for being the first dept. store to have special room where mothers could drop small children while they shopped in peace. It featured a clown and nanny to look after the children. They were also the first store to use “omnibus” type advertising.
Around the corner on 23rd Street, the buildings that once housed F.A.O. Schwarz, Macy’s, Arnold Constable, Lord & Taylor, Stewart’s and more are still standing, but used for different things such as HOME DEPOT.
It appears Peter Allen was RIGHT…everything old IS new again.
--Jim Dykes is a private guide/historian and the founder of Rich and Famous Tours (www.richandfamoustours.com ) a unique “niche” tour that shows off New York from both a historic and “celebrity” angle.