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March 24, 1948. "L Motors, 175th Street and Broadway, New York City. Entrance detail." Our second look at this showroom and its curious display of dummies in Dodges. Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
Here's a link to a heartwarming story about another '48 Mopar convertible.
According to the Certificates of Occupancy on the NYC Department of Buildings website, that location's first available CofO was issued in 1927 as a collection of stores. In April of 1948 it received a new CofO as an auto showroom. In 1959 the CofO reclassed it as a supermarket. In 1968 and again in 1985 the CofO's were for an auto parts and auto repair shops. In October of 2012 there was issued a temporary CofO for a supermarket.
The Google street view shows it as a working supermarket in June of 2011, so there seems to be a missing CofO or two in this history - or they converted it and didn't apply for a new one.
Regardless, this does appear to still be the same building today as seen in this photo from 1948, just after the showroom opened.
175th & B'way, across from the Palace Theatre Church
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This showroom was located right across the corner of my apartment building. Across the street is a former LOWES theater, now the "United Palace" aka the "Reverend Ike Church." The dealership is long gone. I'm not sure if the same building is there. If so, it's been severely modified, but the one-story proportion remains. It's currently a small supermarket. My husband and I shop there all the time!
A 1948 Dodge was our family car when I was just a year old. Here it is brand new in Augusta, Ga., right before we moved to Germany and took it with us.
It looks like a spaceship is about to beam the car and dummy up into its hold.
Too bad we didn't get a better view of that Woody Wagon!
Too bad this dealer didn't handle Lincoln rather than Dodge-Plymouth, as the building's already sporting the perfect neon logos for Ford's luxury make.
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