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Guess The Year: Drug Store Edition

guesstheyear100110.jpg

Can you guess what year this photo was taken, and in what borough this neon lit corner may be? We'll update the post later with the answer and more details.

UPDATE: This photo was taken in July of 1956, outside of the all night drug store in Queens where an extortionist made his last phone call to Mr. and Mrs. Weinberger after kidnapping their son Peter.

According to the FBI files, Peter was kidnapped on July 4th at one-month-old, taken from his porch on Long Island while his mother went inside for a few minutes. The kidnapper (later identified as Angelo LaMarca) wanted $2,000, and he didn't want anyone else involved. The family asked for a media blackout, which every outlet agreed to... except the New York Daily News! The paper ran the story on their front page, which resulted in reporters swarming the a drop-off sight.

LaMarca told investigators he went to the first drop site the day after the kidnapping - with the baby in the car -- but he was scared away by all of the press and police in the area. He drove away, abandoned the baby alive in some heavy brush just off a highway exit, and went home.

The remains of Peter were discovered by the FBI, and LaMarca was executed at Sing Sing Prison on August 7th, 1958.

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Comments [rss]

  • amsci

    Anybody figure out where in Queens this is? I have to agree with the poster that said it looks like Jamaica ave.

  • John L

    $2.08 for a pack of cigarettes!

  • Telephone 280

    Look again: that's the price for a CARTON! Crikey

  • Spirit of 76

    I think Jen Carlson has moved on and forgotten all about this post. No answer, no update.

  • whoops, sorry about that! updated now...

  • Timothy

    That's the Lincoln Savings Bank on B'way in Williamsburg, near the Hewes St. Station on the JMZ. 1959?

  • Jeff

    I say Astoria Queens around 1962. It looks like it could be the N line.

  • slope185

    NYPD officers did not start carrying guns until 1895. It does not appear that the officer has a gun, so late 1800s sounds good.

  • maatthias

    Since my gut said Bronx 1952 (and others have posted Bx '51 and '54) I stand by it.

  • brooklynbird

    Manhattan 1960

  • DannyL

    Brooklyn, 1959.

  • BotanistPrime

    Marcy and Broadway, Brooklyn 1956

  • BotanistPrime

    might be Flushing and Broadway actually

  • Kelles

    2035, Brooklyn

  • Spirit of 76

    Funny, with the brightly lit window on the right, my first impression was a flash of similarity with Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" painting.

  • vekterx

    It kind of reminds me of 111th and Jamaica in Queens, but the steps of the El do not match and there is no bank on that corner.

  • exnyer

    I`ve seen that neon DRUGS sign outside a public housing project in Brooklyn recently.

  • Anijake

    I'm gonna say Brooklyn, 86th st, close to Bay Parkway, 1964

  • jennesy

    1947, under the #7 train

  • Ann

    Queens, 1965

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