Sunday, July 5, 2015

Family History In New York

NYC 2015-07-02 4 (120 Wall Street)

This is 120 Wall Street in New York's financial district. It is the last building on the iconic thoroughfare, standing by the FDR Drive and East River. (They say that Wall Street begins in a graveyard and ends in a river. It's literally true.) The photo was taken from the Brooklyn Bridge.

My father, John Crowe, spent most of his career working in this building. He was not in securities or banking, but rather commodities. Sugar, specifically. The company was a brokerage, middlemen between refiners and food products companies. He was the sales manager. Pepsi-Cola, for example, bought all its sugar from him. He wrote the weekly sugar column for the Journal of Commerce, a business newspaper that once rivaled the Wall Street Journal.

His office was on the side of the building seen here, facing the East River. When I was a child I loved to go with him on Saturdays. While he caught up on paperwork, I would play with the office equipment, including an old-fashioned switchboard, and watch the boats chug up and down the river.                    

10 comments:

Olivier said...

souvenir souvenir, la vue devait etre magnifique.
Dans son architecture le 120 wall street fait penser a l'hotel New-Yorker

s.c said...

Memories, memories and what a lot we can know of so little of all the facts of life.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Oh la! This image to me is so Gothic NY! The architecture is fabulous, I imagine the view from your dad's office spectacularly memorable! Brilliant choice to use B & W for this image. Happy times in NYC!

Luis Gomez said...

Very nice post Bob!

Unknown said...

Terrific shot, Bob! Now you have inspired me to take a photo of the building where my father worked, the Bank of London & South America at downtown Lisbon. Thanks! :-)

Norma said...

It makes me think of the old Daily Planet building the 1950s Superman TV series.

Lynette said...

Bob, your post today is particularly wonderful. Such a photo! Such a story about your memories. Thank you so much for sharing.

Birdman said...

Always like it whew you take us back to your old haunts in NYC.

William Kendall said...

The building stands out so well, Bob.

Jack said...

This is a splendid image, Bob. It needs to be printed large and installed within the building.

An intersting insight into your father and his work. Unfortunately, my father's business was in our home and after he died, my mother had to sell the property to pay the bills, so there is no real place for me to go to reflect on him. So, I support a bench in Elizabeth Park in my parents' honor and visit it on my rounds through the park.