Flatbush History: Sweets & Sneakers

Today, 912 Flatbush Avenue (between Church and Snyder Avenues) is home to Dr. Jay’s Ladies, where you can find jeans, footwear, hats, and more for the girls. In 1930, though, things looked slightly different.

These photos from the Museum of the City of New York show 912 as it was in the early half of the 20th Century–a Schrafft’s candy store and restaurant. Schrafft’s began in Boston in the mid-1800s as a candy company founded by William F. Schrafft, before being taken over and reimagined by Frank Shattuck in 1898. When these photos were taken, there were likely between 30 and 40 Schrafft’s stores–and by the late 1960s, there were over 55 locations in New York alone.

Schrafft’s was known for a few things, including the no-holds-barred architecture of each of its outposts (like 912’s Art Deco style, more Gothic variations across NYC, some sleek marble interiors in the later years, and so on) and its woman-friendly stance (according to The New York Times, “Unescorted women felt safer in chain restaurants,” and Wikipedia says Schrafft’s was “one of the first restaurants to allow unescorted women on a routine basis”).

The chain also made an effort to convey its accessibility to a wide range of clientele. As you can see from the interior photos of 912, Schrafft’s locations were often made up of a few distinct components–a lunch counter for casual, cost-conscious dining, a more formal setting for dinner, and an area for wrapped company brand gifts and candy. Perhaps Vanishing New York puts it best:

According to a 1972 advertisement, you could be a businessman eating steak and drinking gigantic martinis, or a secretary worrying about money and nibbling on a cheap burger special… I imagine, at this Schrafft’s, no matter what you ordered or how little you spent, you felt elegant.

Today, it’s sad to see that the second floor windows at 912 Flatbush have been covered, and we wonder how feasible a restaurant like Schrafft’s could be in our area now (maybe one for dinner before a show at the Kings Theatre?). Still, we guess it’s nice to see a place that made its name serving the ladies continuing to do so today.