Photo Flashback: 6th Avenue And 21st Street

Tommy Alioto’s family owned the building that is now occupied by Toby’s Public House (686 6th Avenue at 21st Street) for a number of years during his childhood, and he was kind enough to share a few details (and some really cool pictures) about the building’s history earlier this week.

“Yes he (Tommy’s father, Sonny, shown in the above photograph) and my aunt owned the building and my grandparents before them,” he told us. “It was so many things. First it was a candy store that my grandparents owned then they rented the store and it was a candy store still for many years.”

The below picture shows Tommy and his sister, Susan, outside of the candy store circa 1963.

“It was also a ladies hair salon,” Tommy added.

If you’ve got an interesting bit of neighborhood history to share, drop us a line at editor@bklyner.com, and we’ll help bring it to life in our Thursday photo flashback.