Probably every commercial building in New York City has led several lives. The building at 310 Fifth Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd, is a good example. In 1927 it was an IBM showroom; in 2021 an upscale men’s hat store.
The 1927 display window featured pre-computer–era business machinery such as a time clock to track employee attendance, a parcel-post scale and meter, grinders for coffee and meat, and various types of punched card equipment.
Ninety-plus years later, this busy Manhattan neighborhood is known as Koreatown. The IBM showroom is now the nicely-fitted-out J.J. Hat Center.
Next door at 308 Fifth Avenue is the Manhattan branch of the Bank of Hope, the world’s largest Korean-American commercial bank.
On the other side, at 312 Fifth, is Gopchang Story BBQ, a Korean barbecue restaurant focusing on beef intestines. Gopchang’s intriguing intro page and delivery menu make me wish I still worked in Manhattan.
