143 W. 29th St. (2006)

In the top right hand corner of this wall is a sign reading BOSSAK / & CO / FURRIERS (click for image). This is painted over a vertical sign running down the wall that seems to read BAUER'S that ends with a downward arrow (click for detail). At least one or two signs are painted over the bottom part of the Bauer's arrow, and it is hard to tell if what looks like SILKS at the tip is part of the overpainting or what...

Bauer's is possibly a sign for Samuel Bauer & Sons, Furriers Supplies who were located here over 55 years (from 1929 to 1986)! Samuel Bauer (1875/76-1948) was an immigrant from Austria/Poland around 1900. He was in business as a furrier from around 1908 with Jacob Goldwasser to manufacture fur dealer supplies, including muff beds. (For a definition of the term, muff beds, see the article on Pollack & Feldman across the street at 158 W. 29th St.) Bauer & Goldwasser were in business for about 10 years (1909 to 1917), then went their separate ways. As of December 2008, Samuel Bauer & Sons were still in business in New York. They have a modest website at http://www.samuelbauer.com.

Beneath the arrow are several more signs, but even here there is overpainting.

The first reads COCH / & / LANTNER / MFG / FURRIERS (click for detail).

Then we have TANSMAN / MFG / FURRIER followed by NAT / SIMON / INC / FURRIERS, but these last two are overpainted by SCHRAMM / COHEN / FURS (click for detail).

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Bossak & Co were one of several fur businesses owned by the multitudinous Bossak family. They were located at 143 W. 29th St. from 1920 to 1929. The owner was Joseph Bossak (1868-1932) with his son, Alvin Bossak (1893-1985). Joseph Bossak is identified in the U. S. Census of 1900 as living at 74 E. 113th St., Manhattan, born Nov. 1867, Austria, immigrated 1886. Living with him are his wife, Dora, born Austria, July 1869, his son, Alvin, born New York, Dec. 1893, his daughter, Minnie, born New York, Sept. 1896, and a brother, Saul, born Austria, April 1871. The "Austria" of the census was Krakow, Poland, which in the 1860s, etc. was part of the Austrian Empire. In 1919 Joseph Bossak applied for a passport when he stated that he was born "Cracow, Austria, 22 Nov. 1868," and that he emigrated, sailing from Liverpool, April 1887. The Bossak family grave site in Washington Cemetery, Brooklyn, contains markers for Joseph Bossak (Nov 22, 1868 - Oct 9, 1932), Dora Werner Bossak (July 26, 1868 - Aug 2, 1941), Alvin Bossak (Dec 20, 1893 - June 6, 1985), and Carolyn G. Bossak (Jan 10, 1904 - Feb 1, 1999). Carolyn (Gartenberg) Bossak was Alvin Bossak's wife.

Early in his career (1908 to 1910) Joseph Bossak was a partner with Lobel Anis (1869-?) in Anis & Bossak at 37 W. 19th St. Lobel Anis, like Bossak, was an immigrant from Krakow, and was probably related to Joseph Anis, whose J. Anis, Mfg. Furs business is described at 130-132 W. 29th St. J. Anis & Co. were also located here at 143 W. 29th from 1927 to 1934, but I have not found a trace of an Anis sign on this wall.

Another member of the Bossak family was Moritz Bossak, (1863-1927). An immigrant from Krakow, he was probably Joseph Bossak's older brother, but I have not been able to establish this with certainty. He had a long-time parthership with yet another Krakow native, Adolph Hochstim (1859-1927). Hochstim & Bossak were in business in New York from 1891 to 1927. Hochstim's obituary notice in the New York Times, 3 Dec. 1927, p. 15, read, "Adolph Hochstim of 685 West End Avenue and Far Rockaway, L. I., retired fur merchant, died yesterday at Lakewood, N. J., aged 65, after a lingering illness. He is survied by his widow, four children and two sisters. After forty years as a partner in Hochstim & Bossak, 115 West Thirtieth Street, Mr. Hochstim retired last February."

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Coch & Lantner, Furriers maintained their business at 143 W. 29th St. from 1942 to 1945. From 1937 to 1942 they were located two doors east at 135 W. 29th St. Coch was Lazaros Coch (1892-1993). He was a furrier in New York at 116 W. 29th St. from 1922 until the early 1930s (part of that time with Elias D. Elias). When he registered for the World War I draft, Coch spelled his name Lazaros Cochekas. He was born in Siatista, Greece. Siatista is described in GTP Greek Travel Pages as "a small country town in West Macedonia." Lantner was Samuel Lantner (1885-1981). He was born in Drohobycz, Poland, and immigrated to the U. S. in 1902/03. (Drohobycz is now located in west Ukraine, where the Ukrainian name is transliterated Drohobych.) Lantner is found in the 1910 U. S. Census living in Brooklyn and working as a waiter in a hotel. He registered for the World War I draft in 1918 when employed as a waiter at the Ormond Restaurant, corner of Fulton St. and Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn. By the time of the 1920 U. S. Census he lived at 1801 Union St., Brooklyn. In 1921 he applied for a passport in order to travel to Poland to "liquidate his estate." Attached to the passport was a letter (in somewhat broken English) bearing the letterhead "Samuel Lantner / Real Estate and Insurance / Estates Managed - Expert Appraiser / 1440 St. Johns Place / Near Utica Avenue." In 1942 at the time of his registration for the World War II draft, Lantner still lived at 1801 Union St., Brooklyn, but now was employed at Coch & Lantner, 135 W. 29th St. Lantner's birth year is somewhat unclear. Several documents give it as 1885, but his social security records have it 20 March 1883...

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Shulman & Tansman were furriers located at 143 W. 29th St. from 1927 to 1939. Then Alex Tansman continued on his own from 1939 to 1944. Alex Tansman (1897-1962) was born in Pinsk, Belarus, and immigrated to the U. S. in 1910. He registered for the World War II draft in 1942 when he lived at 140 Riverside Drive and was self-employed at 143 West 29th St. His partner was Robert Shulman (1896-1981). Shulman was a native New Yorker, the son of Louis Shulman (1873-?), a furrier, who immigrated from Russia around 1890. The Shulmans appear in the U. S. Census of 1900 living downtown on Forsythe St. when Robert was 3 years old. Robert Shulman registered for the World War I draft in 1917, age 21, when he was a salesman for S. Strauss & Co., silk dealers, at 127 W. 26th St.

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Nat Simon Inc. was here from 1942 to 1944.

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Schramm Cohen Furs were located at 143 W. 29th St. from 1945 to 1949. In 1950 Schramm-Cohen, Inc., fur garments, 143 W. 29th St. filed for bankruptcy (liabilities $33,703; assets $23,090), but the company continued for some time after as Schramm Fur Corp. at this same address. In 1959 an entry appears in the Manhattan telephone directory for Schramm & Co. Inc., Securities at 143 W. 29th St. A year later this appears as S. Schramm Co. Inc., Investment Securities at 40 Exchange Place (and another year later at 80 Pine St.). Security investments apparently replaced fur manufacture...

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