Titel Chompsky would have tread The Ladies Mile which was a thoroughfare of shopping that ran from 9^th Street to 23rd Street along 6^th Avenue. Customers shopped at any number of retailers that primarily catered to certain trades. Retailers accommodated German Jews at Sterns, and Irish Catholics shopped at Hugh O’Neill, Protestants shopped at B. Altman’s, other populations shopped specifically at McCreery’s or Simpson Crawford. Nearly everyone was welcome at Siegel-Cooper, which was the world’s largest retailer. Their motto was “Meet me at the fountain!” which was a two story marble fountain that anchored the store.  At Siegel-Cooper there was a post office, a poultry shop where you could pick out a live chicken on your way in, and pick it up cleaned and defeathered on your way out; there was a day nursery and a morgue. They sold Ostrich feathers for 19 cents. There was a pet shop and cobbler. Everything an American needed to “fit in” was found at Siegel-Cooper. What once were luxuries, like soup spoons and cereal bowls, now became necessities. Siegel Cooper specialized in what was known as “lost leaders” they would undersell their competitors prices on things like sewing machines knowing that they would sell you fabric, laces and trims at a inflated price to make up for their losses. Retailers concentrated on the ever evolving fashions, and replenished their stores and store windows daily. America was growing and fashions started to evolve accordingly. 

Hemlines remained long until just before WW1, and around 1915 began to rise about 6” off the ground revealing for the first time a women’s ankle, which was considered erogenous and immoral at first. Hemlines only rose in reaction to health reasons. There were sweeping community heath programs instituted as tuberculosis, typhoid and influenza were very much on the minds of Americans. Many women suffered from serious fungal infections when their long shirts dragged in the feces and garbage strewn streets, at a time when the horse and carriage trade superseded the automobile. Imagine a city the size of New York with an emerging population, with a Sanitation Department, that only started a Street Cleaning Department in 1898, with just a few men, 18, where there were over a million horses on the street voiding all day. It was almost impossible to converse on the street as the sound of horse shoes against the Belgian block cobblestones was deafening. It was a common site to see horses die and be left to decompose in the street; the Street Cleaning Department didn’t expand significantly until 1918, 38 employees. As women’s dresses and undergarments dragged in the street, their hemlines became filthy. Hygiene practices at the turn of the century were modest, people might hand bathed daily, but only dipped into a tub once a week, if that, and clothing was washed less frequently as the laundry ritual was elaborate.

During this period, as the city was evolving, city planners became interested in the idea of census’ and understanding where groups of people lived, why immigrants congregated in Chinatown, Little Italy, Germantown etc, the idea of districting appealed to politicians eager to control voting. There was already a kind of Theatre District, and Meat Packing District, so it was reasoned that a Garment District was in order to control the industry.  Classically, the Garment District would run from 34^th Street (Macy’s) up to 41^st Street, It would run from 9^th Avenue to 6^th Avenue. The District would be set up with designated  streets devoted to specific trades, 37^th Street, zippers,  38^th Street, coats, 39^th Street, millinery, there would be an area for buttons, 38^th Street between 7^th & 8^th. 

Every building in New York City has a story to tell, like 498 and 500 7th Avenue. On first glance, they are not the most distinguished looking buildings. They were however a reaction to class warfare. Shortly after the First World War, the Merchant Princes who had established their exclusive Department Stores along affluent Fifth Avenue conspired to get the lower classes off of 5^th Avenue proper. It was a concern to the upper class shoppers and wealthy families who lived in the neighborhood in their mansions that immigrants, greenhorns worked” in too close proximity. Iconoclasts, the Merchant Princes were distressed to find common garment workers i.e. immigrants, greenhorns and blue-collar workers, especially Italians, Irish and Jews mingling with their affluent Anglo-sized customers. Even Titel Chompsky with a few dollars n his pocket, and dressed in his Sunday best was not welcome. At the time, the Garment District extended all the way to tony Fifth Avenue, so the owners of these elegant establishments despite being fierce competitors, formed a committee to put a stop to any commingling between the classes. The committee’s solution was to order construction of two workshop buildings, a comfortable, albeit respectable distance away from their Department Stores. Completion of the two buildings was in 1921. These state of the art facilities had elevators, a cafeteria, natural light, adequate restrooms and were a huge leap up from the typical sweatshops that most garment workers labored in. Therefore, workers were delighted to vacate the area. In 1932, over 22,000 people were employed in each of those buildings, the vast majority sewing, records state that over 125 million garments were produced on a yearly basis. Today there is nary a sewer in either building.

 If not a Horatio Alger, Titel Chompsky moved within the ranks of the Union, he attended the Garment Workers Synagogue where he made vital connections to the community. Chompsky would not be at the beck and call of his supervisors. In short, Garment workers were often indentured servants. Chompsky did not travel all the way from Poland to be any mans slave. He was an integral part of the Garment District. Chompsky was determined to open his own business. Colleagues would laugh, but they would not laugh for long. Chompsky understood that clothing was an equalizer, and in that in America there were fashion natives, those to which clothing and fashion came to naturally, and fashion immigrants, who adapted to the custom of dress. America was a fashion democracy, if anyone could become President then anyway could pass for a fashion native, even a dumb immigrant.