Adler Elevator Shoes
Digging through the treasure-trove of the MCNY's new digital archives, I found a shot of Adler Shoes on 42nd Street and 6th Avenue in 1922.
Wurts Bros, 1922, MCNY: Close up detail
It's interesting mainly because they sold elevator shoes for short men. They also had great advertising slogans, like “Build up your ego, Amigo! Now you can be taller than she is!”
from 14 to 42
Men who bought these shoes tended to be discreet about it, as this ad promises the Adler catalog will come delivered in "a plain wrapper," the way pornography was mailed.
Adler elevators stayed in the closet, a private affair between a man and his heels, until the 1970s, when TIME announced, "Now, inspired by the fancy footwear of rock stars like the Temptations and the Rolling Stones, the Elevated Look has come out into the open." The elevator shoe was vanishing, but the store managed to stay on 42nd and 6th until the mid 1990s.
As an aside, the full photo of the shop at MCNY is worth checking out as an example of how old-school businesses piled atop the other--a lighting fixture shop, a chiropodist office, Prof. Rohrer's Beauty Parlors above Leo Morse's "Nursery Novelties." There's just something about those old second-floor businesses that appeals.
Wurts Bros, 1922, MCNY: Close up detail
It's interesting mainly because they sold elevator shoes for short men. They also had great advertising slogans, like “Build up your ego, Amigo! Now you can be taller than she is!”
from 14 to 42
Men who bought these shoes tended to be discreet about it, as this ad promises the Adler catalog will come delivered in "a plain wrapper," the way pornography was mailed.
Adler elevators stayed in the closet, a private affair between a man and his heels, until the 1970s, when TIME announced, "Now, inspired by the fancy footwear of rock stars like the Temptations and the Rolling Stones, the Elevated Look has come out into the open." The elevator shoe was vanishing, but the store managed to stay on 42nd and 6th until the mid 1990s.
As an aside, the full photo of the shop at MCNY is worth checking out as an example of how old-school businesses piled atop the other--a lighting fixture shop, a chiropodist office, Prof. Rohrer's Beauty Parlors above Leo Morse's "Nursery Novelties." There's just something about those old second-floor businesses that appeals.
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