Golden Packing Co., 53 Little West 12th St., New York, 2006
This sign in the transom above the entrance to 53 Little W. 12th St. marks the location of Golden Packing Co. Inc. They were wholesale meat packing butchers and were in business here from 1920 to 1984.
Proprietors of Golden Packing were the brothers, Simon Gold (1885 or 1886-1955) and Joseph Gold (1893-?). They are found in the U. S. Census of 1900 living in Norwalk, Conn. Their father, Samuel Gold, age 43, born June, 1856, Russia, immigrated 1880, was a pedlar. Simon, age 15, was described as a "Lock Fitter." Joseph was 8 years old. By the time of the 1910 census the family had moved to East 103rd Street, Manhattan. The head of family now was Lena Gold, a widow at age 41. Simon was now 24 years old and worked as a butcher's helper. Joseph, 17, was a "Salesman, Notion[s]."
Joseph Gold registered for the World War I draft in 1917, when he declared that he was born 24 Feb 1893 in Cleveland, Ohio. He lived at 302 W. 22nd St. and worked as a butcher for S. Gold & Co., 1-3-5 Thompson Ave., New York City. Simon Gold registered for the World War I draft in 1918, when he declared that he was born 19 Nov 1885. He lived at 112 (or 182?) St. Nicholas Ave. and worked as a "wholesale & retail butcher" with his own business, Simon Gold, at 1-3-5 Thompson Ave., West Washington Market, New York City. Kevin Walsh's Street Necrology at Forgotten-NY.com explains that Thompson Ave. was one of four private streets that were part of the Gansevoort (West Washington) Market in the early 1900s. The market extended several blocks south of 14th St. alongside the Hudson River. The website of the Museum of the City of New York shows a beautiful Berenice Abbott photograph of a building with the inscription West Washington Market at West St. and Loew Ave. in this area. The photo is dated August, 1936.
In 1920 Simon Gold, age 34, lived at 145 E. 44th St., Manhattan, with his wife Pauline. In this same year the New York Times, 15 August 1920, p. 20, reported the new incorporation of Golden Packing Co., Manhattan, with owners S. and J. Gold, and A. Rubin. Golden Packing first appeared in the Manhattan telephone directory in 1922, with the phone number WATkins-7650. In the same year armed robbers held up two employees of the company (New York Times, 23 March 1922, p. 1). The robbers made off with $500 in cash and $7000 in checks.
In 1930 both Gold brothers lived in Brooklyn. Simon was 43 years old and lived at 597 Ocean Parkway. Joseph was 37 and lived at 1302 Newkirk Avenue. Both brothers also registered for the World War II draft in 1942. Simon declared that he was born in New Haven, Conn., 19 Nov. 1886, and Joseph, age 24, that he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, 24 Feb. 1893.
On his death, Simon Gold received a brief obituary in the New York Times, 11 April 1955, p. 23, reading, "Simon Gold of 200 East Sixty-sixth Street, president of the Golden Packing Company, 53 Little West Twelfth Street, died yesterday in Doctors Hospital after a brief illness. His age was 69. He had been in business in the Washington Market for fifty years..."
Copyright © 2010 Walter Grutchfield