Pan American Bazaar 1942 RH Macy & Company; Latin American Marketplace
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About “a marketplace of goods from Latin American nations held at Macy’s Department store in New York City’s Herald Square.”
Reupload of a previously uploaded film with improved video & sound.
Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
Wikipedia license:
Macy’s, originally R. H. Macy & Co., is a mid-range to upscale chain of department stores owned by American multinational corporation Macy’s, Inc. It is one of two divisions owned by the company, with the other being the upscale Bloomingdale’s. As of January 2013, it operates 798 locations in the United States, with a prominent Herald Square flagship location in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It also has eSpot ZoomShops kiosks in over 300 store locations selling consumer electronics.
Macy’s is known for its niche in popular culture and the diversity of its merchandise. It competes with Belk, Bon-Ton, and Dillard’s; more upscale facilities compete with Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Saks Fifth Avenue. It has produced the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924, and sponsored the City’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display since 1976. Macy’s flagship was, and is still being advertised as, the largest in the world, and draws shoppers from well beyond the New York City Metropolitan Area. The venue resides in close proximity to other Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown, Pennsylvania Station, and Madison Square Garden…
Macy’s was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy, who between 1843 and 1855 opened four retail dry goods stores, including the original Macy’s store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts, established in 1851 to serve the mill industry employees of the area. They all failed, but he learned from his mistakes. Macy moved to New York City in 1858 and established a new store named “R. H. Macy & Co.” on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, which was far north of where other dry goods stores were at the time. On the company’s first day of business on October 28, 1858 sales totaled US$11.08, equal to $293.47 today. From the very beginning, Macy’s logo has included a star in one form or another, which comes from a tattoo that Macy got as a teenager when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship, the Emily Morgan.
As the business grew, Macy’s expanded into neighboring buildings, opening more and more departments, and used publicity devices such as a store Santa Claus, themed exhibits, and illuminated window displays to draw in customers. It also offered a money back guarantee, although it only accepted cash into the 1950s. The store also produced its own made-to-measure clothing for both men and women, assembled in an on-site factory. The store later moved to 18th Street and Broadway, on the “Ladies’ Mile”, the elite shopping district of the time, where it remained for nearly forty years.
In 1875, Macy took on two partners, Robert M. Valentine (1850–1879), a nephew; and Abiel T. La Forge (1842–1878) of Wisconsin, who was the husband of a cousin. Macy died just two years later in 1877 from Bright’s disease The following year La Forge died, and Valentine died in 1879. Ownership of the company was passed down through the Macy family until 1895, when the company, now called “R. H. Macy & Co.”, was acquired by Isidor Straus and his brother Nathan Straus, who had previously held a license to sell china and other goods in the Macy’s store.
In 1902, the flagship store moved uptown to Herald Square at 34th Street and Broadway, so far north of the other main dry goods emporia that it had to offer a steam wagonette to transport customers from 14th Street to 34th Street. Although the Herald Square store initially consisted of just one building, it expanded through new construction, eventually occupying almost the entire block…
The original Broadway store, designed by architects De Lemos & Cordes was built in 1901–02 by the Fuller Company…
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The store has several wooden escalators still in operation…
