Falk Ties from the Falk Building

According to word-on-the-street,

this past 4th of July weekend marked the sale of the Falk building at 543 Warren.

and the end of the "Fresh Farmer" business, which was housed in the building for as long as anyone can remember.

The Fresh Farmer was a unique hybrid of convenience store, junk shop, and farm stand. A one-stop shop for lottery tickets, cigarettes, tomatoes and bananas,  antique Christmas ornaments, trucker hats & fanny packs, obsolete electronics (laser disc player, anyone?), old magazines, faded Michael Jackson memorabilia, brick-a-brack, 7 gazillion Ty Beanie Babies, and battery-operated coughing ashtrays.

Not much for me--- but a few years back, I did buy a boxful of wonderful old silk neckties, ascots, and bow ties here,        

many bearing beautiful old labels.

              " W.C Falk     Hudson, N.Y."

These ties had been stashed in the basement of the building for what must have been nearly a hundred years.  The box also had many random silk scraps, and ties that had been chopped off with scissors, leading me to believe they might have been also manufacturing the ties here at one time.

When I went into the shop the other day, another boxful of ties had emerged from the basement --this one full of cotton summer ties, stiff antique collars, and linen bow tie-like contraptions I had never seen before.  

                                               Some appeared to be unsold store stock
                                                
 while others were bundled in old twine, as if they were just tie parts, not ever finished being assembled.  

As a lover of textiles, a vintage clothing dealer, and Hudson memorabilia collector, I have to say this tie stash has been one of my favorite finds in my many years of treasure hunting.