I went to the Lord and Taylor Fifth Avenue clearance sale a couple weeks back.  The flagship store is closing after 104 years at its location between 38th and 39th street.  The store became one of the first to anchor NYC’s iconic shopping mile, and the Starrett & Van Vleck building was designated a landmark in 2007.  The LPC called the “Italian Renaissance Revival store… the first ‘frankly commercial’ building along the fashionable Fifth Avenue shopping district.”

Gothamist assembled a nice slideshow of MCNY photos that reveal the services greeting employees at the store’s opening.  Jan Whitaker posted historic restaurant photos and menu to her blog.  The Bird Cage restaurant served “Tuna Fish Salad on Protein Bread”, “Chinese Chicken Salad on White Bread”  and my choice, if I was seated back in 1955, “Liverwurst and Romaine on Rye Bread” with a cup of Buttermilk to be sure!

Beyond fur coats and lingerie–which shoppers waited in hour long lines to buy–the sale featured everything from chandeliers to display shelves. With nine floors of mostly Ladies’ Delight, few made it to the tenth where an old directory indicates “The Man’s Shop” was located. There I found a fantastic collection of Mannequins for sale. For 60 bucks (originally 75) take home a shiny little white squatter or black female in permanent vriksasana.