Scribner's & Wolfe

597 5th Avenue - Home to Wolfe, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway & Vonnegut


Most recently home to Benneton and Sephora


Books were displayed either side of the doors


There's still history -- and make up

The Doors


My love for Scribner's comes from an obsession with Thomas Wolfe during my first job here in 1984. Bored and unable to finish 'Look Homeward Angel' I read 'The Web and the Rock' over and over while living on 18th Street between 8th and 9th.

Pages were devoted to a moment lasting a second or two, and even with the attention span of a Wire Fox Terrier on a triple Americano, I was sucked in to the exclusion of everything around me. Never read this book on the subway or train.

Wolfe recalled stepping out the Scribner doors with his first check for Look Homeward. I think it was $20,0o00 although I'm not sure. He headed north in a trance until 125 Street...unaware of the distance he'd covered. I think of that when I look at the doors. I've reenacted the journey. Hard to do in a trance. The 20 k probably helps.

I bought an autographed copy of 'Chelsea Hotel' by Claudio Edinger in Scribner's. Wolfe had lived there and so I had to as well. In 2001, I had my chance and met Chelsea manager, Stanley Bard who showed me a couple apartments. One was Bob Dylan's. Not the greatest for entertaining.

Ain't You Come A Long Way...

Press Only: GQ Style (UK)

Click on image to enlarge

Britches Tie & 1988

"Ok, that tie in the 12th picture, tell us about it." Zach

Not much to tell. Picked up for $5 at this thrift store.
Wanted the label more than the tie. Britches of Georgetown is my 1988. Living in a $350 studio on St Asaph Street, brunch at Clyde's, vodka and grapefruit in Houston's, starched Duck Heads, Sylvester Stallone on M Street, crabs at the Quarter Deck in Arlington and burgers at the Tune Inn on the Hill. Dusty and PSB provided the soundtrack to Iran Contra hearings and I...Sorry. What was the question?

Startin' With Tartan

VW Tartans
Stewart Index of Tartans

Tartan Rights

Cop Tartans

Drink Tartans


Alice Olive Tartans

State Tartans

Army Buddy Tartans

Leave me the F**K Alone Tartans
America & Tartans

Today's Tartans
Happy Tartan Day (click images to enlarge)

Heaven On 7 - George G Graham

John Locke Boater


Locke Coke


New Old Stock



Super Badger


Super Cashmere Sweaters from William Lockie


Fair Isle Sweaters


Chrysalis Field Coat




George's own likeness carved some years ago


George some years ago


Field Coat Tweeds

Go on...


and on.



Grown Up Surcingle


and not so surcingle.


A lot of Friday Belts

and peccary.


George's own Peccary Patina


Lid Over Body Case by Ettinger


with Hunter Green lining.

George and Tony Sylvester, GQ Style - UK

The dog barks. Loudly. And you know it's not a little dog on the other side of Suite 704's door. I'm not sure I want the door to open. But it does. George Graham invites us in to a haberdasher's wet dream. A dream of yesterday when things were made like, "a brick shit house." Where leather is thick and oily and cashmere sweaters, "Be careful over there!" are protected by George's own bark.

I associate much of the new 'preppy' with trying too hard. The whales, pink and green, diamond monograms, madras...These things are fine when they stand alone but they almost never do. Instead, its all worn head to toe in the much the same way a 25 year old will include summer jobs on their resume. Suite 704 is about taking jobs off the resume.

George acts as a middle man serving the retailers who don't want you to know who he is. He brings the truffles of Scotland, Dublin and London. His taste is what you see on shelves and hanging from racks when you go shopping. It sounds like a dream job to me.

"I told my kids to find another business." George says shaking his head. "Buyers don't know anything anymore. They click '15 Units' on a computer and have no idea of the history of what they're buying. A retailer called me complaining of oil on sweaters. It's supposed to have oil. That's what makes 'em waterproof! They only care about the dollars."

George came to NYC from Chicago in the '50s. I didn't press for the date. He was tired of working for a family company and wasn't overwhelmed with opportunities after graduating with a degree in aeronautical engineering. We talk about Chicago and the south side and George smiles when I ask if he knew Capper and Capper. "A great company." The dog, Picasso drops to the floor and settles into a rawhide.

The lace peccary gloves are a bit over the top but they're Italian so it goes without saying. The field coats sing to my Anglophile heart while Tony keeps asking me to feel a cashmere watch cap from Locke that, not surprisingly, suits Tony to his British Navy genes. If you're lucky, a sample that fits can be bought. And at a considerable cash discount. Just call before you head over.

I tell George the Internet may be the salvation for everything in this room. "It's a narrow niche but it's deep with people who search high and low for what you know and have." The words no sooner leave my lips when the phone rings. George puts the call on speaker and it's an old friend calling on behalf of a blogger who wants to interview him. I'd like the niche to open up just a little more for George.

George G Graham Galleries
12 West 57th Street, Suite 704
NY, NY 10019
212.582.7750
Call for an appointment