Seattle Citroën
Photo Sleuths #4
NEW
12/2024
Have a vintage photo of a Citroën in the USA or Canada? Send it in and we will see what we can learn about it!
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, MID-1970's
With the name of the cafe in the background, finding this location was easy: 82 Bruyere St. Ottawa, Ontario.
Google street view 2021
THEN
NOW
The café was in business in the 1960’s and 1970’s but the building changed to full residential later on. The SM is a North American model (North American rear license plate lighting and side marker lights). I cannot tell if the SM is a 1972 or 1973, but I think I see a bit of a headlight glass cover. If this is right, then it is most likely a 1972 since 1973 Canadian SM's had the USA sealed beam headlights without the glass covers (you can read about the lighting on Canadian SM's HERE). The other car is a 1971 Chevrolet Impala, apparently a Canadian model since it has no side marker lights.
The photo most likely was taken in the mid-1970’s.
THE BRONX, NEW YORK, ~1970
I had not seen this photo before, so it was fun to dig into it. Searching through the old Citroën dealer directories quickly revealed that this was a Citroën delership called, Richard's-Citroën-in-the-Bronx, Owned by a man named Richard Gottlieb.
Google street view 2024
2024
~1970
RICHARD GOTTLIEB
Legacy.com
I asked Michael Cox about this dealership and he came up with an old article that he had published in a 1999 edition of the Citroën Quarterly newsletter that was titled, A Bronx Tale, written by none other than Carter Willey. It turns out that Carter briefly worked at Richard's Citroën in the late 1960's. You can read the Citroën Quarterly article HERE.
The dealership was located at 1954 Jerome Avenue, in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, directly under the elevated Cross Bronx Railway. The neighborhood looks pretty crummy in the old photo and it hasn't changed much. But the same building is still there, still an auto repair shop.
It seems that Richard's-Citroën-in-the-Bronx started up in about 1967 and was gone by about 1971 (it was not listed in the 1972 dealer directory). After he closed the dealership, Gottlieb went into the solar energy business. He died in 2012.
The DS in the foreground is a North American specification DS21 Pallas. Since it has old door handles and side marker lights, it must be a 1969 1/2 to 1971. The side view mirror looks like it has a single mounting bolt, so this suggests that the car is a most likely a 1970 or 1971 and the photo must have been taken in this time frame.