Here is my paternal grandfather, William C. Dembling, behind the counter of his drugstore at 60 W 8th St in Manhattan NYC, around 1935. I have the feeling this picture may have been taken by my father, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

A full-fledged pharmacist and medicinal chemist, "Doc" Dembling was a well known and well loved fixture of the Greenwich Village of the 1930s. He treated for free many a hangover, and a few more serious ailments, for lots of the penniless artists and other characters (many of them nefarious) who roamed the Village during the depths of the Depression. His shop also included a busy soda fountain and sandwich counter.

Doc was also known to have done a little...er...private manufacture of "spirits" during Prohibition. He was quite a character. My father resembled him strongly but kept all his hair until his dying day.

I have always regretted never meeting my grandfather, but alas he passed away in 1941, quite a few years before my birth. He was by all accounts a gentle, kind and generous soul. I intend to post a few more pics of his extremely well stocked drugstore; a classic small New York business of the 1930s. View full size.