The family has had the picture of Hub Cycle for awhile, but were never sure where the picture was taken, nor who the other people in the picture were - I assumed they were just random anonymous workers. Cori did some investigation and looked at a current picture online of one of the old Hub addresses and we've finally figured out where this picture was taken!

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Hub Cycle circa 1900-1906
29 Cooper St. North End, Boston
building built in 1890

29 Cooper St., June 2017:

• one of 1st floor windows has been filled in (upper right)
• the basement bike store has been turned into an apartment
• the transom above door on the left has been filled in

Here they are side-by-side:

Close up of black woodwork that was covered up; wood still underneath:

In 1900, the shop was called Berkowitz Brothers (not yet Hub Cycle), implying that it was family owned and run. Who are the people with JB in the Hub Cycle photo, given it was a family business?
I had always just assumed that JB had hired the three men to his left in the picture and there was nothing special about them.
However....

Here is JB's father Leopold in the Beckwith book, next to a closeup of a worker in the Hub Cycle photo:

Recall that Leopold worked for JB in 1900 - this is his father in the Hub Cycle picture (my great great grandfather)!

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Here is the 1900 Census for 18 Cooper St. (see below). The first image shows the whole family, the 2nd one shows their corresponding occupations.
Notice that the father, Leopold, is listed as "Bicycle Worker", while the son, JB, is listed as "Bicycle Manufacturer".
What would it have felt like to hire your father to work for you? What would it feel like for the father? Either way, it follows in a long tradition of father-son family businesses as a way to both find work and make the most of the family income...

(also interesting is the IMMIGRATION YEAR, given on the left below):

To Summarize:

Name	age	job	immg. yr.
Lipman	48	bicycle worker	1898
Amelia	47	matriarch	1898
Louis	26	tool mfg.	1895
Jacob (JB)	23	cycle mfg.	1895
Joseph	21	pedlar of dry goods	1898
Morris	18	pedlar of dry goods	1896
Abe	17	blacksmith	1896
Samuel	14	student	1898
Pincus (Ben)	11	student	1898
Sara	3	toddler	1898

Sam may be the other worker (I think someone said that Sam had his ear's pinned - but would it have been by the time this picture was taken?):

18 Cooper Street: the entire Berkowitz family lived there in 1900 and it is about 100 feet away from the store. The building was built in 1896:

Who is the guy on the right in the original picture?
Cori thinks it's Louis and it's true that Hub Cycle was first the Berkowitz Brothers (JB and Louis), but I don't think it looks like him, even though it would make sense to be him.
Then again, I'm used to just one or two pictures and Gail or Jon may remember what he actually looked like? Or maybe another relative can be given this link? Remember that it looks like all three other adults are Berkowitzes, so it would make sense if this was one of the brothers. Also notice that he has a work overalls on.
Here's the lineup:

Who is this? Does he look like any of the brothers?

Ben, Albert, Joseph, Louis, Morris:

Note the difference in clothing (jacket, hat, tie), but they all wear work clothes (two of them under their suitjackets):

View from right side, showing the seam where the shop got turned into a basement apartment
Notice that in both pictures the header sticks out about 6 inches:

Neighborhood kids:

Of course, the bigger mystery is this picture, clearly taken 2-3 years earlier at 13 Something street....


These pictures were taken by L.Hoffman of 10 Woodcluff St, Roxbury...

Some Hub Cycle Ads in Boston newspapers...

Hub Cycle Ad from April 28th, 1901:

Hub Cycle Ad from June 9th, 1902:

"Orients, Whites, Eagles, Pierce and others, $3 and up"!!!

Hub Cycle Ad from March 8th, 1903:

"New bikes for $15, but "remodeled" for $5"!!!

One of Boston's Italian newspapers in the North End: