After 70 years at 42 Bond St., Etna Tool & Die Corporation has closed... Gothamist has a feature on what was one of the last tool and die shops in the city.
Tool and die employees are a class of machinists in the manufacturing industry and make a variety of things one doesn’t usually think twice about—jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools and more. Galuppo invented the anti-coin theft device that was installed in most of the city's pay phones. ConEd was also one of Etna's biggest clients, making the tools they use every day in the streets.
Owner James Galuppo, who was born on the LES in 1918, opened here between the Bowery and Lafayette in 1946.
Per Gothamist:
The family owns the building on Bond Street, and Galuppo's daughter Flavia says she intends on "honoring my father’s wishes by maintaining the building" and not selling it, retaining the few commercial tenants it still has.
The position-based David Bowie art by Scott VanderVoort remains on the fence ...
9 comments:
Very sad.
Wishing them a Happy Retirement !
A dying industry. My grandfather was a tool and dye maker. He made a good living do it, but this was during the 30's to the 70's. Time changes. Too sad about this place. Many of the relics of our city are fading away.
I remember in the 90's using pay phones when I noticed the coin return was stuck and there was either gum or a newspaper wad lodged in there, and when I loosened it with my key, a ton of quarters came out. Later on, the city got hip to the scam and new slots appeared, I wonder if this was the business that came up with this.
Anyway, another essential business gets devoured by the avarice of the owners, which space will soon see another LLC backed lame ass restaurant or bar.
Anybody who could stay in business for 70 years deserves a round of applause not criticism. I hope the family enjoys themselves. Much luck...
jq llc your comment is misguided. building and business owned by same man who is going out of business due to overseas competition. gothamist has some poignant stories about the long term employees worth reading. the workshop remains open for their personal projects.
Jeez JQ LLC -- READ THE POST
it says right in the summary that the daughter isn't selling the building and keeping the tenants. Her dad ran the business for 70 freaking years! Don't be so quick with the negativity.
All apologies to this thread and etna, I retract the last statement and use it for the next seedy business that opens. I am usually more careful than this.
Negativity has become a reflex with the overwhelming cultural and economic inequitable malaise and pandemic occurring in this damn city.
A tool and die shop and a sheet metal fabrication plant near my weekend house also just closed in the past 3 months. China, not real estate, is the reason that this is a fading (faded) business.
Wait a minute. They're closing due to overseas competition now, in 2017?
They own the building thus their closing is entirely by choice. They're closing cuz they wanna make money renting the space, what else? They're certainly not closing and leaving the space vacant. This will be at a cost of their employees' jobs. Their right but I don't wanna hear they're losing due to anything else other than that they wanna make money off the space. And if that space is vacant their true motive is to sell the building/cash in. Their right to do that, but let's not make them out to be displaced like Clayworks will be.
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