In the 60s when Wm Shawn , who was a Chipp customer, was the legendary editor of the New Yorker, the magazine was at the height of it’s popularity.  Chipp advertised regularly and everyone in our family was “compt” a subscription. Many of the magazines subscribers never read the articles- they subscribed to partake of the cartoons and the advertisements.  The magazine was a study in who was important in the men’s clothing business- both manufacturers and retailers. The front inside page was a full page Brooks Brothers institutional ad. Among others, not full pages, spread through the hallowed pages were entries for Norman Hilton, Hart Marks, Southwick, J Press, Paul Stuart, Saks, Chipp, Bloomingdales, Lord and Taylor, Linett, Dunhill and a few others whose names have faded from my aging mind. The New Yorker was loaded with men’s wear advertisement week after week. Yesterday I was assigned the grandfather duty of babysitting my NYC granddaughter.  What should I find on the coffeetable ? The most recent issue of the New Yorker. I have not seen a copy in years. I looked at it from cover to cover. Not one menswear ad. I didn’t read any of the articles. The cartoons are still good.

Chipp opened its doors on April 1, 1945. (My brother insists it was 1947; when I get a few free moments I will research it.) The Brooks Brothers flagship was, and still is, at the corner of 44th and Madison. J Press was on the second floor on the northeast corner of 44th and Madison. The Yale and Harvard clubs were within shouting distance. The Biltmore Hotel, with its famous “Meet me under the clock at the Biltmore”, was around the corner. This was the place to be.

In those days, we rented just the second floor in the brownstone at 14 East 44th Street. A famous watering hole called The Gamecock, which occupied the ground floor, was frequented by the advertising fraternity. (These were the “men in the gray flannel suits.”) Our customer base was primarily the men who Sidney Winston, my father, met when he had traveled the Eastern prep schools for J Press: young boys who had now matured into business leaders, and, in some cases, world leaders. He was the same age as his young prep school customers. As a result, the relationships that developed were very different from relationships that are made when one is older. Many of those customers remained loyal Chipp customers through their entire lives.

The bill of fare was custom clothing and special-order clothing. (Stock clothing on the rack would not be part of Chipp for a few years.) And the key was being where the action was: the infant Chipp’s famous neighbors drew many potential customers onto the street. My father and his partner at the time, Lou Prager, who also earned his spurs at J Press, would go down the narrow flight of stairs to 44th Street and snag the men they recognized. There was no elevator—many famous people trudged up that flight of stairs.

As the business grew, the third and then the fourth floor were rented. In the mid 1960’s (I think it was 1965), we bought the entire building, opening the ground floor storefront. The fifth floor became a true retail specialty operation.

In about 1985, when a lot of New York City properties were being bought by Japanese interests, we sold our building. After a brief incarnation on the second floor of 342 Madison Avenue (we occupied the space at the corner of 43rd Street), we moved to our present address, 11 East 44th Street, right across the street from where we began.

We have come full circle. Again we do custom and made-to-measure (special order) clothing. No clothing on the rack. I am sure my father on high is amused.