Shops on Graham Avenue at Grand Street: Price & Quality Malt Extract; Shoe Shine & Hat Cleaning Parlor; Sam Aronoff Shoes. September 11, 1930.

Graham Avenue has long been a commercial thoroughfare in Williamsburg. The malt extract storefront at No. 282 Graham is a symptom of Prohibition: many beer producers shifted to production of nonalcoholic malt extract while beer sales were banned. The building was sold at auction in 1880 and later became a meeting place for Thirteenth Assembly District Democrats.

Today, the building’s frame remains intact but its brick exterior has been painted over.