Pete’s Subway Record Shop was variously listed at 9108 or 9110 Cedar Avenue and specialized in jazz, blues, and gospel records. Its name reflected the nickname of its owner, Arthur B. (Pete) Carvest and the fact that the shop got its start in a small rear basement space before moving upstairs to a street-facing storefront. Carvest was born in Ohio to parents from Georgia in 1920. By the age of 10 he lived with his aunt and uncle on Portland Avenue in a neighborhood that was soon demolished to build the Outhwaite Homes public housing development. Ten years later, the census showed that he and his mother Marie, a domestic, lived with his stepfather Dave Crow, a barber, on East 103rd Street south of Cedar Avenue. Crow’s Barber Shop and Pete’s Subway Record Shop operated side by side at 9108 and 9110 Cedar by the early 1950s. Pete’s Subway advertised in the Call & Post from 1945 to 1954, but its precise dates of operation have not yet been documented. His shop and his stepfather’s barber shop appeared in a 1959 photo.
Additional information coming soon.
Resources
- “Arthur Carvest.” 1930 U.S. Census. Ward 12, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. E.D. 18-195.
- “Arthur Carvest.” 1940 U.S. Census. Ward 19, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. E.D. 92-485.
- Display ads for Pete’s Subway Record Shop. Call & Post. 1945-1954.
- Williams, Bob. “Bobbing Along.” Call & Post. November 29, 1947.