Photos: Chicago Music Store in downtown Tucson, through the years
The Chicago Music Store building, which was built in 1918, had been home to the 104-year-old music store since 1967. The building housed Tucson's first JC Penney store in the 1950s and a furniture store before that.
Chicago Music Store, 1999
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Mark Levkowitz, manager of the Chicago Music Store, prizes this new, never-used, 1950s-era saxophone found while preparing for renovations in June 1999.
Chicago Music Store, 2004
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Mark Levkowitz pulls in a piano from the front of the Chicago Store in downtown Tucson, Arizona on Wed. May 19, 2004 to close up shop for the day. Mark is the son of Joe Levkowitz and the nephew of Philip Levkowitz, who owned the store. The brothers passed away within two weeks of each other.
Chicago Music Store, 2004
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Two teen age musicians who are starting a band, Alan Mackey, 16, right, tunes a bass guitar as Robert Hanshaw, 16, left, talks on the phone to his mother about the purchase of the bass at Chicago Store in downtown Tucson, Arizona on Wed. May 19, 2004. Joe and Philip Levkowitz, who owned the store, are no longer there. The brothers passed away within two weeks of each other.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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The Chicago Music Store "gots its name because my grandparents moved out here from Chicago, and back in the day people would name stores after where they were from," says Mark Levkowitz, the store's general manager.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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John Knott looks at some guitar's at The Chicago Music Store, Thursday August 3, 2006.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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Mark Levkowitz right, The Chicago Music Store owners son, talks with employee Alaric Weber, left, at The Chicago Music Store, Thursday August 3, 2006.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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Decades worth of overstock instruments fill the attic and basement and just about any other nook and cranny of the Chicago Music Store downtown in Tucson, Ariz., Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006. The mass of instruments, which includes some rare treasures, has prompted the opening of the Chicago Music Store Discount Outlet at 7030 E. Broadway Blvd.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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Decades worth of overstock instruments fill the attic and basement and just about any other nook and cranny of the Chicago Music Store downtown in Tucson, Ariz., Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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Decades worth of overstock instruments fill the attic and basement and just about any other nook and cranny of the Chicago Music Store downtown in Tucson, Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006.
Chicago Music Store, 2006
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Mark Levkowitz, who runs the Chicago Music Store downtown, wheels out an amplifier that will be moved to the store's second location in Tucson, Ariz., Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006.
Chicago Music Store, 2012
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The Chicago Store won 1st place in a downtown holiday window-decorating contest photographed here on Wednesday December 19, 2012 in Tucson, AZ. The store featured unique antique organs in two Christmas morning type displays with instruments under the tree as the main anchors on either side of their entry doors. The remainder of their windows were decorated with several vignettes featuring musical instruments paired with holiday decor.
Chicago Music Store, 2015
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Eric Soto, left, sings one of his own songs while Joshua Franco accompanies him on one of the display pianos at the Chicago Store, 6th and Congress, Thursday Nov. 5, 2015, Tucson, Ariz. The two were among several Tucson High students who stopped in to browse and strum the store's inventory after school.
Chicago Music Store, 2015
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Francisco Buenamea tries one of the bass guitars as he and his friends from Tucson High stop in after school at the Chicago Music Store, 6th and Congress, Thursday Nov. 5, 2015, Tucson, Ariz.
Chicago Music Store, 2015
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The Chicago Store, 6th and Congress, Thursday Nov. 5, 2015, Tucson, Ariz.
Congress Street Scene, 1965
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ARCHIVE PHOTO --- Downtown Tucson buildings taken June 1965. Aaronson Brothers Apparel Store at Congress and 6th Ave. Now the Chicago Store.
CONGRESS STREET SCENE
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A couple men leave one of the many businesses along West Congress Street including the Chicago Store, Mitchell's Furniture Store, La Selva Club on June 26, 1966. All the buildings were demolished to make way for the county government buildings as part of the Urban Renewal project of the 1960s and 70s.
Chicago Music Store, 2017
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The neon sign on the original site of the Chicago Music Store, 130 E. Congress part of the city's neon culture, Thursday, May 11, 2017, Tucson, Ariz.
Mamta Popat
Photojournalist
Kelly Presnell
Photojournalist
As featured on
An iconic downtown Tucson building will soon be home to StarbucksFor Star subscribers: The behemoth coffee giant Starbucks is planting its flag on Congress Street after years of waiting for downtown Tucson to come of age.
