Babcia’s Closet: Select Liquor Store was a popular spot on Broadway

(by Gregory Witul) Every home bartender is great at making at least one cocktail. So when an East Sider needed a bottle to make their sloe gin fizz, Tom Collins, or whiskey on the rocks, the place they went to was the Select Liquor Store at 1075 Broadway.

Following the First World War, former machine gun unit member, and Purple Heart recipient, Leon J. Wylegala needed a job. He first managed a Dunlop Tire store near Main-Ferry and then worked in sales for the Iroquois Beverage Corporation. In his personal life he would get married and eventually become the third commander of Plewacki Post 799. He was also a great asset to his brother Victor B. Wylegala in his bid to become Erie County Children’s Court Judge.

In 1934, Leon with his brother- in-law Walter Sokolowski incorporated Select Liquor Store, Inc. and opened their doors at 1112 Broadway. With Cheerio Gin, Westchester Club bourbon, and First American blended whisky on the shelves, sales soon started to boom.

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