On December 31, 1899, a young Jewish man named Joseph Kulakovsky boarded the SS Numidian in Liverpool, England, and embarked for the United States. Kulakovsky traveled to Liverpool from the small village of Timkovichi in the Minsk region of Russia (today Belarus). After eleven days at sea, he arrived in Portland, Maine, on January 10, 1900, at the age of 17.

Joseph Kulakovsky (the family changed their surname to Kalikow upon arrival in the United States) settled on the Lower East Side of New York City. There, he lived among relatives, as well as other Jewish immigrants from Timkovichi and the surrounding areas. Joseph Kalikow’s siblings and mother would arrive in New York in the following years to join the tight-knit community. The family changed their surname to Kalikow once they settled in the United States. The exact date of this is not clear, but records show that Joseph began going by Kalikow prior to 1908.

Like many immigrants eager to integrate into the American way of life, Joseph Kalikow, at the request of his mother, took night classes to learn “proper” English. At the same time, he began working in the garment industry manufacturing clothes with his brothers.

In June 1908, at the age of 25, Joseph Kalikow married his cousin Anna Kalikow. He was living on the Lower East Side at 16 Pike Street at the time and Anna at 12 Pike Street. One year later, on July 3, 1909, Anna Kalikow gave birth to their first son, Harold. The couple later had four more children: Mollie (Jan. 23, 1912), Nathan (May 6, 1914), Lillian (April 8, 1916), and Sidney (Feb. 10, 1918).

Mollie and Lillian Kalikow both passed away at young ages. Mollie died in 1930 due to an illness, and Lillian died in 1937, a few days after giving birth to her daughter, Roberta.

Over the next few years, Joseph Kalikow worked hard, expanding his operations in the garment industry, opening up multiple clothing factories, and earning a steady living for his family.

In 1910, Joseph, Anna, and the rest of the Kalikow family moved to 491-497 Van Siclen Avenue, Brooklyn. Here, they continued to build strong ties with the Jewish community, particularly in Borough Park, where they were involved in several Jewish institutions and organizations.

Then came 1914: a year that changed the history of the world as well as the history of the Kalikow family.

One Times Square

One Times Square was constructed between 1903 and 1904 as the designated headquarters for The New York Times. In the later 1800s, the surrounding neighborhood, originally known as Long Acre Square, named after London’s carriage district, was nothing more than an open space with gaunt apartments around it. In 1880, Thomas Edison established the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, which would begin bringing electric light to Manhattan. Lit theater advertisements and streetlights soon occupied the area, making it safer and more desirable for commercial and residential tenants.

Then came the creation of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the first subway systems across Manhattan, including the Times Square-42nd Street station as we know it today. The subways gave New Yorkers greater mobility than ever before, and businessmen like Adolph S. Ochs, the owner and publisher of The New York Times from 1896 to 1935, saw the potential profits that the increased foot traffic would bring. He used this opportunity to build a tower in the most visible location at the intersection of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, 42nd Street, and 43rd Street. It was the second-tallest building in the city at the time.

In the spring of 1904, following the completion of the Times Tower, NYC Mayor George B. McClellan signed a resolution to rename the intersection from Long Acre Square to Times Square. Although The New York Times outgrew the building eight years later, Ochs would leave behind a lasting tradition: the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop. Ochs coordinated the first event in 1907 to celebrate the building. The Ball has since been lowered every year except for 1942 and 1943, when the ceremony was suspended due to wartime dim-outs.

HJ Kalikow has play ed its own role in the iconic and rich history of the One Times Square building. In 1995, the financial firm Lehman Brothers acquired the building. HJ Kalikow was involved in the deal and helped to manage the building over the next few years.

Today, One Times Square is one of the most prized advertising locations in the world as it is covered in the ever-changing billboards of prominent companies. However, until 1995, the building facade was untouched by advertisements. Lehman Brothers, after purchasing the building, concluded that it was too small to be profitable as an office building, and marketed it as a location for advertising instead. According to HJ Kalikow executive Richard Gurvitz, Peter Kalikow executives who were there at the time, Peter Kalikow was the one who proposed the original idea to utilize the building’s location in this way.

“The true value was in the billboards,” said K alikow of One Times Square.

A grid frame was soon added to the exterior of the bui lding for mounting billboard signs, and One Times Square became one of the world’s most sought-after and lucrative advertising locations.