SPECIAL POST: The Elaine Shop - An Iconic Florida Boutique

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1960s Murray Kruger handbag with The Elaine Shop/Diplomat Hotel label inside. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

Label and imprint inside bag above.

The Elaine Shop: An Iconic Florida Boutique

If you've ever come across a handbag with the label "The Elaine Shop," or simply "Elaine," and have wondered about its backstory, you're not alone.

The Vintage Purse Museum has seen quite a few of these bags in our four decades of collecting, sometimes with just the distinctive Elaine label, and sometimes with the Elaine label alongside that of a handbag maker. 

When we started our research, one of the things we had to discern was whether there was any connection to Elaine shops in other parts of the US. We were able to confirm that there was no relationship to these similarly-monikered stores, including one famously located for decades in Michigan, named in 1922 for the child of the original owner. 

After searching through newspaper ads and articles, as well as genealogy records and other resources, we learned that the chain of upscale Elaine Shops began in the 1950s, and were a Florida fixture for many years. 

The stores' namesake, Elaine Gitter Behrman (1919-1997), was born in Brooklyn, New York to William Gitter and Martha Goldberg Gitter. Elaine's business partner and husband, Harold Behrman (1915-2000), was born in Paterson, New Jersey to Jacob Behrman and Lillie Miller Behrman. 

On Harold’s 1940 WWII draft registration, he wrote that he was working as a self-employed attorney in Brooklyn, New York. Per the 1940 US Census, Elaine was living in Queens with her parents and younger brother, and working as a bookkeeper. Harold and Elaine married in 1941 at the Hotel Riverside Plaza in Manhattan. They had two sons, Jay and Michael. 

Elaine and Harold Behrman in 1972. Photo courtesy of their son, Michael Behrman.

We spoke via email and telephone with the Behrmans' son Michael, who was also vice president and buyer of The Elaine Shops. He kindly shared invaluable information about his family and their chain of stores. (Quotes lightly edited.)

"My father served as an attorney in the US Army," wrote Michael. "My mother worked in her
father's accounting firm. My parents came to Miami Beach on vacation, (and) fell in love with Miami Beach, with the weather. My father looked for new opportunities outside (the practice) of law."

The Vintage Purse Museum found a 1955 address directory reference to a store called "Sterling's Jewelry and Bag Shop" that included the Berhmans' names. We also found a 1955 Miami Herald article that reported that Mildred Engelhardt, a saleswoman at the Sterling Jewelry Shop, had won a $25 savings bond from the local chamber of commerce. While Michael doesn't remember Mildred, he has many memories of running around Sterling's as a young child.

"Sterling's was a small tourist accessory shop located on the famous Lincoln Road," wrote Michael. "The owners were looking for a partner and my father became a partner, later buying out the other family. That was the (beginnings) of Elaine."
We asked Michael if he remembers any standout employees of The Elaine Shops. Michael told us that his father Harold had a wonderful relationship with his staff, and that most stayed on for many years because of him. 

"Back in the '50s and '60s South Florida was segregated," Michael wrote in his email to us. "In fact, Black employees had to have police cards and could not stay on Miami Beach after dark. My father hired two Black women, sisters Minna and Mable DeShazier, as stock clerks. Both later became the first Black store managers in Miami at our shops at the Diplomat and Doral Beach Hotels. I am proud of my father for this and (for) how he raised his family." 

The Vintage Purse Museum had never heard of "police cards," so we scoured the newspaper archives. In 1936, Miami Beach enacted Ordinance 457, which required tourism, restaurant, nightclub, and other industries' workers to register with the police, be photographed and fingerprinted, and to carry ID cards with them at all times. This ordinance was not specific to people of color in its text; however, it was largely enforced upon people of color, and was referred to by some as "Black curfew." This racial harassment went on for decades. 

For Harold Behrman to employ Black workers during such a discriminatory period—and promote them—was a testament to his character.

Michael told us that Sterling's remained open for a few years after the first Elaine Shop opened in a separate location on Lincoln Rd. He said that The Elaine Shop was larger, and the merchandise was high fashion with wealthier clientele, while Sterling's was more touristy, selling charms, white enamel jewelry, and straw (wicker) handbags. The Vintage Purse Museum has learned through our years of research that even though straw bags were seasonal in other parts of the country, they were a year-round staple in sunny Florida, appealing to locals as well as tourists.

"I joined my father after graduating from the University of Florida in 1970," wrote Michael. "My first job was in the warehouse learning the business. My brother worked for a short time between graduate schools as a buyer. He designed our offices and warehouses during that time. He went on to an impressive academic career at the University of Utah."

In the mid-1960s, Michael's father saw a change in tourism due to the building of upscale hotels, so he opened boutiques in the Diplomat Hotel, the Hollywood Beach Hotel, the Doral Beach Hotel and the Doral County Club. "That," said Michael, "was the right move."

A lovely friend of The Vintage Purse Museum, Miami photographer and historian Phillip Pessar, sent us a page from a 1982-1983 directory that listed six addresses and seven phone numbers for Elaine Handbags, with stores on Ansin Blvd., Collins Ave., Mary St., NW 87th, and at the Doral Beach and Omni International hotels.

The Omni store, said Michael, was featured in the December 1981 Florida Designers Quarterly, showcasing its interior design. The chain eventually grew to have locations in other parts of the country, including Houston, Dallas, Atlantic City, and New York City.

Michael told us that, in the 1980s, his family had as their full-time buyer a woman named Evelyn Levitte, who was instrumental in keeping Elaine a fashion-forward enterprise. This appealed to many higher-end shoppers, including some well-known figures who were staying at the hotels in which The Elaine Shops were located. Among the stores' celebrity clients were Whitney Houston, Elton John, Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, and members of the Bee Gees and their wives.

Raoul Calabro bag that matches the bag in the above Elaine Shop ad, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. Ours does not have the Elaine label.

In the early days, The Elaine Shops carried handbags by US makers including Murray Kruger, Morris Moskowitz, Harry Rosenfeld, Koret, Judith Leiber, Prestige, and Manon. Later, they stocked bags by up-and-comers Carlos Falchi and Rafael Sanchez, as well as Rodo, Roberta di Camerino, Bonnie Cashin (of Coach fame), Sharif, Reva, and Dior, whose bags at that time were licensed to Koret for production.
Michael said that Richard "Dick" Koret (1901-1965) was a close friend of his father's, as was Judith Leiber (1921-2018). "Except whenever we were late paying her invoices," Michael wrote. "She would always call. She was a tough businesswoman."

One of the most popular novelty bags was a Vogue magazine-cover clutch by Delill, which Michael remembers retailing for $22. The Vintage Purse Museum has a number of magazine cover-shaped clutches, but not one by Delill, although we do have a different Delill/Elaine Shop-labeled bag (pictured directly below).

One side of quilted fabric and plastic-covered Delill/Elaine Shop handbag. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

Reverse of bag pictured above.

Imprint and label inside bag above.

The Elaine Shops also carried hats, accessories, and high-end jewelry by makers such as Ciner, Kenneth J. Lane, Les Bernard, Monet, Panetta, Joseph Mazer, and Grossé /Christian Dior. 

"When American Indian jewelry was fashionable, I would travel to New Mexico to buy directly from the tribes," Michael wrote. "(And) when cubic zirconium was first introduced, we had a had a fine jewelry company in New York design a special line of 14-karat gold and cubics for Elaine."

By 1979, the stores were rebranded as simply "Elaine," using a similar font as The Elaine Shops' labels.

Elaine-labeled bag with tropical motif, post-1979. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.

Label inside bag above.

In 1981, Daswani Brothers, Inc. purchased the existing eight Elaine stores. Michael stayed on as the stores' buyer.

"After the sale of Elaine my father studied for the Florida Bar," wrote Michael. "At the age of 72 he was then the oldest person to pass the Florida Bar. He joined a practice for a few years before his retirement. My mother had been retired for many years.”

The last ad The Vintage Purse Museum could find for Elaine’s was from 1993. This marked the end of a much-loved, very chic original Florida boutique, but vintage fashion aficionados can continue to honor the stores' history by collecting handbags with that iconic Elaine label.

Special thanks to Michael Behrman and Phillip Pessar. Other resources used were Newspapers.com and MyHeritage.com, to which we have paid subscriptions. This article c2025 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. Please do not reprint photos or information from this post or any others on our website without requesting permission, vintagepursemuseum@gmail.com.

15 Apr 1990, Sun The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) Newspapers.com 10 Jun 1993, Thu El Nuevo Herald (Miami, Florida) Newspapers.com

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