Meet Frank Catalfumo, the Shoemaker Who Has Been Mending Souls in Brooklyn Since 1945

Frank Catal­fu­mo, now 90-and-a-half years old, opened F&C Shoes in 1945, a shoe repair store in the Ben­son­hurst sec­tion of Brook­lyn. Dur­ing the past 70+ years, every­thing around Frank has changed. Prices have gone up; neigh­bor­ing stores have come and gone, prob­a­bly many times over. But one thing has remained the same. Frank “keeps mov­ing for­ward,” com­ing to work five days a week and bring­ing worn souls back to life. His hands tell the sto­ry.

You can get to know Frank with the short film above and this accom­pa­ny­ing pho­to essay, both cre­at­ed by film­mak­er Dustin Cohen. The Shoe­mak­er is the lat­est install­ment in Cohen’s film series called “Made in Brook­lyn.” Pre­vi­ous install­ments include The Vio­lin Mak­er, The Watch­mak­er, and The Jew­el­ry Mak­er.