A shopping street in Beirut and the Armenians of Lebanon

According to state surveys of 1967, Armenians owned 14 percent of Lebanese manufacturing firms with 5 or more employees. Nine tenths of these enterprises were in Beirut and Bourj Hammoud. Shoe factories, clothing factories and smelting works were especially well known.

In the early 1970s Armenians made up 67 percent of all Lebanese jewellers, 85 percent of Beirut’s photographers, 26 percent of tailors, 23 percent each of dentists and pharmacists, and 9 percent of doctors. There were at least 100 Armenian millionaires. After the civil war began in 1975, many emigrated to the United States and other Western countries.

The photograph shows a street lined with shops, with signboards, passers-by and parked cars.