Spiratone was a company specializing in low-cost lenses and filters for cameras, lighting, and darkroom equipment. The company was started by Fred Spira in 1941 in the bathroom of his parents' apartment where he developed film. In 1946, it relocated to a large loft on West 27th Street in Manhattan and then grew to a successful multimillion-dollar company. Mail orders were filled from their larger warehouse store on Northern Blvd. in Flushing, Queens.