Good-quality single crystals of organic p-hydroxyacetophenone have been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at 37degreesC using methanol as solvent. The grown crystals have been characterized by Raman studies, FT-IR, X-ray powder diffraction and thermal analyses. The mechanical properties of the grown crystals have been studied using Vicker's micro-hardness tester. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.