Throughout most of Shea Stadium’s existence (except for the last couple of years, when Citifield was being constructed) a large, four-sided clock tower was visible beyond the left-field fence with a flashing neon sign. This was the Serval Zipper Factory, for the past few years a U-Haul distributorship. The clocks, of course, stopped long ago.
The structure was originally the Queens office/factory of W & J. Sloane Furniture Co. on Lawrence St. (now College Point Blvd.) in Flushing.
I believe the zipper factory shut down in the mid 1970′s. It’s been a U-Haul storage and truck rental facility since at least 1980. I rented some space there in 1981-1982.
That’s such a great memory of my childhood in the 70′s seeing that neon sign from Grand Central on our way home from my grandparents in East Elmhurst. Love to see an old picture of it lit-up.
Serval Zippers was always the first thing I saw coming out of the subway tunnel and the last thing going in. I haven’t ridden the #7 since the ’60′s and I hope they never tear the tower down. In Baltimore they kept the Bromo-Seltzer tower as a city landmark, NYC should do the same for zippers!
This was not just an office for W & J Sloane, it was their furniture factory. This facility produced fine quality furniture, much of it multi-layer veneers, which was very popular at that time.
You should see the horrible new paint job!
I remember this from the Van Wyck, Flushing Meadow on the left. If I only had a dollar for every time I passed it ….