METROPOLITAN COMIC BOOKLETS

by Kevin Walsh

Desert Island Comic Books, 540 Metropolitan Avenue near Union Avenue in Brooklyn, has participated in a recent trend (that I welcome): maintaining an older classic awning sign of a previous business: in this case, an Italian bakery. Signs were just better before Helvetica and its family of bold and extended took over.

“Booklets” is probably an ironic shout-out to what adults used to call funnybooks, that silly children read.

1/1/13

6 comments

Dan January 1, 2013 - 2:31 pm

Happy New Year!!

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dave c. January 1, 2013 - 7:28 pm

Wow, an Italian-French-Sicilian bakery. Reminds me of a time walking in North Beach, San Francisco, many years ago, and running across “Cuneo’s Italian French Bakery”. Of course Cuneo is a city in Piedmont Italy, on the French border, in the foothills of the Alps, an area that once belonged to the house of Savoy (France) and FWIW Napolean was at one time considered the “Emperor of Piemonte”. “Carmine Cuneo” was one of the heads of the “five families” in “The Godfather”, but Cuneo is not a Sicilian name.

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Simon January 2, 2013 - 10:36 am

I remember buying bread from that bakery circa 1989. There was an older Italian woman at the counter who barely spoke English and if I recall correctly, gave me change out of a cigar box! In addition to that I was going out with the upstairs tenant’s sister!

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Allan Rosen January 4, 2013 - 8:31 am

And it looks like Sparacino wasn’t the original owner either who also kept the original sign.

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George Dunne January 7, 2013 - 8:35 pm

The name Spoacino’s in that brighter background, has been there since the late ’80’s. It just looks fresh. That front window was a display area for cakes and pastries.

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Carl Sparacino March 5, 2015 - 9:18 am

My family operated this bakery for over 30 years. I spent many days of my life building memories of what family means and why these traditions need to be brought back. Simon..You had the pleasure of buying bread for either my Grandmother or Aunt.. both were Angels in their own way. The front window…was always and only a service display for the best Italian bread you could buy.

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