A sttroll through the old Garment District (6th and 7th Avenues and side streets between 24th and 40th Streets) will reveal hundreds of painted ads on side streets advertising clothing wholesalers, 95% of which have utterly vanished or have long been bought by other companies. More and more of them fade away each year, or are painted over or covered by newer ads.
This one can be seen on West 29th, just east of 6th, and advertises Maid-Rite Dress Co., which also offered something unintelligible on the second line, as well as blouses.
The bottom row touts Horwitz & Hoffman Suits & Coats.
According to Walter Grutchfield, Maid-Rite was only here from 1920-1921, so this defunct location has been advertised for over 90 years. Maid-Rite’s co-owner Herman Kohn began his career as an oil dealer and also sold “dust-collecting sweeping powder.”
Presently, the Maid-Rite name is associated with a completely different product: a chain of restaurants, mostly located in the Midwest, that feature sloppy joe sandwiches.
12/11/12