Here’s one I miss: the Old Dutch Mustard factory on Metropolitan and Wythe Avenues in Williamsburg. It succumbed to “urban renewal” in 2006. When I first began collecting ForgottenIntelligence, wandering around with a camera in 1998, I stumbled upon this building with its distinctive white on black signage when Williamsburg wasn’t yet Williamsburg, and more of its manufacturing past was still evident.
According to painted sign king Walter Grutchfield, ODM was founded by Czech immigrants in 1920 and after a series of addresses in lower Manhattan, moved to this factory building by 1940. There they stayed until the mid-1980s when they moved to Great Neck in Nassau County. A web search reveals that ODM is currently located in Greenville, New Hampshire.
12/11/13