Tool manufacturers have been moving away from New York City in recent years as rents rise. Tool and die makers produce jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools, gauges, and other tools used in manufacturing processes.
The painted sign for Pinquist Tool & Die can still be seen at #57 Meserole Avenue at Clifford Place. The sign isn’t all that old, however. While the company was founded by Alex Pinquist in 1946 as Pinquist-Willis Products Inc. on Baxter Street in Manhattan, the company moved to Wallabout Street on the Fort Greene-Williamsburg border in 1961 before settling on Meserole Avenue in 1981. That’s likely the date that this sign was painted here.
Pinquist is still in business, though it moved to Lynbrook, Nassau County, in 2016. The Indispensable Walter Grutchfield hones the Pinquist business and its painted sign to the minutest detail.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
1/11/19