Back in 2012 I was shuffling down 7th Avenue in Park Slope and I spied this glass leaf lettering in a window of an art gallery at #57 7th Avenue at Lincoln Place. Trusses, belts, candy. As the great Gene Chandler, the Duke of Earl, once sang, a good situation, a splendid combination.
Consulting Street View, by 2016 the space had become Cafe Dada and the proprietors had worked up a pretty good imitation on the opposite window while retaining the original.
So what could the original sign had indicated? What business sells trusses, belts and candy?
If you haven’t guessed, that place would be a pharmacy, and a quick consultation of the online Municipal Archives shows that in 1940 the Berkeley Pharmacy was located at #57 7th Avenue. The “trusses” sign had yet to be posted in the window, but would be in subsequent years.
By 2020, unfortunately, all trace of the old drugstore had been removed, as the Bagel Pub’s owners had removed the leaf lettering.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
4/5/21
4 comments
Prior to its incarnation as Cafe Dada, the shop was Ozzie’s Coffee. During those years, most of the original wood-and-glass “pharmacy cabinetry” and display cases were still in place. Haven’t walked past in quite a while, so I don’t know if anything remains.
I’m very surprised they don’t have a mannequin of Bernie Sanders wearing nothing but a truss & holding basic income vouchers in the window.
Hello again! Your humor has been missed. send my regards to Dr. Martin Abend.
That drugstore had been one of my father’s customers as he supplied counter items to drugstores all over Brooklyn. He bought grosses from wholesalers and sold dozens to drugstores. A business niche that was wiped out by the arrival of the huge chain stores that dealt directly with wholesalers and had their own warehouses. So Pop gave up the business and became a Local 32B doorman.