The rapidly gentrifying, upscaling Bowery, formerly home to NYC’s entertainment district, the Third Avenue Elevated and flophouses has its own fiefdoms that are little remarked upon. One stretch is home to wholesale indoor lighting. When cash registers were more than kitsch, there were several outlets where retailers could acquire the latest and greatest. Today, the Bowery still boasts a large number of kitchen equipment wholesalers and remains a mecca for restaurateurs.
Globe Slicers, on the west side of the Bowery at #266 between Stanton and Houston, boasts a marvelously hand lettered sign that appears as if it has been there since the meat cutting emporium opened in 1947.
But this is not the case. A series of photos at A Journey Through Chinatown reveals that the current sign replaced a somewhat more orderly-appearing hand lettered sign as recently as 2009.
Not only that, a further look at the NYC Municipal Archives in the 1980s at #266 shows a completely different sign entirely, though it’s tough to make out in the fuzzy scan.
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7/20/21