“I know what I am, I’m glad I’m a man, and so’s Lola,” Ray Davies of the Kinks once sang. It’s good to know what you are. I’m not a fan of ambiguity. Pick a team. Thus, I’m a fan of no-name establishments that simply state on their sidewalk signs what you will find within, like this “Delicatessen” sign found at #675 Seneca Avenue at Gates, nearby the undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, though with the Omicron Variant we soon may see fortifications. This is actually the JMC Deli Grocery, which directly competes with the Ridgewood Deli across Gates Avenue, Dueling delis!
There’s no ifs, ands or buts about what this place on Atlantic Avenue near Smith Street in the Bail Bonds district on the border of Boerum Hill is vending. No, you will not be taken by surprise. It’s directly across Atlantic Avenue from the Brooklyn Detention Complex.
Both these signs are handpainted, a dying art in the era of computer typesetting (which also means I am no longer a typesetter, myself.)
Delicatessen photo: Christina Wilkinson
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12/28/21
1 comment
Looking at the deli using the past-years feature on Google Street View it looks like the old sign was hidden behind an awning sign as recently as two years ago.