ROLANDO Pujol, the indefatigable finder of ancient NYC objects at The Retrologist, recently located this ancient vinyl sign (formerly with neon tubing) for Barney’s Ladies’ Shoes on 82nd Street off 37th Avenue in the heart of Jackson Heights’ commercial district. Don’t go there looking for it, though, it has already been taken down and added to the collection of the New York Sign Museum.
NY Sign Museum, you say? It’s also the first time I’ve heard of it, and I now have a desire to get over there and see the collection. For years I have harbored a desire to go to Cincinnati, OH, not to see a Reds game or eat the cheesy chili, but to see the American Sign Museum. Now, NYC has a venue of its very own.
The New York Sign Museum, as of now, is open by appointment only and can be found adjacent to Noble Signs, a signpainting and restoration firm located at 2465 Atlantic Avenue at Van Sinderen Avenue adjacent to the East New York LIRR station. I hope to visit as soon as I’m able.
photo: Rolando Pujol
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7/25/2023
2 comments
If you get to Cincinnati a must-see are the ruins of the former Circle Line boat USS Sachem.
Too bad a museum couldnt save the greatest of them all,the Camel cigarettes
sign in Times Sq.I remember watching them tearing it down in 1968.You could
just make out the previous layers of paint of the different smokers faces that were
changed every so often over the years.People actually complained to R.J.Reynolds
Tobacco when they tore it down.If you stood right beneath it you could hear the huff
and wheeze of the smoke ring machine.No women’s faces were ever portrayed,only
men.I guess the connatations from showing a woman’s face would have been just
too great.
Fabrication by ArtKraftStrauss.Design by Douglas Leigh.
Once again,in the history of Mankind,it was the greatest of them ALL!!!