I was tipped about a pair of vintage-looking Brooklyn street signs here at New Utrecht and 17th Avenues in Bensonhurst. They look real but were actually installed as movie props, since the movie in question ( help me in Comments) took place between 1964 and the mid-1980s, some authenticity was added by making the street signs black and white, as they were when street signs were color coded by borough during those years.
There are, though, some telltale signs that the practiced eye can determine as modern. Movie propmasters will sometimes take authenticity only so far, either because they have incomplete information or because they don’t want to be pegged as too obsessive about detail and be marked as nerdy.
Since I got over that years ago, I can say this:
–In the real McCoy signs from 1964-1985, the street designation, in this case, “Avenue” was always in all caps. Upper and lower case was not a “thing” on street signs until 2010-2011.
–The vintage signs had a white stripe at the top and bottom. Only recently has the Department of Transportation gotten away from that design element.
Other than that, things are hunky-dory, as the right variety of Highway Gothic font is here, and the letterspacing is correct for the era.
These pix are from Google Street View in 2022 and may have been replaced already.
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6/15/2024