FOR years, I’ve noticed that many liquor stores in the five boroughs have the same signage they must have had decades ago…whether they’re ceramic, painted signs or my favorite, NEON. It must just be a matter of the signs doing the same job they’ve done for many years doing just as good job now, and so the owners have no great need to replace them.
Still, in an era with cheap vinyl awnings dominating most New York City storefronts, the meticulous, well-crafted liquor store signs stand out like a sore thumb. This one, at #108 Tompkins Avenue near Myrtle, is the most insanely weathered liquor store sign I’ve found yet. An electrical relay box (it appears) sits in front of the U; the LIQ is gone and the neon in the other letters are gone as well. Some time ago, “Tompkins Wine and LIquors” was changed to Foxed Liquors, as that’s how it’s listed in Yelp.
When I say that liquor stores and their signs are in business a long time, I’m not kidding. The same sign appears in the 1940 tax photo. It appears to me that the vinyl or linoleum was changed out alog the way to the aqua green vinyl seen there today but the neon lettering is the same.
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2/25/25