STEUBEN Street, on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant, ain’t what it used to be, literally. The street once ran continuously from Flushing Avenue south to Lafayette, a total of 6 blocks. However, in 1956, the growing Pratt Institute got the street closed to auto traffic, eliminating it between Willoughby and Lafayette, and the Willoughby Apartments closed it between Myrtle and Willoughby, reducing it to two blocks: and even those two are noncontinuous, as the Brooklyn -Queens Expressway on Park Avenue interrupts it. What would its namesake, Revolutionary War hero Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustus von Steuben (1730-1794) say?
There’s an interesting item on the southern end of Steuben, at #101, just north of Myrtle, a nondescript block except for this original Gertel’s Bakery neon sign. It’s the same sign I found in its original position, at Gertel’s Bakery retail location, #53 Hester Street west of Essex, in the early 2000s. The bakery sold the retail location to a developer and was razed in 2007. When surveying Myrtle Avenue in 2010, I was surprised to see the sign turn up when glancing up Steuben.
Gertel’s had been founded in 1914 and was treasured in the Lower East Side for its traditional Jewish baked goods like water challah, chocolate and prune babka, rugelach, seven-layer cake, and hamantaschen. Gertel’s merged with Delancey Bakery and shifted to a wholesale-only model. Of course, “luncheon” is no longer served, despite what the old sign says.
Does the sign light up at night? Comments are open.
Closeup bakery sign photo courtesy Ghost Signs NYC (Facebook).
Check out the ForgottenBook (HarperCollins, 2006), as well as Forgotten Queens (Arcadia, 2013). I also have a chapter in the anthology “New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg” (Reaktion, 2007). As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site, which helps in site upkeep and also aids Greater Astoria Historical Society.
11/6/26