A relatively new “ghost sign” can be found at 6408 Fort Hamilton Parkway, where there is still a painted ad for Rocco’s Famous Calamari. The Italian eatery was founded by…

I was wandering around in that nebulous area of Brooklyn between the waterfront and Green-Wood Cemetery, between about 24th and 36th Streets. This area had never been identified as part…

Here’s a look at a Queens grocery store or delicatessen in July 1938. The shelves are chockablock with canned, packaged and bottled goods. You can see packs of Coca-Cola, for…

Here’s a placid scene at #605 West 42nd Street in 1940, just west of 11th Avenue in Hells Kitchen. Well into the 1980s, this was a somewhat sketchy part of…

Doing some late night noodling in Google Street View, I happened upon this ad, painted directly onto the building bricks on St. Johns Place just east of Troy Avenue for…

Forgotten Fan Bill Mangahas passed along this photo taken a few years ago by Jay Bendersky of a painted building ad on Avenue J just east of Coney Island Avenue.…

Here’s a look at what was a Babee-Tenda showroom at 84-14 Queens Boulevard, just west of Broadway, in Elmhurst in 1940. The company made a sort of high-tech high chair…

Charles H. Fletcher began selling his Castoria, a mild stomach remedy for children, in 1871, acquiring the patent from its inventor Dr. Samuel Pitcher. The medicine was heavily promoted on ads…

Staggering around Harlem on a recent Saturday, I gravitated to 3rd Avenue, which I hadn’t invaded recently. Mindful of the fact that 3rd Avenue had an elevated train rumbling over…

by GARY FONVILLEForgotten NY correspondent This may be the first of a kind for FNY.  Kevin Walsh and I have taken an untold number of pictures of signs that represented businesses that no…

Strolling down 9th Avenue after work during the summer, high above 9th Avenue and W. 44th I spotted a faded sign: “Scribner’s.” It’s atop a brick building at 311 W. 43rd Street that…

I worked at a very small design firm copy editing and proofreading financial PowerPoint slides from May through August 2019 at 1740 Broadway, the “MONY, MONY” building near Columbus Circle.…