Heading north along Beach 121st Street in Belle Harbor for a Brownstoner Queens assignment, I was, at first, temporarily perplexed by the wood five-pointed stars affixed to hundreds of telephone…

I’ve been photographing old neon signs around town for over 15 years, but until now, I haven’t paid attention to the manufacturer, and as often as not, the manufacturer name…

I was stalking up 33rd Street in Astoria, on my way from a nutritious Whopper at Burger King to my biweekly penitence at the Greater Astoria Historical Society when I…

Here’s a handsome surviving awning sign employing black and brick red vinyl letters against a white background on Jamaica Avenue at 121st Street. These type signs were quite durable and…

Man, what a fuss has been made this summer (2014) about a recently uncovered store awning sign for the Hudes Delicatessen sign on Broadway and 103rd in the Upper West…

Undoubtedly well-known to Upper West Side residents, Murray’s Sturgeon Shop, on the west side of Broadway between West 89th and 90th Streets, is here on FNY because of its original…

What’s so unusual about this particular stop sign spotted on  a recent ForgottenTour in Brooklyn Heights? It’s easy to spot if you’re a NYC street sign aficionado. While most of…

There was a time when directional signs such as this one, on Plandome and Stonytown Roads in Plandome, Nassau County, were quite prevalent along America’s roadways. The advent of the…

Uruguay has, perhaps, the most wonderful of all of South America’s countries’ names; in the native Guarani language, it means “river of painted birds.” The warlike Charrua Indians successfully ended initial colonization…

BY GARY FONVILLE Forgotten NY correspondent Remember video stores, record shops, beeper outlets, shoe repair shops and ice cream/ fountain soda stands? These types of businesses once were ubiquitous in…

I’m fascinated with Rex Cole apartment building signs. He was a 1930s refrigerator designer. Gary Fonville has the scoop here. 5/27/14

A couple of relics on 70th Road and Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills… Now that the city will stop installing new “Curb Your Dog” signs and will presumably be removing…