34th Street near Queens Boulevard. It’s all you really need.

A rusted sign reveals an alphanumeric telephone exchange on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 147th in Harlem. TR can stand for a number of things, but as this handy dandy…

The full technicolor glory of the Ritz Paints sign, St. Nicholas Avenue near 190th in Washington Heights.

Herald Square

Here’s some more examples of ancient signage found by FNY’s Gary Fonville… As a sign enthusiast, my eye always wandered to this building on Second Avenue near 116th Street in…

The John Lindsay campaign ad (likely dating to 1965) uncovered on Flatbush Avenue reminded me of the time back in 1998 when I was dazedly wandering the back roads of…

Here’s a surviving 1940-era street sign on Tunnel Exit Street, an exit from the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Murray Hill. photo: Steve Garza The tunnel was designed by Ole Singstad,…

I find myself shambling through indifferent crowds in Manhattan more often these days, as I have taken a job (as of December 2011) smack in the heart of the Flatiron…

A head-scratcher at the 65th Street station on the IND Queens Boulevard line (R and M trains) has a modern sign showing the exit at Rowan Street and Broadway. 65th…

One of my favorite buildings in Woodside, at Laurel Hill Boulevard and 65th Place, is this frame house, with a deli on the ground floor. This type sign, with vinyl…

There are, or were, only two streets called “Row” in New York and wouldn’t you know it, they met each other. Tryon Row was a one block street between Centre…

Beach Street ranks among the Forgotten men among its neighbors in Tribeca. Two blocks between West and Greenwich were hacked off in favor of the Independence Plaza apartment house development in…