Wallet card in the Meatpacking District

Last week I was in the city for work, and had time for a walk at the end of the day. I ended up in the meatpacking district, which no longer packs meat but is instead home to ridiculously expensive fashion boutiques. The old buildings have been restored rather than destroyed, however, so it is nice to walk around in. I hadn't been here since the early days of my wallet card posts, so I took a few photos.

R&L Luncheonette opened here in 1938. It changed it's name to R&L Restaurant in 1955, installing the chrome sign seen here. It closed in 2008, and has since been a wine bar and a Madewell fashion store, both keeping the old restaurant sign. It appears that the location is between businesses again; hopefully the sign remains.

Middendorf & Rohrs was a wholesale grocery business that operated from 1897 to 1964. It was sold to a realty company in 1964, where it was renovated for use by a meatpacking company. In 1998 it was sold again and remodeled as office space, with fashion boutiques on the ground floor.

Check out all of the old technology listed on the side of this building. It's barely legible but the company name Bogen can be seen on top. The Bogen company was a pioneer in audio technology. Started in 1932, the company was acquired by Unitronics in 1956 and moved to New Jersey. Fortunately, the sign advertising TV boosters, UHF converters and other old technology is still quite readable.