Wallet Card old sign mega-post

With Baseball Card Breakdown celebrating the ninth anniversary of Wallet Cards (remember, it was Gavin's idea before the Twitter/X crowd "stole" it), now's a good as time as any to clear out the rest of the photos I took last summer, most of which don't really need their own posts. 

This is probably the best example of "blogging for me" - these are the posts I enjoy the most, but probably get the least comments. Still, for those of you who do like old signs, hopefully you like these!

Starting off in Midwood, Brooklyn. Decades-old neon sign for "Pam Shoes".

Under the Pam sign, Kingsway Carpet is still in business but that sign looks real old.

London Character Shoes used to have stores all over NYC. They went out of business in the 1970s.

I saw this sign from the window of a Target. Probably not that old (maybe 1990s?), the store only closed recently.

I read about this cool sidewalk sign in Gravesend and had to check it out.

 

But it was a fun surprise to see this sign next door! "Ace Hi Spraying 1956". Very cool that it was dated! Only thing on the company in a quick Google search was from a 1960 Brooklyn telephone directory.

Sign for a long-gone optical business.

I came across this cool hand-painted sign. I would guess 1960s at latest, looks like it had something glued over it for years.

1930s porcelain signs on the side of apartment buildings advertising Rex Cole GE refrigerators were once commonplace in NYC. Here's one I took a picture of a few years ago in Manhattan. I was able to get a much clearer shot than this one high up on a building in Brooklyn.

This is my third Thom McAn post, second one with a floor tile sign. I do like these.

Long gone Bay Stationers, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

I was hoping for several old roofing signs with alpha-numeric numbers but largely struck out. Here's a somewhat newer one, maybe 1970s or 1980s.

I missed this one in the post about alpha-numeric signs. Printing business near the Sheepshead Bay subway station.

The original Lundy Brothers restaurant in Sheepshead Bay was opened in 1926, and closed in 1979.  Another restaurant named Lundy operated in the building, an NYC landmark, from 1996 to 2007. It is now Momo Hibachi, but you can see Lundy on the wall . . .

. . . and in the floor.

I couldn't find much line about Rubinstein & Klein Furniture in Boro Park, but they had a great neon sign.

Some long-gone insurance business had a great clock/sign above the Bay Ridge subway station entrance.

This Blink Fitness near the Barclays Center used to be a Public Baths, with the sign on top as well as the mens and womens entrances still visible.

Downtown Brooklyn, next to the current Trader Joe's sign you can see the faded engraving from when it was the South Brooklyn Savings Institution.

Eat healthy - dial Hot Bird! In the early 1990s, the start of the rotisserie chicken craze, you could dial 1-800-HOT-BIRD for some hot chicken delivery in Brooklyn. It was only open for four years (1989-1993), but the owner later moved to Charlotte and opened some Hot Birds there.

L & B Waller Potters in Williamsburg. I can't find any references to this business past the 1920s.

McElreavy & Hauck plumbers, across the street from the potters. Also out of business for many many decades.

Third one on the same block. Nutrine Cosmetics operated from 1947 to 1965.

Classic Floor Covering. Another instance where the business is still in operation but the sign is probably older than I am.

Same with this one for Natan Borlam Childrens & Ladies Wear. Got to be 1950s at latest.

Sterlizied Diaper Service established 1935! Back in the days before disposable diapers.

Some very old, blue enamel street signs that were affixed to buildings in Williamsburgh. Fillmore Place . . .

. . . and Roebling Street. These are real survivors.

The 1930s Lewis Steel Products factory in Williamsburg is now luxury loft rentals.

Old General Tire sign (1980s?) at a mechanic in Ridgewood, Queens.

Another restored old factory, Metropolitan Tobacco in Bushwick.

Jacob M. Aufrecht real estate business in Bushwick has been gone for decades, but still have a bold store front sign. . .

and even still have a decades-old metal For Sale sign on a building nearby! For a clearer photo of the sign, check out the photo from my favorite Flickr account, Ben Hagen. There you can see better the telephone number - STAGG 2-3169.

Speaking of Bushwick here is the former Bushwick Savings Bank. The bank was acquired in 1977.

There is some signage on the building behind the bank that appears to be advertising for it. "Savings Bank Enter Here" is visible - probably pointing the way to the parking lot.

Nearby was a recently-revealed sign for a long-gone shoe store.

Corn Exchange was once a large NYC-area bank. I posted one from Brooklyn last year; this one is in Long Island City, Queens.

In Manhattan now, these signs in Tribeca for Goodall Rubber. Goodall Rubber, which originated in Philadelphia in 1906, still exists today. These were it's NYC offices from 1911 through the 1970s.

Across the street was Matera Canvas. This sign turned out to not be that old - the business operated from 1970 to 1997.

Also on this block. "Department of Water Supply Gas and Electricity - Headquarters - High Pressure Service". Back when it was fancy to turn your U's into V's.

Here's a random oddity in front of an Upper East Side apartment building. The Ziegfeld Theater on 54th and 6th was one of New York's great old movie houses, and was torn down in 1966. This apartment building on E. 80th street was owned by theater producer Jerry Hammer, who joked to the developer of the Ziegfeld property that he'd like to have one of the limestone heads decorating the building. A few months later he was surprised by a loud noise outside his window - it was a crane lowering the head into his front yard. Hammer moved out in 1998 but the head remains.

This Bloomingdale's sign on Lexington Avenue in Harlem was meant to be seen from the elevated subway train tracks. Those were torn down in the 1930s.

Back when what is now Spanish Harlem was primarily Italian, Italy's Banca Comerciale Italiana operated a branch from 1928 to 1939.

An old Harlem pharmacy sign advertising "purity" and "accuracy" is still partially visible today.

This large painted ad for Omega Oil was painted in 1910.

Another angle from farther away so you can see the lower part of the sign.

Still in Harlem, a remnant from when part of the area was horse stables.

1872 sewer manhole cover.

Now in Chinatown. The Manhattan Railway company was chartered in 1875 and owned by the Gould family - Jay Gould's son George was president. They ran the overhead railways in NYC. When the IRT, the first underground subway line, was started in 1902, the overhead railways were leased to the IRT.

Gold Medal Flour signs can still be found all over the US. I posted on on Long Island years ago. This was off of Delancey Street in the Lower East Side.

Old sign for Coffee Urns, Steam Tables, Drainboards and Bar Benches, on the Bowery.

G. La Rosa bakery in Little Italy operated from the 1930s until 2002. This sign is probably closer to the 1930s.

"China American Products Centre". Not that old, probably 1990s.

Village Gate was a well known Greenwich Village jazz club that operated from 1958 to 1994, which hosted most of the major jazz and rock musicians of the 1960s and 1970s. The sign is still extant though has been blocked by scaffolding for years.

Another village institution, Cafe Figaro, only closed a few years ago, but I figured I'd capture that sign in the ground.

Some renovations on a building off of Washington Square reveal the 1940s sign for the Waverly Smoke Shop, which operated into the 1990s.

Next door another sign from that era, this time for a lingerie business.

Nearby on Lafayette Street was this old clock for Mann Refrigeration, which operated at this location from 1952 to 1972.

On the same block were some more ghost signs. Amalgamated Life Insurance still exists but hasn't been at this location in a long time.

Next door is a sign for a NY branch of the famous Philadelphia department store Wanamaker. Wanamaker, first opened in Philadelphia in 1861, lasted through the 1996. This particular location was open from 1901 to 1954.

Nearby, what's left of a century-old YMCA sign.

A preserved historic lamppost in Soho.

Finally, I've posted a few of these but am always happy to find more. Old public telephone sign in view outside a restaurant in Tribeca.