Although the neon book focused on veteran outdoor storefront signs, skeleton signs are impossible to ignore. It's here that New York's neon tube benders really show off their imagination and skill. They're called skeleton
signs because they're so, well, skeletal - just tubes and a transformer and some
kind of an armature to hold it together. While neon storefront signs have grown scarce over the years, skeleton signs can still be found all over town, though LEDs are moving in here, too.
There may not be a single legit or even semi-legit trade in the book that isn't advertised with a neon window sign somewhere in New York. Beyond the locksmiths, cobblers, cleaners and nail salons whose neon window signs are quintessential features of the New York streetscape, skeleton signs advertise just about anything and everything imaginable.
Angelo True Value Paint & Hardware, 148-27 Hillside Ave., Queens
Show World Center, 669 8th Ave., Manhattan
$10 Psychic, Somewhere in Manhattan
Somewhere on 47th St., Manhattan
Calvary Books, 4226 White Plains Road, Bronx
Skeleton signs have us covered from head to toe and everything in between.
Somewhere on Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn
Somewhere in Chelsea, Manhattan
Cohen's Fashion Optical, 189 Montague St., Brooklyn
Economy Best Vision & Hearing, 223 W14th St., Manhattan
Marini & Manci Dentistry, 21 Spring St., Manhattan
Uri Gallery Jewelers, 523 Fulton St., Brooklyn
Chelsea Healing Art, 393 8th Av., Manhattan
Because they've been made in essentially the same way for a good 80 years, it's sometimes hard to tell an old skeleton sign from a not-so-old one. Real neon pro's can spot little details in their construction that are clues to their age - old transformers, assembly techniques, electrode styles, etc. The rest of us can spot older signs based on typography that speaks with the twang of another era.
Lanza's Restaurant, 168 1st Av., Manhattan
Gothic Press, 1317 Ave. Z, Brooklyn
Aaron Plum Insurance, 255 W231st St., Bronx
23rd Street Hardware (Vercesi Hardware), 152 E23rd St., Manhattan
Stage Restaurant, 128 2nd Av., Manhattan
Grande Memorials, 382 Graham Ave., Brooklyn
John's Pizzeria "Port'Alba - Wines-Beer" / 278 Bleecker St., Manhattan
They are a polyglot bunch, these window signs, as multilingual as the city that wrought them. Polyalphabetical, too.
D'Sergio S. Multiservices Inc., 1590 St. Nicholas Ave., Manhattan
Karpaty Lys Mykyta (Sly Fox), 140 2nd Ave., Manhattan
Loeser's Delicatessen, 214 W231st St., Bronx
Hair Love Beauty Salon, 75-26 Broadway, Jackson Heights, Queens
Main Street, Flushing, Queens
Some signs say it with words...
"Igor Is Here" / Style and Smile Salon, 167 W21st St., Manhattan
"Freaks" / Surf Ave., Coney Island, Brooklyn
"Sleep Late" / The Edge Bar, 95 E3rd St., Manhattan
"Any Bail Any Jail" / Spartan Bail Bonds, Inc., 81 Baxter St., Manhattan
"We Specialize in the Unique & Unusual" / Kinematics Fetish Store, W38th St., Manhattan
"Council Member Letitia James" / 67 Hanson Pl., Brooklyn
Knights of Columbus Archbishop John Hughes Council No. 481, 1305 86th Street, Brooklyn
"In By 9 AM Out By 5 PM" / Cleaners, Somewhere on the Upper East Side, Manhattan
"Spandex World" / 228 W38th St., Manhattan
Haric Laundry, 335 E65th St, Manhattan
Others speak with pictographic simplicity.
Union Han Cook Meat Market, 34-08 Union St., Flushing, Queens
Pine St. Barber Shop, 79 Pine St., Manhattan
Ulloa's Photo Center, 4260 Broadway, Manhattan
Ambrosia Pizza, 8 W45th Street, Manhattan
Andre's Bakery / 1049 First Av., Manhattan
East Village, Manhattan
Swan's Cleaners, 356 9th Ave., Manhattan
HealthyBay Natural Foods Inc. / 161-30 Cross Bay Blvd., Queens
Gym Source / 40 E52nd St., Manhattan
Hungry? Consult the neon menu:
"Fresh Fish" / Sunny Fish Market, 44-15 Queens Blvd, Queens
Somewhere in Washington Heights, Manhattan
"Camarones" / Somewhere in Washington Heights, Manhattan
"We Are Kosher" / Dunkin' Donuts-Baskin Robbins, 51 E34th St., Manhattan
Somewhere in Chinatown, Manhattan
Nice & Spicey / Kashmir 9 Cuisine of Pakistan, 478 9th Ave. around 39th St., Manhattan
The sheer volume of neon skeleton signs is such that I could scarcely begin to do them justice with just this one blog post. If I missed any of your favorites, as I surely have, please drop me an e-mail at (rinaldit2 [at] gmail [dot] com) to clue me in. Please include a photo if you can.
NY NEON WALKING TOUR:
• My next neon walking tour has officially been calendared! May 8, 2014, at dusk. Reservations at the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative.
IN OTHER NEON NEWS:
• From Jeremiah's Vanishing NY ~ the Famous Oyster Bar signs have taken actually residence at their new perch, as promised, at the Grey Lady on Delancey Street.
• Exciting news from Gowanus: the Kentile spectacular will come back to life, sort of, on May 3rd, 2014, by way of fancy laser beams. It's a one night only gig.
• Also via JVNY, word on the impending demise of the Brevoort Garage by Union Square, home to one of my favorite parking garage signs in town.
• From the Bowery Boys, a trove of 1940s color photos by Andreas Feininger showing the nighttime streets of New York bathed in red neon - this will blow your mind.
• From the ilovetypography blog, a short and sweet cinematic tribute to sign painting.
• From James and Karla Murray and EVGrieve: Some truly great ancient neon unearthed and trashed in the same day in the East Village.
• A quick neon typography appreciation of the Superior Florists sign on 6th Ave, from Paul Shaw.
• Meanwhile, out west, Debra Jane visits Fresno, here and here.
• The Lost City blog visits upon some of my absolute favorite reliquary neon - the Louis Zuflacht building on the Lower East Side.
• Also via Jeremiah, really depressing rumors that we may soon lose Pearl Paint down on Canal Street, which has some nice neon and even nicer non-neon streamlined porcelain enameled storefrontage.
• Ending on a happier note - a short film on the neon of Hong Kong.
