Neon Purgatory

One might argue that we enthusiasts of New York's old neon signs tend to lavish our affections on those that still come aglow at night, advertising old restaurants and other businesses that have been neighborhood anchors for generations.  Less attention is diverted to those old signs that exist in a kind of purgatory - those that haven't lit up in years, either because their owners haven't been able to keep up with their maintenance, or because they've simply outlived whatever business they once advertised. Abandoned and sometimes forgotten, these are the signs that are most likely to disappear.  


Vasikauskas Bar & Grill / 279 Grand St. / Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Sometimes, contemplating these old forgotten signs in my idle hours, I imagine ways they might be restored and lit up again.  Then, one day last year, an e-mail came from out of the blue suggesting that at least I wasn't the only one thinking about this.  It seemed that a prominent whiskey brand was looking for ways to partner with business owners to restore their crumbling old neon signs.  Could I suggest some good candidates for restoration in New York?  Could I ever!  


Spruce Florist / 222 8th Avenue / Chelsea, Manhattan

As it happened, I already had a shortlist of such signs.  That surprise e-mail prompted me update the list and punch it up with photos.  (Sadly, if not surprisingly, the updating revealed that a bunch of the signs on my list had already disappeared.) Unfortunately, that heaven-sent restoration plan has died on the vine.  So I present this gallery of New York's neon purgatory as an open invitation back to the drawing board.  Other cities have found ways to preserve and re-light some of their neon ghost signs as unique objects of cultural heritage that make appealing nocturnal landmarks.  Perhaps a bright future lays in store for some of these, too.



Home of Cheers Liquors / 261 W18th St / Chelsea, Manhattan


Marie's Crisis & Arthur's Tavern / 57-59 Grove St. / Greenwich Village, Manhattan 


United Palace Theatre / 4140 Broadway / Washington Heights, Manhattan 


Louis Zuflacht / 154 Stanton St. / Lower East Side, Manhattan


Chelsea Liquor Store / 114 9th Ave. / Chelsea, Manhattan


Suffolk Arms Bar / 269 East Houston St. / East Village / Lower East Side, Manhattan 


Liquor Store / 140 Havemeyer St / Williamsburg, Brooklyn


Adamo Chapel / 405 Humboldt Street / Williamsburg, Brooklyn 

Loft's Candies / 88 Nassau Street / Manhattan

Broadway Liquors / 3139 Broadway / Harlem, Manhattan


North Village Liquors / 254 W14th St. / Chelsea / Greenwich Village, Manhattan


French Garment Cleaners Co / 85 Lafayette Ave / Fort Greene, Brooklyn


Katz's Drugs / 76 Graham Avenue / Williamsburg, Brooklyn


Miller's Drugs / 173 Broad St / Stapleton, Staten Island


Post Road Theatre / 3429 Boston Road / Eastchester, The Bronx


DeVito Paints / 371 Graham Ave / Williamsburg, Brooklyn


Ox Line Paints (OTB Bar) / 141 Broadway / Williamsburg, Brooklyn


Wu Han Restaurant / 1533 Pitkin Ave. / East New York, Brooklyn


Rubinestein & Klein / 6001 14th Ave / Borough Park, Brooklyn


Joe’s Tavern / 258 10th Ave / West Chelsea, Manhattan


Bangert’s Florist / 86-06 117th Street / Richmond Hill, Queens  


Lenox Liquors / 100 W124th St / West Harlem, Manhattan


Point Pharmacy / Hunts Point & Garrison Ave / Hunts Point, The Bronx


Fuller’s Drugs / 2688 3rd Ave. / Mott Haven, The Bronx


Q Tavern / 761 Nostrand Ave / Crown Heights, Brooklyn


Gun Post Lanes / 1215 E Gun Hill Road / Williamsbridge, Bronx


Delicatessen / 40 8th Ave., Greenwich Village, Manhattan


St Paul’s Church / 256 W145th Street, Hamilton Heights, Manhattan


Pier 40 / Greenwich Village, Manhattan 


Magic Touch Restaurant / 69 3rd Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn


Smolenski Funeral Home / 1044 Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn


Kingston Lounge / 120 Kingston Ave., Crown Heights, Brooklyn 

Catania’s Shoe Shop / 3015 Westchester Ave., Pelham, Bronx


Garry Jewelers / 474 5th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn


House of Wine & Liquor / 250 East 34th Street, Manhattan


Caffe Roma /  176 Mulberry Street, Little Italy, Manhattan

IN OTHER NEON NEWS: 

• Check out San Francisco NEON SPEAKS! A weekend celebration of neon by the bay, coming April 20-22, 2018.  

• From the Shorpy photo blog:

    > Picadilly Circus, London's answer to Times Square, in 1961
    > An extravaganza of period signage (including one little neon goblin) in small town Texas.

• In LA, an arousing exhibit of preserved signs at the Museum of Neon Art in LA.  See also blogger Debra Jane Seltzer's review of the show here.  

• In Anchorage, Alaska, "The fate of the iconic neon palm tree sign that once stood in front of the derelict Paradise Inn on Spenard Road will now be decided by a federal judge."

• Reporting belatedly from Manhattan's Lower East side, the latterday neon landmark Schiller's restaurant has bowed out.

• In Rockland County, NY, someone has tried and failed to sell the wreckage of the Rockland Drive-In Theatre signage for a whopping $19k.  

• And finally, from the extremely depressing news department, confirmed reports came late last week that the El Quijote restaurant on West 23rd Street, in Manhattan's shuttered Chelsea Hotel, will close at the end of March 2018 after an 88 year run.