Neon News & Links

• From the no-news-is-good-news department, a number of recent losses to report (at least recently learned of by me):  


Maryland Furniture, formerly on East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx. (T. Rinaldi)


Peerless Cleaners, 4706 White Plains Road, Bronx. (T. Rinaldi)


Dante's Pastry Shop, 4715 White Plains Road, Bronx. (T. Rinaldi)

• From the erstwhile Shorpy blog, the following: 

     > Two fantastic scenes (1 & 2) of Times Square in 1949.
     > And, lest we be accused of being too New York-centric - two scenes (1 & 2) of neon-clad Atlanta, Georgia, in 1957 (feat. Shriners).

• In the Chelsea Hotel, the veteran El Quijote restaurant has been shuttered by its new owners.  The management has pledged to re-open in four or six or eight months but what will come here remains to be seen. 



• For your neon bookshelf, get a load of "Neon Revolution," a very handsome new book featuring vintage neon of the Eastern Block. This follows-up on author / photographer Ilona Kadwinska's previous volume entitled "Polish Cold War Neon."

Neon Revolution, a new book by Ilona Kadwinska (Neon Muzeum)

• One of Manhattan's better neon storefronts has transitioned: Live Bait, on East 23rd Street is now Flats Fix.  

Live Bait is now Flats Fix. (T. Rinaldi) 

• Renato, Renato, Renato - from the kindred spirit department, a tribute to "Renato," an ancient Greenwich Village restaurant sign, via the Ephemeral New York blog.


Renato's Van Dam Street ghost sign, Greenwich Village, NYC (Epmeheral New York)

• And finally, to end on a bright note - Debra Jane Seltzer takes us on a SoCal signage sojourn. 

 
Imperial Apartments, El Centro, CA (Debra Jane Seltzer)