Terminal Bar

A brief tribute this week to a sign I never saw:  the Terminal Bar, across Ninth Avenue from the Port Authority Bus Terminal, was not the kind of place my parents brought me on our visits to New York when I was a kid.  And lo, by the time I was old enough to venture into such establishments on my own, it was but a memory.  One can get a sense for the good old days, though, in this really spectacular short film, part of a longer work by Stefan Nadelman, that I came across thanks to the great then-and-now study of the film "Taxi Driver" over at ScoutingNY (the Terminal Bar makes a brief cameo in Scorsese's 1976 film).  Mr. Nedelman's film uses photographs and reminiscences from his father Sheldon, who tended bar here for ten years.

The Terminal Bar and its neighbors, c. 1976, as depicted in "Taxi Driver". Having just about killed myself trying to get decent rainy night photos for the neon book, I have concluded that Scorsese must have opened some fire hydrants to pull this off.  ("Taxi Driver")

Together with its neighbors, the Exchange Bar and the Bus Stop Bar – both very congenial places, I'm sure – the Terminal Bar made a stirring sight in its day.  Imagine coming out of Port Authority to find THIS - New York's neon receiving line, there to greet you. 

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen, at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street - the site of the Terminal Bar today.  (T. Rinaldi)

The Terminal Bar and its neighbors are ancient history today, of course – Renzo Piano's gleaming New York Times building stands in their place.  Yet, almost improbably, some pretty good new neon has sprouted here on lower reaches of the new building.  Are these hearty seedlings of the signs that existed here before?  Or did someone just feel that this corner wouldn't look right without a good sign?  In a way, perhaps, a bit of both. 

(The New York Times building has some other great signs at street level – does anyone know who made them?)

Above: New signs on the lower reaches of the new New York Times building. (T. Rinaldi) 

IN OTHER NEON NEWS:
• The neon book has gone out to the printer!
• Did anyone watch Jeopardy last night (May 7, 2012)? The correct response to final Jeopardy was "What is NEON?" and yes, I am pleased to say I got it right.

My Neon Valentine

Valentine's Day, thank God, comes only once a year.  Apart from those rare occasions when I am actually dating someone on this grim holiday, my own V.D. ritual usually involves a 40-ounce bottle and a good romance movie - you know, something like Sid and Nancy or Elevator to the Gallows.  This year, however, I thought I'd take it up a notch and tip my hat to those establishments whose dedication to romance is truly above and beyond.

XLent Vibes, at Eighth Avenue and 37th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

I refer, of course, to New York's Smuttiest - the sex shops, porno palaces - "adult book stores," if you prefer.  Sex shops are that proverbial 800-pound gorilla in any discussion of neon's place in the American landscape.  Though neon signs have advertised all forms of businesses and services, the popular psyche long ago seized on neon's association with unseemly businesses to such an extent that the signs eventually came to seem comically incongruous in front of more wholesome establishments like churches or funeral parlors.  

Adult DVD Depot, 725 Eighth Avenue (click on image for animation). (T. Rinaldi)

Once regarded as a pestilence, the relatively few sex shops that survive in New York now seem vulnerable in a world that has passed them by. The Guiliani-era cleanup and the internet porno trade have so effectively emasculated New York's sex shops that they have come to be viewed with a fond nostalgia.  European tourists pose for pictures before the small handful that survive on Eighth Avenue near Times Square.

Peep O-Rama, formerly on 42nd Street between Sixth and Seventh, now stuffed and mounted at the Times Square Visitor Center. (T. Rinaldi)

Like a caged specimen of some once-threatening endangered species, a genuine 42nd Street PEEP O-RAMA sign now hangs in the Times Square Visitors Center, preserved with the help of the Durst Organization and lovingly restored by Let There Be Neon.  Vinyl awnings and standard plexiglas box signs meanwhile have taken the place of neon at some of the few good old fashioned sex shops that survive.

The vanished Pussycat Theater, formerly at 49th and Broadway (top) has been re-enacted at the new Bowlmor Lanes on West 44th Street (bottom). (Time-Life; T. Rinaldi)

To be sure, the glory days of neon-bedecked smut parlors are behind us.  But neon's association with these businesses continues to season our long, tempestuous love affair with this most bewitching artificial light source.  There is something we like about neon's dark side.  Perhaps it is because it reminds us a little bit of ourselves, of our own human weaknesses and shortcomings.  Or maybe it just lends character to an otherwise inanimate street furnishing.

The Grande Dame of New York sex shop neon, at Gotham City Video, 687 Eighth Ave. (T. Rinaldi)

Whatever the case may be, these sexy holdouts add much needed relief to New York's increasingly sanitized streetscapes. Long may you run, you naked neon ladies!  Hallmark holidays may come and go, but every day is Valentine's Day where neon hearts glow.

Show World Center, 669 Eighth Ave. (T. Rinaldi)

The one and only Playpen was housed in the former Ideal Theatre on Eighth Avenue and West 44th Street. The historic movie house was razed around 2007 to make way for the Intercontinental Hotel, with Shake Shack on the ground floor.  (T. Rinaldi)

A name so nice they gave it to it twice.  Sixth Avenue at 24th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

Discount DVD Video, West 40th Street just off of Eighth Ave. (T. Rinaldi)

An exciting, scintillating representation of the DVD logo at Eighth Avenue and West 47th Street.  Sadly this sign has gone dark with the eviction of the building's tenants (including the Collins Bar) to make way for an apparent redevelopment scheme. (T. Rinaldi)

Show World Center, 669 Eighth Ave. (T. Rinaldi)

The Erotica, on Eighth Avenue at West 27th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

Mixed Emotions Video, downstairs from Bare Elegance Gentlemen's Club & Lounge, at 216 West 50th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

Xcellent DVD, 515 Sixth Avenue (below 14th Street).  Neon in channel letters over a rather saucy acrylic panel sign, evoking older signs at the Carnegie Deli or the M&G Diner. (T. Rinaldi)

An old standby, on Eighth Ave. at West 38th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

Formerly at Eighth Ave. and West 47th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

NY VIP Toys, 610 Eighth Ave.  (T. Rinaldi)

Virhan's Video, 592 Eighth Ave. (T. Rinaldi)

XLent Vibes, Eighth Ave. at 37th Street. (T. Rinaldi)

Virhan's Video, 592 Eighth Ave. (T. Rinaldi)

The Erotica, Eighth Avenue at 27th Street.  Alas, sex shops too have moved toward plexiglas signs and vinyl awnings in recent years.  (T. Rinaldi)

IN OTHER NEON NEWS:

• Welcome news that the Jade Mountain signs have been preserved and are in storage, a bit worse for wear, awaiting restoration.  More on this in a forthcoming blog post.

• A few new additions to the database at nyneon.org, including:

  - Potter's Men's Shop, on Castle Hill Ave. in the Bronx
  - Kramer's Pharmacy, St. Anne's Ave., Mott Haven, Bronx
  - Fuller Drug Store, Third Ave., also in the south Bronx

You've Got Bail

No one puts the "Thanks" in Thanksgiving quite like a bail bondsman.  I was reminded of this during a three-day stint at the Manhattan Criminal Court for jury duty this week.  In addition to reuniting families all across the land this holiday season, bail bondsmen brighten the side streets around our halls of justice with some great neon window signs.  This is true in the outer boroughs as well as in Manhattan.  Should you need their services, these signs make them easy to find.  Alas, LED signs are gaining ground here, too, so let's enjoy the BAIL BONDS neon while it lasts.  Happy Thanksgiving and stay out of jail, people!

Spartan Bail Bonds at 81 Baxter Street in Manhattan, with the Whiskey Tavern beyond. (T. Rinaldi)

  75 Smith Street, Brooklyn. (T. Rinaldi)

 American Liberty Bail Bonds, Queens Blvd, Queens. (T. Rinaldi)

Little LED handcuffs, at 75 Smith Street, Brooklyn. (T. Rinaldi)

Jack-o'-Neon

Nothing says "trick-or-treat" like this neon pumpkin, who has brightened my diurnal walk to work from his perch in the display window of the Goodwill Store on West 25th Street near Sixth Ave.  He is emphatically NOT for sale ("boss says I'd get fired if I sold it") but appears to be the work of the Neonetics of Hampstead, Maryland, and can be found on eBay for about $40.

The 25th Street Goodwill meanwhile has some noteworthy neon of its own.  The facade is crowned by a fascia sign with fluorescent blue neon tubes shielded behind a sheet of stainless diamond-plate steel, from which Goodwill's comic-sans-like logotype glows in silhouette when the sign comes alight.  Unfortunately it is mounted rather high up and is somewhat obscured by a big street tree, making it a little difficult to see.  Langston Hughes once said that he liked neon signs "as much, if not better than trees."  While I might agree in some contexts, on West 25th Street I'm content to have both.

Happy Halloween, Goodwill Store!  I'll see you for some last minute costume shopping this Saturday...

IN OTHER NEON NEWS  

I have added a handful of new signs to the main New York Neon site: 

• The Sheraton New York, formerly the Americana (sign gone now)    

• The Essex House, on Central Park South  

• The recently-landmarked Shore Theatre in Coney Island   

• The American Airlines terminal at LaGuardia, and 

• Added a better photo of Queens Wines & Liquors     

And, from Brooklyn, word of new life for Hinsch's Confectionery.