Old Coffee Shop Sees Light of Day Once More

Don't know if this is old news or not, but it's the first I've known of it. While walking up lower Fifth Avenue in Flatiron the other day, I notice this old neon sign at 184 Fifth. Apparently the sign has been uncovered because of recent construction activity. The last known tenant at this address was something called Food Gallery Inc. Right now, the inside is gutted and filled with metal trash carts. The removal of the Food Gallery sign apparently unearthed the Squire's signage.

Squire's Coffee Shop was at this location until at least the early '70s as far as I can tell. It was your average coffee shop of the time, though bigger than most. Served sandwiches and cokes and the lot. You can see some remnants of the decor if you look through the window. On the right hand wall are some extant decorative tilework. But more fascinating, on the left-hand wall, is what looks like it was once a mural depicted an earlier version of the Manhattan skyline. My guess is that the lunch counter once faced the painting. (The picture's not very good, I know. I was shooting across a distance through a dusty window at an angle.)