Entreprenuel Spirit Alive and Well on Hicks

Brooklyn's a City on the Make just now, what with the boom in development and arrival of restaurants in number and national chains. So why shouldn't the little guy get in on the action?

This sign suddenly appeared out of nowhere near the corner of Hicks and Union streets recently. It's a hand-painted piece of tagboard, as far as I can see, and it hangs by string from a second-floor window. It perplexed me for a day or two. I assumed the creator of the sign wanted to rent the space on the side of the squat brick building. But then I thought, the wall space is not huge. And isn't the usual language for this sort of pitch, "Your Ad Here"?

So, then I thought the number might be that of a sign maker, some guy who makes signs like the one featured above. Finally, I called. My first assumption was the correct one; he wants to rent the wall as billboard space. (By the way, please don't inundate this poor man with calls unless you mean business; I don't want him bothered unnecessarily.)

Whatever the billboard that goes up, it will have some heavy competition. The beautiful old painted Lattacini-Barese sign looms just above that building.