A Good Sign: Manhattan Furrier

You don't see many streetside furriers anymore. Leastways, ones that are unafraid, in these p.c times, to advertise themselves in neon. Manhattan Furrier—which is not in Manhattan, but on Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn—was founded in 1913 by the father of Irving Feller, who runs it today.

Feller's an odd duck. He is an abstract painter in this spare time and his works fill the walls of the small place. He is also obsessed with Native American culture. He visits the Kutenai, Shoshone-Bannock, Crow, Nez Perce, Apache, Navajo, Zuni and Hopi out west every year. In his store window are Native American jewelry he has bought from them; everything is for sale.

Manhattan Furrier also offers fur storage. I've got to wonder how many people in ramshackle Greenpoint take him up on that offer. Note the window still sports the old-school phone number EV-d-2920.