A kind reader sent in the above photos of some signage uncovered at 52nd Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan. You don't see many chandelier and sconce rewiring shops around anymore. And the phone number with the lettered exchange gives the sign away as an old specimen.
According to a 1981 article in New York magazine, Louis Mattia never left his eponymous shop—at 980 Second Avenue—and would give customers a free detailed estimate on repairs of their lamps, chandeliers, wall sconces and candelabras. Clients included Denning and Fourcade and Rhoda Astrachan.
New York mag absolutely loved Mattia. The rag plugged the shop again in 1989. The Times also wrote of Mattia, in 1990. "I love lamps," Mattia, who opened the shop in 1960, said. "I"m crazy about them."
No sure when the shop went under, but it was there as recently as 1996. In recent years, it was a Mexican restaurant and a pizzeria.
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