Here, in the latest of the wonderful stash of old Columbia Street images recently claimed from obscurity by Freebird Books, is a shot of the Rayco Machine Company, a player in the area's now bygone industrial past. It stood at the northeast corner of Columbia and Baltic Street, and there's not a sign of the company or the building today. (All photos are the property of Freebird Books.)
But Rayco is not what's interesting about this photo. What is is the gigantic ad for the Guido Funeral Home of the side of the building. This business is still a going concern, and operates on the corner of Carroll and Union Streets inside the historic John Rankin mansion. There it is below (photo courtesy of Carroll Gardens Patch.) There's a long, long history to that building, which I really should tell one of these days.
My father and his extensive family grew up on Clinton between Kane and Degraw and I have been to Guido's many, many times. We would go to Guido's, then to Greenwood. When you are a child you don't really understand the loss and sadness of death, so all I remember was the goat that was kept in the basement of Guido's. My cousins and I would run giggling from the basement loudly announcing that there is a goat in the basement.
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