18 May 2014

Half-And-Half Store


This building at 866 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is conducting a double life. On the bottom half, it is Golden Shoes, a going concern. The top half, though, obscured by the windows, is a reminder of the address' former life as Opera Bridal, which had "everything for the"....something. The upper sign is far more charming than the lower.

3 comments:

Mitch said...

I don't get it. Were there no windows on the upper floors when the bridal shop was there?

Brooks of Sheffield said...

I'm thinking the windows were there but covered and painted over. When the new owner/business arrived, they opened the windows back up, perhaps to better rent out the top floor.

Anonymous said...

About 15 years ago I read "Flatbush Odyssey" by Alan Abel, a report of his walking the entire length of Flatbush Avenue. It was a considerably rougher and less prosperous Brooklyn back then.

In any event, he described a former bridal store that had been converted into something else and with windows poking through the fading painted signage on the second floor. At the time, the painted figure of a bride was still faintly visible, though partly obliterated by the windows. On the left of this storefront I can sort of see a figure. It must be the very same former bridal shop.

Peter