The Traffic Building

There's a handsome little building on 23rd Street near Seventh Avenue hiding in plain sight. It's attractive enough, but the main reason it caught my interest was its odd name: the Traffic Building. Could this have been the headquarters of an early version of the MTA?

Improbably enough, the building was named after the Traffic Cafeteria, which called this home when the structure was built in 1927. It took up the bottom two floors.

The Times says this of the architect's work: "The terra cotta pilasters on the side of the second floor are made of interwoven Celtic-type ornament. The bricks in the spandrel panels at various locations are rendered in herringbone and checkerboard patterns. Twin spiral colonettes run up the facade of the building, topped by medieval-style capitals and eagles. A frieze across the third floor carries large wreaths of floral ornament flanking a terra cotta plaque with the building's name. For a vernacular New York building, it is a masterpiece."

D'Aiuto Bakery Building For Sale

Not sure what's going her, but a reader tipped me off to the fact that the D'Aiuto Bakery building in the Garment District is up for sale "by Owner."

D'Aiuto has been there for a generation or four at 405 Eighth Avenue. It was founded in 1924. I don't know if they own the building, but given the way they feel at home with all the signage, my guess would be: yes, they do.

A Good Sign: Eagle Cheese

In Gravesend, Brooklyn

THE UNION STREET PROJECT: 139 Union Street

It's been a good long time since I posted an edition in The Union Street Project, in which I trace the past of every building on Union Street, between Hicks and Columbia, in Brooklyn. There's a reason. And that's: gathering information on these piles of bricks is damned difficult.

The newspaper archives provide only so much material. And the memories of locals are spotty at best. There are several local legends in my area whom I was instructed to seek out. They know everything about the old neighborhood, I was told. I did seek out these people. And I found out that they know almost nothing. I'd ask them specific questions and they'd answer in generalities and make guesses.

These dead ends temporarily halted my project. Finally, I knuckled under, resorted to the Municipal Archives and ordered a number of (expensive) archival shots of various buildings. Photos don't lie.

One of the photos I ordered was for 139 Union Street, seen above. This interesting looking building is on the south side of Union. Unlike other structures on the street, there is no trouble tracing the date of its erection. It says so on the cornice: 1928. This means it's one of the newer buildings on the streets. It also means that it supplanted a previous building, for an 1855 map has a building standing on this spot.

Read more »

Why Are We Cursed?

Got out of the 50th Street 1 Train stop, and my eyes were unavoidably attracted to the garish Applebee's across the street. Sweet Jesus. Yellow and Red. Big signs saying "Breakfast." Can't they let up? But what's that small white sign in the second floor window?

World's Biggest Applebee's? Why, Oh Lord, does this keep happening to us? Must Midtown have the largest awful everything in the U.S.?

Columbia Commons Sheds Crocodile Tears for Hamberger Factory

The developers of Columbia Commons, the successful condo development just west of Cobble Hill, were more than happy to lay a wrecking ball into the old Hamberger Christmas Display Factory back the summer and fall of 2008, knocking the century-and-a-half old structure down in about a week's time, in order to clear the path for making a quick buck on cheap-looking housing. (You can read more about the long and storied history of the handsome old building here.)

Columbia Commons has been a rocking success for the builders, filling its half-mil apartments up quickly. I guess they were feeling flush enough that they sprung for this cheapo plaque honoring the lost factory. Wow. That should last, what?, maybe five years or so.

Second Avenue Deli Knows What Time It Is

I recently got my first glimpse of the new Yorkville Second Avenue Deli branch that's it the works. It looks good so far. Should be a handsome addition to the neighborhood. (I understand its opening has been delayed for various reasons.)

I particularly like the clock, with the Hebrew figures, instead of Arabic or Roman numerals. Nice touch. I don't recall the other branches of the famous deli having such a clock, but I may be wrong on that.

Joe's Superette Sign Deconstructed

Before it disappears forever—as it most certainly will—let's take a close look at the sign for the recently closed Carroll Gardens deli Joe's Superette. For it is an irreplaceable piece of New York memorabilia.

First: "Joe's." Joe was the man who founded the deli, back in the 1950s. No one I have met knows Joe's last name. I'm assuming he was of Italian descent. Before opening up his own place, he worked as Pete's Grocery, which was down the block. He retired in 1985 and sold the store to Leo Coladonato, who ran it until his death earlier this month.

Next: "Superette." This is a term that has largely fallen out of favor. But back in the day, what we know called a Convenience Store or Mini-Mart was called a Superette. It's a contraction of "Supermarket" and the suffix "ette," meaning a smaller version of a supermarket. It came into usage in the 1930s, the same decade that saw the spread of supermarkets, self-service mega-stores that offered a wide variety of foodstuffs (and scared the bejesus out of tiny butchers, bakers and grocers). One has to imagine that Joe was being a little grand about his tiny shop when he called it a superette.

According to a cousin of mine who is schooled in fonts, the interesting white lettering falls into a general category know as "Tuscan." Which makes sense.

Read more »

Strangest Dentist's Office in New York

Every time I pass by the address of dentist Richard Chiang D.D.S, on upper First Avenue, I'm tempted to knock on the door and ask, "What the hell kind of office is this?"

It looks like a tiny house of detention to me, a bunker; a battered old wooden door, a window covered with bars, a dirty wall of white bricks. It's the oddest frontage. I seriously doubt if anything goes on inside. But I love the joint's weirdness, sitting there in the middle of a busy block not doing much of anything.

Read more »

A Good Sign: Goldberger's Pharmacy

I usually only see the Goldberger's sign in the daytime. Yesterday, I got lucky and caught the Upper East Side landmark in all its lit-up glory.

I also like this inset display window on the north side of the store. Such windows, which do not look into the store, but are truly display windows, are relative rarities these days.