Like faded building ads and kitschy store signs, colorful neon bar and restaurant signs are icons of the city. The incandescent glow they give off makes nighttime New York feel warmer and more enchanting.
I don’t know how long the sign has been lighting up MacDougal Street, but Monte’s red-sauce joint has been around since 1918.
The sign is a little worn and the neon partly stripped off, but French bistro Tout Va Bien (“everything is fine”) has been going strong for three generations on West 51st Street.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner—all meals will be served at the Waverly Restaurant (minus the last two letters) at Sixth Avenue and Waverly Place.
It’s not to be confused with the ultracool Waverly Inn several blocks over on Bank Street.
Tags: colorful neon signs, Monte's Restaurant, neon bar and restaurant signs, Neon signs New York City, old neon signs, Tout Va Bien, Tout Va Bien 51st Street, vintage store signs NYC, Waverly Diner
Ephemeral New York 
July 4, 2011 at 8:00 pm |
The Waverly was a long-time favorite of mine, and the very definition of a Manhattan diner – any diner scene in Seinfeld could have been written there.
Finest meat loaf and gravy on rye that I’ve found in the US.
Thanks so much for this picture!
July 4, 2011 at 9:23 pm |
You’re welcome, looking at the sign makes me crave a cheeseburger deluxe!
July 9, 2011 at 12:56 pm |
I hope the ‘new/improved’ Waverly Diner keeps their iconic sign.
September 6, 2012 at 2:46 am |
[…] neon signs bursting with color are New York icons. But there’s another type of store signage that deserves some recognition […]