I couldn’t find any information on when this sign went up outside the parking garage on 43rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.
But the colors and the stylistic “garage,” not to mention its wear and tear, give it a vintage old New York feel.
It’s a strangely uplifting sight in an area once bookended by the super low-rent Hotel Carter and divey Smith’s Bar and is now home to sushi restaurants, a Westin Hotel, and the sleek offices of Yahoo.
Tags: Hotel Carter, Neon signs New York City, Old Times Square, Smiths Bar 44th Street, vintage signs in New York City, west 43rd Street, West 43rd Street NYC, West Midtown
Ephemeral New York 
August 3, 2015 at 2:00 pm |
Don’t get me started. I’m an ex-Manhattanite. I MISS the filth and grime and bums and working ladies of the west side–particularly in the Times Square area. TS is now nothing more than shitty fast-food chains and fast clothing stores. And….the middle class has been pushed out of residence by the one percent……..I gotta go–I’m getting stressed! XOXOXO!
August 4, 2015 at 2:53 pm |
I’ve always wanted a sign like that in my house, I think they are just so so beautiful
August 6, 2015 at 1:38 am |
This is about the last historic neon anywhere near Times Square! The sign dates to 1950. It appears on page 124 of my book, New York Neon, which includes this and about 160 other old neon signs around the city. Other interesting facts about the W43rd St Garage sign: it originally featured an animated illumination sequence in which its letters flashed on and off in alternating hues of red and green. Today, only the red tubes remain. It makes a very brief cameo in Gordon Parks’s 1971 film Shaft.
August 8, 2015 at 6:49 pm |
[…] The art of jaywalking [Gothamist] · The hidden public art spaces of NYC [Hyperallergic] · A lovely vintage parking sign on West 43rd Street [ENY] · This GIF of air traffic around NYC is mesmerizing [BI] · Casting […]