This Canal Street sign might be older than SoHo

I can’t be the only person in New York in love with the Canal Rubber sign—a can’t-miss yellow, red, and black throwback to Canal Street’s days as an industrial and art supply center.

Canal Rubber has been in business here near Greene Street since 1954.

That year, Ellis Island closed its doors, On the Waterfront hit movie theaters, teen gangs were making news headlines, and the desolate neighborhood not yet known as Soho was called Hell’s Hundred Acres (for all the fires in the cast-iron buildings used for manufacturing).

Or it went by no name at all, because no one wanted to be there.

The city’s kitschy, most colorful store signs

Blue, yellow, red, green: these vintage signs, from the 1960s and 1970s and still going strong (if a little worn), explode with color.

Has anyone gone to Canal Rubber, off Greene Street, to see if the promise on their sign is true? Just wondering.

Pete’s Pizza and its wonderful sign are on Avenue M in Brooklyn. I love the way each e in Pete’s is a little off-center.

Wakefield Paint and Wallpaper has a lovely carousel going on their sign. It’s at the end of the 2 and 5 line in the Bronx.

Bermudez Bakery is in East Harlem. The color scheme is a little too bright for my taste, but “dulces” sounds good.

“The Killarney Rose opened its doors over 43 years ago, making it one of the longest standing downtown local bar,” the website tells us. Looks like an old-school place to get a drink on Pearl Street.