Some very faded vintage advertisements

These three white-on-red brick ads are especially tough to decipher because one, if not all, of the words have fallen victim to the elements.

This one is in East Harlem on a building at Second Avenue and 109th Street. Hartketcher? Hoffketcher’s? It’s a total mystery.

At least the “Tea Co.” part is legible in this Tribeca ad. But whose company was it? The small type on the right looks like it could say “in Holland.”

 Tribeca (the name wasn’t coined until the 1970s) used to be the center of dry goods distribution in New York City.

Could the bank name in this ad be the Corn Exchange Bank Trust Company? Founded in New York City, it dates back to 1852. In 1954 it merged with Chemical Bank, and eventually the Corn part was jettisoned.