Brooklyn’s most charming doughnut shop sign

New York once had lots of neighborhood doughnut places, and this stamp-size shop on Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay keeps the tradition alive. Also known as Shaikh’s Place, Donut Shoppe still has the original sign installed by the shop’s first owner decades ago.

The shop has diversified over the years, adding to the menu tacos, chicken sandwiches, and other eats reflecting the changing demographics of this working class neighborhood. But people still flock here for the heavenly glazed and iced spheres of fried dough.

[Thanks to Duane Sherwood for sending the photo]

What Economy Candy looked like in the 1980s

Sweets emporium Economy Candy, a beloved time machine of a candy store, got its start on Rivington Street in the 1930s (hence the very Depression-friendly name).

Today the shop has one of New York’s most recognizable old-school signs (above), and its maze of candy bins and shelves of nostalgia brands draw big crowds on weekends—a testament to its reputation as well as the Lower East Side’s revival.

But things at 108 Rivington looked very different in the 1980s, when this NYC Department of Records photo was taken.  (Click the thumbnail to see it larger.)

How it looked inside, I have no idea. But outside are boarded-up upper windows, graffiti near the facade—and a sign noting Israeli specialties and Halvah, reflecting the tastes of the neighborhood 30-plus years ago.

More signs that have seen better days

Three stylistically different store signs in three separate neighborhoods—each one a case of benign neglect . . . not a bad thing.

I love the typeface used in Casa Latina. It’s a record store on East 116th Street, a main drag in East Harlem.

Stationery, cigars, candy, toys . . . pretty much everything a tiny neighborhood store needs. This one is located on a little commercial strip on 187th Street in Washington Heights.

Ideal Hosiery, one of the last vestiges of Grand Street’s Hosiery Row and an iconic sign on the Lower East Side.

It dates to 1950. I think the sign must too!

Peeling back layers of downtown store signs

When a shop goes out of business, there’s a short yet sweet window of time during which the defunct store’s sign is down . . . and the ghost sign from a long-ago shop becomes visible. For a few days to a few weeks, you get this tiny glimpse into the city’s recent past.

Like Reisman’s Ladieswear at 226 East 14th Street. Not too many signs advertise “cut rate” clothing anymore:

Lafayette French Pastry, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, looks like it was a charming place to get a chocolate eclair in the 1960s. They moved over to Greenwich Avenue and West 10th several years ago:

I wonder what Richman, at 300 Canal Street, sold:

If the sign advertised a product or service, we’ll never know; it’s hidden behind a red blotch.

Vintage store signs in the Village

Joe’s Dairy—Latticini Freschi—is just off Houston Street:

 

T.S Hardware, still making keys on 8th Street near University Place:

 

Looking at this sign on Seventh Avenue South, you’d think it’s 1939, not 2009: