Lettering Walk with Paul Shaw: Elmhurst & Corona

Today I took my second Lettering Walk with designer and design historian, Paul Shaw. This one examined interesting sites in the Elmhurst and Corona neighborhoods of Queens. (Note the "ghost sign" or fading impression of McMahon's Tavern peeking through the graffiti in Elmhurst.)

The purpose of these walks is to identify lettering and commercial signage created by hand using various methods and materials over the last few hundred years.

According to Wikipedia, Elmhurst started out in 1652 as a Dutch settlement called Middenburgh, renamed Newtown by the British in 1664. Settlement increased as a new horsecar road reached the town from Manhattan in 1854 and still more as the Long Island Railroad's Main Line passed through in 1876. In 1897 Newtown became Elmhurst mainly because of the association with the recently polluted and foul-smelling Newtown Creek, also to celebrate the abundant Elm trees in the area.

Libraries, schools, churches, firehouses, and municipal buildings are great places to find examples of lettering carved into stone which can assist in dating the building according to the style of the lettering.

Brownstone headstone inscription, "...who departed this life March 28th 1811 aged 28 years, 3 months and 21 days". Reformed Dutch Church (1732, rebuilt 1831).

Here's some examples of signs using metal.

The hand-painted signage on stores, restaurants, houses, graffiti, etc, are often more ephemeral and as they deteriorate they can display clues to their creation. (In the photo of the hand-painted "FLEA MARKET" sign you can see the brush strokes as nature wears down the paint, also notice the ghost image of the lettering from the older sign it was painted over.)

On this canvas sign you can see the pencil lines the artist used to draw out the letters as well as the alternate spelling of "MUVING".

We even found a few examples of signs using wood.

There are also some very unique and colorful solutions to the problem of creating a sign. (For those not familiar with local conventions, the address below translates to "90-06".)

The great thing is they are around every corner begging to be noticed. I used to walk past handmade lettering without barely a thought besides "Wow, look at how imperfect and handmade that sign looks!".

Now thanks to Mr. Shaw, I view each instance as an artifact—Lettering is a touchstone linking us with our brethren from hundreds of years ago and thousands of years ago... tackling the same damn problems!

All photos by Larry McFarland. 2017.

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