It's hard to miss this sign -- and the store's purpose is exceedingly clear. Below, The Loews Kings, closed in 1977 and still awaiting a redevelopment plan. Barbra Streisand was an usher here once.
We took a long tour the other day through the Flatbush and Midwood sections of Brooklyn, beginning with lunch at Di Fara's and ending with dinner at Picket Fence on Cortelyou Road. In between, we found lots of noteworthy stuff, including some of New York's most charming residential neighborhoods. A few of us will be dropping occasional posts on our experiences. Here's some highlights from a short stretch of Flatbush Avenue we traversed. On a late Saturday afternoon, it was teeming with vibrant street life and interesting shops and sights. Our photographic highlights continue after the jump.
-- Rolando Pujol
Just a perfect neighborhood stationery store sign, with plastic lettering and a corrugated metal background.
A wonderful detail from the facade of the Loews King.
It's still the Kings, but the "Loew" sign is long gone.
From the look of this relic sign, the discounts were perhaps too deep.
Windows? We don't need no stinking windows.
The Cookie's department store sign is colorful and fun, and the Tudor elements on the building add a touch of the bizarre.
Right off Flatbush, on Synder Avenue, lies the fantastical Crown Center Banquet Hall, which makes its rooms available to weddings, church functions, luncheons and much more.
Dating to 1875, here is the seat of what was once the town of Flushing. It's also on Snyder Avenue.
We were taken by the retro goodness of Diplomat Bowl on Synder Avenue.
And next to the bowling alley is a sign for the Ebinger Baking Company.
Back on Flatbush, the great Erasmus High School produced many a famous Brooklynite.
A peek inside the courtyard at Erasmus, where the original school, which dates to the 1700s, still stands.
Here's a great old plastic sign, made better by the missing letters.
Old stationery stores often have generations of interesting stickers on the front window. Here's a gem from the late 1970/early 1980s for Lotto, then part of "The Empire Stakes."
-- Rolando Pujol