Anddddd… we’re back from NYC! After a week long trip to the
Big Apple where we sampled the food, the night life, the culture and of course,
the shopping, I realized that I may possibly be the only vactioner who includes
signs as part of my list of tourist attractions. I’m not talking the big
important monuments, I’m talking about the little tragedies of government
signage or the er… “modifications” that have occurred to everyday signs.

As I back-tracked through the subway to capture this beauty
about the Essex Street subway stop, I received strange looks from locals and my
friends a like. Personally, I think this sign “correction” shows a flare of
genius! The sign artist had to capitalize on the multitude of “wet paint” signs
that were at a previous stop and apply them to the Essex St. sign without
getting caught by the MTA employees and without committing the cardinal New
York sin – getting in the way of people trying to get on the subway.

The Essex St. sign is second only to the series of
masterpieces I captured while on honeymoon in the Virgin Islands. The Dip
Series showed not only a one-time creativity, but the extended oeuvre of the
artist. And while the Dip Series artist might not have been faced the threat of
law enforcement the way the Essex St. artist was, his/her odds of getting run
over were much higher.

A second category of sign that I much appreciate is what I
term “unintentional art.” It’s a category exemplified by this little gem
discovered in Brooklyn. Yes, that’s a New York City Department of Environmental
Protection truck, and yes, it wants “Gasoline Only.”  Because gasoline is what environmental protection is all
about, right?

Then there’s this classic from a previous trip to New York.
Yup, that electrically lit sign is indeed telling you that it’s conserving
electricity.