With the Trash Bags

Outside a 99¢ Shop

On the 59th Street Bridge

On the 59th Street Bridge

Central Park

Curbside Trash

Curbside Trash

Sidewalk

American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Front

American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Back

American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Front

American School of Vientiane T-Shirt, Back

Fly the Driendly Sky of Laos T-Shirt, Back

Fly the Driendly Sky of Laos T-Shirt, Front

Vientiane Flying Club T-Shirt, Front

Vientiane Flying Club T-Shirt, Back

Vientiane Flying Club T-Shirt, Front

Fly the Friendly Sky of Laos T-Shirt, Front

On Top of the Trash

Trash

With the Trashbags

In the Trash Can

Curbside

Curbside

Sidewalk

By a Fire Hydrant

Chained to a Streetsign

Second Hand Store

At a Parking Meter

On the Trash Cans

Trash Transport

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181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

181 Everywhere

Chevrolet on Greenpoint Avenue

RAvenswood-1-2089. Astoria Finast Windows
The signage at the Astoria Finast Window shop is notable for its Telephone Exchange Name phone number, though the company seems to have tried to gloss over this relic of its past. I would expect any company to be proud of this tell-tale sign of its longevity. Nevertheless, like Astoria Finast, many long-time companies sanded over or obliterated their Exchange Name numbers, replacing them with modern phone numbers.

STillwell 4-2468. Henri Billharz Inc. Plumbing & Heating
According to the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce web site (link no longer works): “Billharz Plumbing, Inc. has been family-owned and operated for three generations since 1927 – Henri X. Billharz, Robert H. Billharz and Henri J. Billharz are licensed and certified.” One of the signs on the Billharz Plumbing building still shows its exchange name number of STillwell 4-2468, but in these modern times the number is (718) 784-2468. You can also reach Billharz Plumbing at billharzplumbing.com.

AStoria 8-7979. Steinway Street.

STillwell 6-0640. Metro Systems Corp.

Chevy Impala in L.I.C.

EMpire 1-9240. Able Steel Equipment
This is the first EMpire exchange name I spotted. The Able Steel Equipment Company is alive and well. Their old-school telephone exchange name phone number of EM 1-9240 is today dialable at (718) 361-9240. UPDATE: Spotted another barely-visible EMpire exchange number a few months later.

STillwell 6-6300. Don Liebermann Realty.

STillwell 6-6300. Don Liebermann Realty.

Some kind of truck. I don't know what this is.

OLympia 9-4444. Typhoon Fence Company.

LOngacre 3-6540, Amabassador Terrace
I must have walked past this Ambassador Terrace sign a thousand times without noticing the LOngacre telephone exchange number hiding at the bottom. D. spotted this sign, which also shows a street address in the format used before the USPS introduced ZIP codes.

JUdson-6-0800. Riker & Co. Real Estate. Seen on Canal Street.
Looking to rent loft space in Chinatown? You probably won't have much luck calling the Riker & Co. Real Estate firm at the barely readable Exchange Name Number of JUdson 6-0800. In today's numbering that phone number -- 212-588-0800 -- would ring up the folks at Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP. According to an advertisement on this page at Fultonhistory.com, Riker & Co. also had a Brooklyn office where their Exchange Name Number was TRiangle 5-1234. The only other JUdson Exchange Name I've seen lately was in retro-chic usage on the receipt from Frank Music Company in midtown. It might be interesting to explore connections between this Riker company and the famous Riker family whose name graces the Riker's Island prison complex. The Riker family had a long history in New York, where to this day the Lent-Riker-Smith House with its Riker Family Cemetery in the back yard is believed to be the oldest continuously-inhabited dwelling in the United States.

TRafalgar 5-6400. Boro Sign.