Wednesday, April 22, 2015

What lies beneath the Moishe's sign



Workers continue to repair the facade at Moishe's Bake Shop, 115 Second Ave.

A crew removed the sign late Friday night/early Saturday here near East Seventh Street.

Owner Moishe Perlmutter told WPIX that the sign sustained damage following the deadly gas explosion on March 26. (The sign seemed rather battered before then.)



"We got a violation last week that it’s shaking. We have to take it off and fix it," Perl told the station.

Meanwhile, Matt Rosen shared this photo... workers uncovered some stained glass underneath the facade...



We're unsure how old this glass is. Here's a shot of Moishe's from 1980 via EVG contributor Michael Sean Edwards...



According to the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Designation Report (PDF!), the Greek Revival building (with Queen Anne style alterations) dates to 1842-43 as a one-family row house. The storefront was likely added in 1908. Moishe's has been here since 1972. (Check out Off the Grid for more history of the building.)

And as we understand it, the sign will be repaired and returned to the storefront.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After midnight, workers remove the Moishe's Bake Shop sign (18 comments)

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who says the 1980s were the bad old days. The building was well kept in comparison to today.

Anonymous said...

I'd imagine those pictures of what's beneath the sign has some of the more dainty readers of evgreive clutching their pearls and fainting away on a divan.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the sign has more to do with what the sign is attached to than with the sign itself. That building looks unsound.

Adrianna said...

I've always wondered why Moishe's didn't repair the awning or remove the graffiti. (Money?) It discouraged people from going in, such as my friend who was born and raised in Bushwick before it gentrified

marjorie said...

I agree with the commenter on the last Moishe's post that it's a delightful shopping experience for crappy food. (The rye bread and mini-hamentashen are good; everything else, meh or worse.) I sometimes buy challah there against my better judgment because I love "the girls" who work there -- one of them always knows (and tells the others!) the minute I walk in to try to find the least, uh, STIFF challah for me. If I'm in there with my kids they always give each of them a cookie in waxed paper for free -- it feels like so old-school in such a delightful way.

Anonymous said...

I hope they save the stained glass window?

- posted while lounging on my divan, fingering my pearl necklace.

Anonymous said...

This place is definitely and old-school bakery, an anomaly in the neighborhood, where every new business feels the need to have a 'concept.' Smells great when you walk by. However, the front could use a facelift. It does look somewhat abandoned - they could preserve that sign but fix up the overall treatment.

Anonymous said...

The graffiti on the window he can't remove because somebody used glass etching fluid.

Anonymous said...

Even in that crummy shape that leaded glass window is probably worth a lot.

recent arrival said...

Moshes doesn't provide me with a luxurious experience and I think it should be closed down.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the new sign will still say BAKF SHOP?

Anonymous said...

Screw "concepts" - I don't give a shit about your philosophy of your food - I just want to occasionally eat some fuckin' humentashen and a black and white cookie. Could everyone just eat what they're gonna eat, and cook what they're gonna cook, and then STFU about it? You ate/cooked something - MAZEL TOV! Here's a savings-bond from Tanta Syl. Now go take out the garbage.

And screw the idea that a place has to be "amazing" to stay in business. NYC will never be able sustain places that are only "amazing" unless it has the same 5 places over and over again, which is unfortunately what it's becoming. This used to be a city filled with one-off places where you could find stuff you couldn't find anywhere else, and while many of things were cool and amazing, most weren't - they were just things you couldn't get anywhere else. Now it's shit you can get anywhere and everywhere.

Love,
Monty Brogan out on parole.

dmbream said...

@Adrianna:

One of my favorite George Steinbrenner stories:

Steinbrenner, who would stop to pick up gum wrappers on my concourse, was a stickler for cleanliness. In 1973 he demanded every day that his workers paint over any graffiti on the Stadium. This was war, and Steinbrenner knew he would win. Why? "We can buy more paint than they can," he said. He was right. The graffiti guerrillas eventually surrendered."

https://books.google.com/books?id=lOHqBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT461&lpg=PT461&dq=george+steinbrenner+yankee+stadium+graffiti&source=bl&ots=Axzw090Axj&sig=Nv5O_ZclysmOE1ifMH4j9hbnB18&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XgI4VaXNI4mTyAS42AE&ved=0CDUQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=george%20steinbrenner%20yankee%20stadium%20graffiti&f=false

RE: the glass etching fluid -

I always wondered about that. So frustrating.

Here are some ideas for cleaning off etching fluid marks, but the ones on their window are probably set in.

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-remove-glass-etching

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad to see that they're open again. Love you Moishe's! Best rye bread in the neighborhood and such nice people.

The Velvet DJ said...

Update: All of these pictures are fantastic but especially the "red" one in the middle . Long live 2nd Ave!