Top photo and new reporting by Stacie Joy
In a surprising move on Friday, workers put up a new ad for the Peter Jarema Funeral Home on the north-facing wall at 108 Avenue B and Seventh Street.
During exterior renovations last June (first reported here), workers sandblasted away the former ad for the funeral home that's on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
According to work permits on file with the Department of Buildings, the landlord had approved plans to remove the "deteriorated metal cornice" and "build up and maintain existing brick parapet."
Here is the result of that work last summer...
I reached out to Danny Buzzetta, the owner/managing director of Peter Jarema.
He figured the old ad had been there for at least 60 years and still featured the phone number listed as OR 4-2568 (letters representing 6 and 7 with the known constant of the 212 area code).
Buzzetta said that someone affiliated with the restoration contacted him last year, saying that after the building finished the brickwork, he wanted to put up a new sign as an ode to an East Village "legacy" business. (We're still determining if this was someone from the landlord, Gibraltar Management Company, or the contractor. We're chasing down that lead now.)
"Honestly, I was shocked because I was very upfront that I don't have the money to pay for this, and as appreciative as the thought was, I never actually thought it was going to happen," Buzzetta said. "But lo and behold, here we are!"
Via the NYC Municipal Archives, we found this street view from the early 1940s...
As far as we can tell, the ad is for Treadway Shoes (at 67 Avenue B?). A 1980s photo from the Municipal Archives shows the funeral home ad in place, though it's obviously older than that, given the presence of the dated telephone exchange.
There was also some thought — without much evidence — that the ad was created (or augmented) for filming 1974's "The Godfather Part II" (one of many movies and TV shows filmed at the bar).
Here's the scene (RIP Frank Pentangelli!) shot inside and outside the bar. However, we don't see any ads on the building ...
On the one hand... okay, respect to keeping the ad alive that was there before. On the other hand, boy does it look janky. Maybe once it's a little weathered it'll fit in better but right now, yikes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. Good to know the goings on at that corner.
ReplyDeleteIn the old ad it states “for over 60 years” which would seem to indicate that it was placed there after 1966.
ReplyDeleteSo curious. One had to double check that today was not April 1st.
ReplyDeleteI prefer what was before. More nostalgic and interesting with character as the facade tells a story. As far as advertising for funerals, it's a bit tacky. Just my two cents. I already have no funeral or memorial services stated in my will, just cremation, no religious ceremonial tripe, and be done with it. I am only 47, but we all have to make plans for the inevitable.
ReplyDeleteI mean, that's pretty cool and thoughtful, I just hope they paint it on or do something a little less tacky and more classic, c'mon.
ReplyDeleteThe text is well balanced and don’t understated, fitting for a funeral home I think. The brightness of the white will fade with time. Why does everyone have to complain…Glad the ad is not for some bs.
ReplyDeleteThere were apparently several ads painted on buildings and windows around the nabe for the filming of The Godfather; another one was on the second-floor plate-glass window of 93 Avenue B (corner of 6th street) for a "Dr. Puglio, Dentist."
ReplyDeleteThe OR in the phone number stood for Oregon, one of the old Manhattan telephone exchange names. (ie. PEnnsylvania 6-5000)
ReplyDeleteI always understood it was ORchard
DeleteHmmm...should've consulted a graphic designer or typographer to make it a little prettier looking. Looks like it was created in Microsoft Word.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, February 12, 2024 at 8:58 AM
ReplyDeleteThe "no funeral or memorial services" edict can be very hard on the survivors though. It's only natural to want to gather together and light a candle in remembrance. And maybe cry a little too. They say funerals are for the living, and I think that we need an event of some sort when someone we love journeys from life to death.
Needs a tag from @invaderwashere or @stik IMHO.
ReplyDeleteI agree the new ad looks harsh, jarring and in an uninspired font, but presumably the original "time capsule" ad had originally looked harsh, jarring and in an uninspired font back when it was slapped up circa 1966 (great ad-dating, Dave on 7th).
ReplyDeleteI assume the team that put this new ad up now purposely made it look contemporary but pedestrian/uninteresting/unexceptional by our 2024 standards -- so that in 50 years, it'll be a true time capsule back to today.
If they'd given it a retro or artsy or nostalgic look, then in 50 years, future-people would see an outdated anachronism -- a 2024 reimagined faux reproduction of a 1950s/1960s look.
Presumably the rare ghost time-capsule ads we see today still surviving on NYC bldgs. were plain-vanilla, contemporary ads back in their day and reflect then-contemporary graphic design -- they're not retro-inspired artsy attempts at summoning up a lost "yesteryear." That's exactly why we cherish them.
So I, for one, like this team's idea of making this new ad an unexceptional contemporary/circa 2024 ad, advertising a business actually operating now, in 2024...and just leaving it there to age naturally.
In other words: Yeah, we see this ad as ugly NOW. But the point is what we'll think of it come 2074.
Let's find out what Paul Newman thinks from the afterlife...In The Verdict he stares out the bar window at Boston Common (Tompkins Square Park).....
ReplyDeletewhile i respect 6:15 PM's critique through the lens of contemporary fashion regarding typography and design, we must remember that the context is ever more important - the circa 1900 building itself. Bring back humanist neo-grotesque!
ReplyDeleteI'm ok with the typography. However unless PJ's clients are mostly EV Satanists a pale blue sky with fluffy white clouds scattered about would have made for a more pleasing ad if you see what I mean.
ReplyDeleteForget the ad, lets bask in the glory that is this headline. "...ad comes back from the dead". I see you EVGrieve.
ReplyDeleteI'm 6:15, and I take it all back: I retract my comment.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this ad in person yet (even though I live nearby) -- but I just took a closer look at the photo, and now I realize that this ad is not painted on the brick, but, rather, is a stretched canvas sort of thing that clearly will not last for 50 years.
So...never mind.
The new ad is strung up in a way that looks pretty easy to swap out. I'm guessing this will become a normal billboard in six months. Nice tactic to slowly acclimate the public.
ReplyDeleteThat new ad is super depressing. I would sure hate to look at it from my apartment window --or anywhere else.
ReplyDelete