Novelties Unsheathed

The lovely Gordon Novelty Shop on Broadway and 22nd was covered a few years back by Thor Equities plywood and sheathed by a tarp, begging someone to rent the old space. The tarp said, "Lease me now, love me forever!" It showed a faux-facade of what it hoped would come.

Now, it looks like those hopes are coming true. Or maybe they're just going to try harder.


See all my Gordon Novelty Shop photos here

This week, a reader tipped me off to the fact that the tarp and the plywood have come down--surely for gutting as a new tenant moves in. "The elegant gold lettering is still on the windows and it's very old timey," said the tipster, "But soon it will be vanishing as renovations continue."



I rushed up to see it for what will probably be the last time. It is one of the most beautiful facades left crumbling from the old city.

While Thor tore down the colorful letters of the old sign, many elements of the windows are still intact. Who knew that underneath that plywood, all along, a paper Halloween cat still yowled behind the glass?



And the gold lettering is, of course, a treasure--spelling out the vocabulary of lost novelty shops: WIGS, BEARDS, GRAB BAGS, NOISE MAKERS, CHINESE LANTERNS, PARASOLS...

Go soon, before it evaporates and becomes the surely dull thing it will become.

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