Many people know the iconic Forward Building, the original headquarters of the Yiddish Daily Forward newspaper that still stands on East Broadway today. But do you know that neon once buzzed on its rooftop? Two 30,000 watt signs towered over the neighborhood - proclaiming the newspaper's paper in Yiddish (facing north) and English (facing south). The signs could be seen from the East River bridges and all over the Lower East Side. If only they were still with us!

What a perfect photo for a story about old signs! There are a ton of signs competing for the attention of passers-by in this photo, but the marquee at Loew's Canal Theatre takes the cake. Built in 1926, the Loew’s moviehouse had 2,300 seats and was the second largest motion picture theater when it opened. It was a huge attraction in the neighborhood. Comedian, actor and Lower East Sider Jerry Stiller recalled going to the Loews Canal as a child: "We used to go on Saturday morning at the Loew’s Canal. At 9 in the morning, they’d show things like the Fitzpatrick Traveltalk, cartoons and serials like Flash Gordon. By the time you got to 10:30, they’d get to the double-header, two pictures in a row. What happened was, your mother or father would drop you off at 9, and they didn’t have to pick you up until 3. That’s where we got our education.” The theater closed in the late 1950s, and by the early 1960s the lobby was converted to retail space, while the auditorium was being used as a warehouse. Presumably, that's when the building lost its elaborate neon signs. Today the building sits empty, only a shadow of its former glitzy self.

Ratner's was a beloved neighborhood eatery, in the same league as Katz's and Russ & Daughters. The restaurant moved to this location in 1918 and, until 1975, was a 24-hour establishment that catered to the Jewish actors, singers, musicians and even gangsters that kept nighttime hours. The graceful neon sign shown here is the result of a remodel in the 1950s. The sign was made by the Salzman Sign Co. of Brooklyn, a legendary neon shop responsible for several still-existing neons including Nathan's Famous in Coney Island and Gringer's appliances on First Avenue. After Ratner's closed in 2002, a branch of Sleepy's Mattress Company took over the shop. To the delight of history lovers and nostalgic New Yorkers, the mattress shop did very little to alter the charming design - it felt like a piece of Ratner's lived on. And in 2015, when Sleepy's closed and removed their exterior awning, the ghost sign of this Ratner's neon was revealed. The building was later converted to an urgent care facility, and with it all evidence of Ratner's legacy was erased.

Founded by Sam Schapiro in 1899, Schapiro’s Kosher Wines operated on Rivington Street until 2000. Until 1967, the grapes were pressed on-location in a network of cellars that ran under the entire block! Schapiro's wines became a staple in the immigrant-heavy neighborhood but the family sold the building and relocated in 2000. A new tenant now occupies the space. There's virtually no information online about the fate of the Schapiro's sign. Signheads, give us the scoop!

The story of the Garden Cafeteria's storefront sign is the most uplifting! This beloved restaurant had a reputation as a haunt for writers, thinkers and journalists. Its wrap-around neon and tin sign stood boldly over Strauss Square and the East Broadway stations of the F train. The restaurant was in business from 1941 to 1983, when a Chinese restaurant took over the space. The new tenants simply placed their own awning directly on top of the Garden Cafeteria sign. So when that business closed and facade renovations began in 2005, the historic Garden Cafeteria sign was reveal for the first time in decades. Museum at Eldridge Street's own Amy Stein-Milford and Hanna Griff-Slevin learned of the newly exposed sign and eventually negotiated to spare it from the dumpster. Today, a portion of the massive sign hangs on the walls at our museum! It's weathered and shows its age, but the piece is emblematic of Eldridge Street's mission - to preserve the grand along with the quotidian, and to shed a little more light on immigrant life in the Lower East Side in the process.