jamsigns


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I was staggering around the Briarwood-Jamaica border a few weeks ago (in July 2008) ignoring the drizzle and humidity and getting images for a possible Briarwood page and picking up possible ideas for a long-planned Jamaica page when I spotted some unusual sights and signs along Jamaica Avenue, which I had earlier chronicled in its Brooklyn stretch late in 2007.

It was a fairly desultory afternoon; I had always despised NYC summers because of the mostly soupy atmosphere now and then alleviated by searing heatwaves. But I moved to a new complex in 2007 and with my rooms out of the sun, I'm feeling rather more sanguine about things. The apartment stays at 75-80 degrees F no matter how hot it is outside.

The last thing I think anyone would expect to see on Jamaica is an ice skating boot manufacturer (here on 146th and Jamaica Ave.). Then again, I found an old taxidermy shop on Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn [see link above].

Klingbeil Shoe Labs has been here since 1949, founded by William Klingbeil as an orthopedic shoe manufacturer. At some time in the 1970s a customer asked for some custom ice skating boots and a sideline that later became a bootery to the stars was born. Olympic gold medalists Dorothy Hamill and Sarah Hughes have trekked to Jamaica to be fitted.

There's a newer sign advertising skating boots, and an older sign showing the Klingbeils' earlier line.

These Boots Were Made for Skating [Queens Tribune]
Klingbeil has a high-tech website.

Meanwhile at the NE corner of 146th and Jamaica Aveue is a collection of gloriously hand-lettered signs on seven different surfaces, on vinyl, bricks and rolling metal gates.

Oddly enough, the name of the business does not appear on any of the signs, in a remarkably self-effacing policy.

Across Jamaica Avenue is a sign from several decades ago for the long-lost Roseland luncheonette. In a few decades -- perhaps a few years -- the signs for beepers and cell phones will likely appear just as quaint.

Photographed July 2008; page completed August 13, 2008

erpietri@earthlink.net