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Wooden Phone Booth Sighting: Harmonie Club

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A reader who has been very good about spying old wooden phone booths in the City and sending me shots of them, has done so again! This was taken inside the Harmonie Club at 4 E. 60th Street, a club I did not even know existed. The Harmonie Club was founded in 1852 and has been in its handsome McKim Mead and White designed building on 60th since 1904. "Jacket and Tie are Required. Shorts, sneakers or tennis shoes are not permitted at any time." My kind of place.

Lost City: San Francisco Edition: A Good Sign: Kaye's Footwear

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Old Kaye's Footwear, which once sold Florsheim Shoes in San Francisco's Chinatown, doesn't exist anymore, but the handsome sign lives on.

Lost City: New Orleans Edition: A Good Sign: McKenzie's

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An old bit of signage in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans. It is currently the home of the Creole Creamery, an ice cream joint. McKenzie's, founded in the 1920s, was a bakery, and a bit of a legend in NOLA.

The Building With the Curved Cornice

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I've long been intrigued by this small trick building on Fulton Mall, largely because of its unusual, curbed cornice, which appears to be original. I've not been able to find out anything about its past life. Anyone out there known anything?

Lost City: New Orleans Edition; A Perfect Storefront: United Hardware

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Hole in the wall, bunker-like hardware store in New Orleans. Hard to believe it's in business. But it obviously is.

Lost City: New Orleans Edition: A Good Sign: Dixie Bottle Beer

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This local juke joint in the Faubourg Marigny section of New Orleans shut down some time ago. But you still have to admire the frontage, with it's huge colorful, hand-painted sign advertising Dixie Bottle Beer and 35-cent highballs. At those prices, it must have been painted in the 1950s. In it's original form, Dixie existed from 1907 to 1989.

A Perfect Storefront: Franklin Street Laundromat

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This is just a laundromat on Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that I like the look of. Guess what it's called? Franklin Street Laundromat. Old painted sign. Old brick building. Old stick-on letter advertising "Prompt Service," "Drop Off Service" and "Self Service." Every kind of service!