Kentile Sign 2

Last week, on a tip from Thomas Rinaldi at New York Neon, I shared the rumor that the great Kentile Floors sign was coming down. The rumor stirred up panic and was soon, thankfully, debunked. Today the New York Times follows up with a full profile of the sign, its history, and possible future.



Writes Joseph Berger,  "It is savored by connoisseurs of a forgotten New York and a generation of young Brooklynites with a consciously defiant preference for urban grit — water towers, latticework bridges, faded wall advertisements — over more manicured scenery. These aficionados were startled recently by an Internet rumor that the sign would be torn down."

I spoke to the reporter about how the sign is an important artifact of Brooklyn's lost industrial heritage and I talked about the beauty of the sign, but the only quote from me that made it in was something about hipsters and their lack of authenticity. I said it but, out of context, it makes me sound sour about the sign, which I am definitely not. I also said something about how there's a general hunger for the authentic in postmodern society.

Sorry, Kentile Floors sign, you know I love you just as much as the hipsters do. (I also have come very close to buying that Kentile sign t-shirt from Live Poultry. I might still do it.)




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