I’m trying something new that I hope to do more of in the future: taking a reader suggestion! If anyone has a New York question they want answered or a topic they’re simply curious about, please send it, and if I’m also intrigued I will happily go down the rabbit hole.
This topic comes courtesy of Kate T. and Andrew H.: the “Welcome to Brooklyn” signs. You know them, you love them (or maybe roll your eyes at them). On the Kosciuszko Bridge, it’s “Welcome to Brooklyn: Believe the Hype!” On the Verrazano Bridge: “Welcome to Brooklyn: How Sweet it Is!” As far as I can tell (but please let me know if this is wrong) these are the other slogans included on the “Welcome to Brooklyn” signs on all the East River bridges as well as several borough highways:
“The Heart of America!”
“Not Just a Borough, an Experience”
“Name it… We Got it!”
“Home to Everyone from Everywhere!”
“Where New York City Begins!”
“Like No Other Place in the World!”
“Brooklyn’s in the House!”
As for leaving Brooklyn:
“Leaving Brooklyn: Fuhgeddaboudit!”
“Leaving Brooklyn: "Oy vey!”
Where did these phrases come from, and why is Brooklyn the only borough with such peppy highway signs? (Though in 2014, Queens did add “The World’s Borough” to all of its welcome signs).
The signs were the brainchild of former Borough President Marty Markowitz, and installed in the early oughts. “It was really about branding Brooklyn as a unique place to live, grow a family, have a business, work and be from,” he told The Brooklyn Eagle in 2016. Branding Brooklyn was a big part of Markowitz’s twelve-year tenure, which ran from 2001-2013. He often aligned with Mayor Bloomberg on the rezonings and development projects that changed the face of the borough, throwing his support behind major projects like the Barclays Center, the Coney Island Amphitheater, and the restoration of Kings Theatre in Flatbush, helping to usher in an era of rapid and widespread gentrification. He was also known for zany stunts like hosting a Valentine’s Day party for Brooklyn’s oldest couples, and standing on the Brooklyn Bridge during the 2003 blackout with a megaphone, yelling “Welcome Home to Brooklyn!”
Anyway, back to the signs. Their installation was not without drama. A resident complained that the “Leaving Brooklyn: Fuhgeddaboudit!” sign at the entrance to the Verrazano Bridge—which along with “How Sweet It Is!” was a reference to Brooklyn-set sitcom The Honeymooners—was anti-Italian. Markowitz detailed his response to The New York Times in 2004: “I said, 'Listen, way before 'The Sopranos' were on, we in Brooklyn said 'Fuhgeddaboudit.' The man said: 'You're Jewish, Mr. Markowitz. How would you like a sign that says, 'Leaving Brooklyn, oy vey?' I said: 'What a great idea. Thank you.''' Despite pushback from the Department of Transportation on the grounds that an “Oy Vey!” sign could distract drivers and didn’t offer any information, they eventually relented and it was installed on the Williamsburg Bridge in 2005. In 2016, “Fuhgeddaboudit” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Photo by Meesh via Wikimedia Commons
2 days
Amount of time a DoorDash delivery worker would have to clock to able to buy one share of the company, which went public last Wednesday at $190 per share. I highly recommend The City’s recent piece on Los Deliveristas Unidos, an informal network of NYC delivery workers pushing for better pay and benefits. TIP IN CASH!
Around town…
-A Queens ICU nurse is the first person in the U.S. to receive a coronavirus vaccine, as de Blasio warns that the city could soon face another full lockdown. (NYT; Eater)
-The city’s famous 21 Club, a former Prohibition speakeasy (which was also next door to my great-grandparents’ restaurant Chalet Suisse!), is closing indefinitely. (Grub Street)
-New Yorkers are spotting more whales—and UFOs—than ever before. (WSJ; NY Post)
-In partnership with the New York Public Library, Gothamist is running a series called “Dear NYC” highlighting some of the library’s hidden gems. I love this 1970s photo collection of Brooklynites inside their apartments. (Gothamist)