Orloff's

Before the posting of the comment below, I had no idea what business the former Orloff's established on this site in August 1902. The inscription was nonetheless interesting for its placement, at eye level with passengers arriving at the elevated Bay Parkway station of the D train. Crane your neck and you might spot similar signage elsewhere in the city, even where the el has been dismantled.

As it happens, this Brooklyn elevated station reportedly wasn't contracted for until 1913 and completed until 1917; I don't know whether the Orloff's inscription was added after the fact or was simply positioned at a very fortuitous height. The more recent effort at attracting the mass transit crowd, in yellow and red, advertises a street-level restaurant called 86 Fu Kee.

Orloff's
Surviving signage at 2211 86th St. (22nd-23rd Aves.), Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

Comments

[Lance Orloff]

Oh my gosh, thank you for uploading this picture. My great grand father, Henry Orloff (translated at Ellis Island from Khuny Ortleyevich) born in 1869 in a Jewish Settlement in the Ukraine, emmigrated to the United States in 1885. In 1900, he is a feed dealer in New York. He built a store in 1902. He is established as a shop keeper in a building he built called the Orloff Building. It was used for several purposes including the housing of horses. Henry owned several properties around New York and would take his grandchildren around whenever they would visit. My father, same name, told me about this building with pride.

[Dave Cook]

I'm glad I could share the photo, Lance; thanks for sharing the history!