Sign-a-rama Update: Historic Coney Sign Painted Over

The B&B (Bishoff & Brienstein) Carousel ride was built in Brooklyn in 1919 and arrived on the Coney Island site in 1932. It included 49 hand-carved wooden horses by Brookyn's own Charles Carmel. The ride has been in storage since 2005, when the city bought it from the McCullough family. While the horses patiently awaited the light of Coney's re-development, the original sign was meanwhile the only remaining feature visible on Surf Avenue.
In 2001, the New York Times reported on the death of the ride's then-owner: "Each year, Mr. Saltzstein would repaint the banner sign over the ride's entrance with what appeared to be the same misspelling: 'B & B Carousell.' That was the spelling favored by the legendary carousel manufacturer William F. Mangels, who made the B & B's frame at his factory several blocks away."
Now, as Gowanus Lounge tells us, the sign has been covered in brown paint.







Reader Comments