Neon!

Oh yeah baby! So many cool ampersands within just a block of each other. Taken both in the evening and back out again the next morning, most of these neon ampersands were found along 3rd Ave near E. 89th St. in New York City. They mostly represented food items and were glorious in the evening and charming in the morning light.

Starting with a yellow neon ampersand which was amazingly on the same sign as...

... a red LED ampersand!! Both on the same sign (see below) in the window of a deli.

This sign is in a deli window at what we think of as the nexus of the ampersand universe, E. 89th and 3rd Ave. This shop also had a few different ampersands on it's awning alone and sported even more painted on it's window. We were in ampersand paradise.

Down 3rd Ave just a few blocks from the deli was a seafood shop and a lovely blue neon ampersand.

Currently the last in our upper east side neon ampersands (I know of another pink one I was too tired to photograph). This blue neon ampersand is also on 3rd Ave between 88th and 89th. Amazing.

An Ampersand Confluence

The ampersand is a symbol evolved from the Latin “et,” meaning “and.” It is one of the oldest alphabetic abbreviations, and it has assumed over the centuries a wonderful variety of forms.

I have come to the conclusion that New York City is an Ampersand Confluence. The focus on space saving and advertising one's worth are so concentrated on Manhattan that it's hard to walk around a block without seeing an ampersand. It is a city contractions; tall buildings that seem truncated from street level that each need to have their say.

Contrary to some people's opinions of us, we are not so ego-centric to think that only what we have experienced first hand represents the entire universe. We imagine cities like Tokyo would be even more likely to embrace the ampersand. We would love to know if it has a hiragana or kanji representation of the ampersand. This is a blog of found ampersands and welcome submission from anywhere. Never the less, we know very few people who might share any they have found on their travels. We are resigned to most of them representing the printed English language photographically represented from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America.

On our last trip into New York City we didn't walk but a few blocks from the intersection of E. 89th St. and 3RD Ave. During those walks we found hundreds of ampersands. At that very intersection there are probably more than a dozen different ones. In my heart, the center of the ampersand universe will always be that upper east side intersection. It will take me some time to post all the photos we took that day. I will take even longer for me to ID them.