Signs of the Orchard Street Pedestrian Mall
In the summer of 2008, the city installed a series of overhanging sign posts along Orchard Street between Delancey and East Houston. At the time, the precise purpose of this new street furniture wasn’t entirely clear. Would some newfangled hi-tech traffic signs hang here? Or even a couple of surveillance cameras? The ambiguity lasted for two years, but now we finally have some closure.
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Snazzy signs are now bolted in place reminding motorists of the Orchard Street pedestrian mall on Sundays. The old decrepit ones are still there, though, sheathed in stickers and graffiti.
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Watching the slow death of the pedestrian mall in the face of rampant development is quite heartbreaking. In this current iteration of the neighborhood tradition, most of the remaining action is concentrated between Rivington and Delancey. These days, old-school vendors who still move their wares onto the street are being crowded out by a new generation of closed-door establishments.
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