Big Apple Corner (sign stolen, 2021-2024)

 
 
[See also part one, “Big Apple Corner (1992-1997),” and part two, “Big Apple Corner (1997 Law & Today),” and part three, “Big Apple Corner (New York Morning Telegraph site).”]

The sign “Big Apple Corner” (at the southwest corner of Broadway and West 54th Street, in Manhattan) has become one of the most stolen of New York City’s honorary street signs. “Joey Ramone Place,” at Bowery and East 2nd Street in the East Village, has been stolen at least four times and is often said to be the most stolen street sign.

On May 3, 2021, “Big Apple” officially turned 100 years old in print. The story made the New York Daily News that day.  Soon afterward, about June 2021, the “Big Apple Corner” sign was stolen. I did not go into New York City in 2021 and 2022 because of Covid-19 restrictions. I found out about the missing sign after reading the “Big Apple” article on the blog Gotta Love New York on May 11, 2023. According to this September 2021 image on Google maps (street view), the sign was missing.

I wrote to the Department of Transportation, Community Board 5, the city council member and the public advocate. Finally, on July 15, 2023, the sign was replaced—and then it was stolen again. It might have been stolen and replaced for a third time in 2023. The honorary sign “Senor Wences Way,” directly under this sign, was not stolen.
 
On July 2, 2024, the “Big Apple Corner” sign was replaced with a new green sign.

If you observe that the “Big Apple Corner” sign is no longer there, please contact me (Barry Popik) at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), and I will go through this process once again.

 
 

 

Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, where New York Morning Telegraph track writer John J. Fitz Gerald last lived. Google Maps. Dedicated, 1997. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.  Replaced with a green sign, July 2024.