This is a picture taken by one of my helpers on a billboard painting job in around 1979. I say "helper" because it was a category in local 230, Sign Pictorial and Display Union. When I was hired at Seaboard Outdoor Advertising by a guy named John Latona, I didn't know anything about the business except that I could scale the sketch (usually a 1/4 inch to a foot layout) up to full size for a billboard. So I was deemed a "mechanic" and was assigned one of a few helpers who showed me the ropes--literally. I learned from Marvin, Robert, Julio and particularly Jerry, another mechanic, and a few other guys how to rig a job and the ways that a billboard had to be tackled. The picture was taken on the wall on the NE corner of 42nd and 5th...across from the NY Public Library. The ad was for Immigrant Savings Bank. Just a wall, but it was the site of a good story I've told a few times about the 10 pound metal step which broke off the fire escape and fell. It was scary to see that chunk of metal spinning down onto the crowded lunchtime sidewalk!....My heart leapt, but nobody was hurt! We were always very careful about dropping anything....or falling.
RSS Feed
