When in San Francisco, meat lover’s and sign aficionados should stop by Little City Meats on 1400 Stockton Street in North Beach. The third generation owners run this butcher shop true to the spirit of their Italian ancestor who settled the area. It reminds me of the shops my Italian grandmother would drag me to in New York where she’d haggle with the butchers for hours to get the best cut for her bistecca fiorentina at the lowest price. The butcher would keep us fidgety kids quiet during the negotiations by giving us thick slabs of balogna on pieces of waxy white butcher paper. The signs in the window have been skillfully painted using a variety of lively old-school show-card alphabets and precise speed-ball style hand lettering.
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A neon sign lit at night is glorious, but often there are stories hidden behind the lights. The sign lit shouts the sign maker’s intention. The daylight sign tells other stories: the story of an aging neighborhood, the stories behind the business, the hidden components of the sign maker’s craft. This great old sign is locate in San Francisco’s North Beach at 1534 Stockton Ave. It advertises a nice little neighborhood bar that has been open since prohibition days. I can’t find any information about who Tony Nik was, but I wonder why and when somebody painted over the “Nik’s.” If anybody knows anything about the history of this joint, let me know.