Events

In partnership with Poster House, join design historian Thomas Rinaldi as he guides you on this 90-minute walking tour of Chinatown. Focusing on the history of signage in the area, we will make stops to admire Chinatown’s surviving historic signs and discuss how they fit into the evolutionary history of commercial signage more broadly, exploring threads of graphic design and technology that have collaborated to produce this quintessential urban commercial landscape.

The streets of Chinatown have historically been defined by an intensity of urban life whose vitality almost overwhelms the senses of visitors from less frenetic places. Commercial signs and outdoor advertising have long been a key feature of Chinatown’s unique urban landscape. Taking a moment to spotlight Chinatown’s unique history of outdoor advertising, this illustrated program by design historian Thomas Rinaldi will explore the ways in which graphic design, technology, and cultural undercurrents converged to produce one of New York’s quintessential urban landscapes.