Then and Now: Nostrand Ave near Fenimore

Street with bus lane in foreground. 3 buildings with paint over bricks

Nothing screams “old photo” like a sign painted on the side of a building, so I couldn’t help but fall in love with this old 1940s tax photo featuring a sign where children are crying for…something (cassettes? caskets?). I did some deep, hard googling and I discovered the answer: “Children Cry for Chas. H. Fletcher’s CASTORIA.” (Chas being short for “Charles.”) According to “Fading Ad” expert Frank H. Jump, Castoria was a castor-oil alternative containing fig and prune juice, marketed as a laxative for children. More interestingly, ads for it were apparently all over town, including going over the Brooklyn Bridge, as seen in this early Thomas Edison film.

When you’re going by this building on a sunny day, I swear if you squint, you can still see the “C” in Children — but it’s probably just one of those things, like how people see Jesus’ face in oil stains. The real then-vs-now treat is the Mary Bobb Learning Academy, two doors down at 1187 Nostrand Ave. I don’t usually like it when people paint over brick but I have to give the Academy props here for sprucing up this old mechanic shop. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the tracks in the street for the trolley (now replaced by the bus lane). In the photo below, you can also just barely make out the trolley wire overhead.