Timeline

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The signs, as AI reproductions. Tap one for its page, photos of the originals and the record.

Dated events only. Each line says whether it is documented (a record or printed source) or inferred (our reading of the evidence).

Before the signs

• 1928: Schorr Sign Co. listed at 102-08 Roosevelt Av, Queens (Queens directories). Later at 70-12 Roosevelt Av, Woodside (1932) and 68-05 Roosevelt Av, Winfield (1937). Documented
• 1944: Nathan Schorr, sign painter and father of Joseph and Herbert, dies. Documented
• 1950: the census shows Joseph and Elsie Schorr in their own household; Herbert Schorr, sign painter, with his own business in Queens; Harry D. Sandler, husband of Joseph’s sister, a commercial artist at an art studio. Documented

The Laundesigns years

• 1960 to 1961: a display ad for Schorr Sign Co., L. Wechsler, Prop., 69-14 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside, HAvemeyer 4-5067: gold leaf window lettering, trucks, raised letters, cloth signs. The same Schorr Sign Co. name seen on Roosevelt Avenue since 1928, with Wechsler still the proprietor, as he was in 1937 (Queens Yellow Pages, NYPL microfilm; scan). Documented How the name passed to Wechsler is not known.
• March and April 1960, November 1961: 16 designs registered with the Copyright Office. Claimant: Laundesigns. Author of the print: Joseph Schorr. Documented
• May to September 1961: Coin-Op ads show DON’T DYE HERE (© 1960, no signature). Documented
• November 1961 and January 1962: Coin-Op ads show YA BETTER WATCH OUT, a bandaged boy in a beret with a slingshot (© 1960). Never seen in a photograph. Documented
• 1961 to 1979: Allan K. Jensen of Audubon, Iowa sells laundromat posters. A competitor, not a copier, on the evidence seen. Ads documented; judgment inferred.
• March 1962: SAVE YOUR MONEY (fedora man, HAVE YOU SEEN THE REST OF MY GANG?) in a Coin-Op ad announcing a colour brochure and Booth 111. Documented
• September 1962: TIRED OF PAYING BILLS? figure, probably WE NEVER SLEEP. Inferred
• 1962: ad copy describes silk-screened enamel on Marlite, framed in stainless steel. Documented
• January 1963: Uncle Sam, I’VE GOT YOUR NUMBER, in a Scotchcal numbers ad. Not in the register. Documented
• June 1963: move to 67-43 Myrtle Ave, a 3,000 sq ft plant for waterless decals, signs and coin-op dealer aids. Documented
• July 1963: ad tells buyers to order from their distributor. Documented. Inferred: sales moved to distributors.
• 1965 to 1966: Schorr Sign Service display ad, 67-43 Myrtle Ave, Glendale, HY 7-5252: plastic signs, paper posters, silk screen, show cards, guaranteed workmanship (Queens Yellow Pages, NYPL microfilm; scan). The first record of the shop advertising its own silk screening, the process the Laundesigns were printed with. Documented
• 19 November 1968: Joseph Schorr before the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals; two exit sign designs approved 5 to 0. Documented
• 1971 to 1972: two Schorr listings under Signs. Schorr Herbert Sign Studio, 93-08 Corona Ave, Elmhurst, 592-4060, “plastic showcards, non-illuminating and illuminating”; and Schorr Signs Svce, still at 67-43 Myrtle Ave, HY 7-5252, “see our display ad page 945” (Queens Yellow Pages, NYPL microfilm; scan). Joseph’s brother Herbert had his own sign studio by then, and the two Schorr shops sit one line apart in the same column. Documented Both sold plastic signs and show cards, from shops a few miles apart: two brothers in the same trade, in neighboring parts of Queens, under the same family name. Whether they saw it as competition is not known. Inferred Page 945 has been requested.
• 1988 to 1989: the 28 year renewal window passes. No renewals found. Absence documented; public domain status inferred, not legal advice.

After

• 1991: Herbert Schorr dies in Florida. Documented
• Early 1990s: in the laundromat at 8015 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a six year old Vlad reads the signs off the walls while his mom folds laundry: a farmer with a pitchfork, an undertaker, an angel with a harp. The earliest sighting in this file. Memory
• 20 May 2005: Harry D. Sandler dies at 92, Broward County, Florida. Documented
• 15 April 2006: Joseph Isaac Schorr dies, Metuchen NJ; buried at Mount Hebron, Flushing. Documented

This investigation

• 5 October 2026: Volk interiors 1954 to 1963 checked, no sign figure found; copyright entries 1954 to 1966 searched, no Volk illustrator named; BSA minutes received.
• 6 October 2026: Smithsonian NMAH Library reports no holdings; refers to Hagley, Winterthur, Henry Ford and UCSB.
• 9 October 2026: inquiries sent to Hagley, Winterthur and UCSB.
• 13 October 2026: schorrsigns.com registered.
• 21 October 2026: the NYPL Milstein Division sends the Schorr pages from the 1960-61, 1965-66 and 1971-72 Queens Yellow Pages.
• 18 October 2026: this wiki created from database version 10.