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Sunday, December 27, 2009

On Mulberry Street and Small Packages

Mulberry Street Bar, NYC
Photo by myself on Mullberry and Broome Streets, in Little Italy.

Little Italy is adorned with lights during this time of year. Often restaurants are covered with tiny lights, wreathes, or enormous statues of nutcrackers.

Above, a non-Italian bar in that neighborhood, had an English Bulldog snuffling about, outside.

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I had no idea that New York had 'official' condoms, but we do. Imagine that.

Apparently the wrappers are often redesigned. Why? Well, maybe because New Yorkers are design-oriented, shallow folk who are easily seduced by packaging. Or maybe we're constantly trying to find the 'new' within the 'old'. I don't quite understand it.

Anyway, here are the 2007 and 2008 wrapper designs, published in the Times. Now the City is calling for submissions for a redesign.

Deadline for entries is January 22, 2010. Sharpen your pencils! Perhaps your design will be freely distributed to millions (of amorous New Yorkers) for a good cause.

For details about the competition, click here.
For a discussion in the Times, click here.

Related posts: What's Scrolling in Midtown, Emailing Under the Influence...Not and Neon Storefronts, Midtown.

6 comments:

fishwithoutbicycle said...

I'm not typically a big fan of Little Italy, too much of a tourist trap, but I do love how festive it is this time of year.

I only noticed the official condoms a couple of years ago when they were similar in design to the subway logos. They had big bowls of them at Kenneth Cole, but to be honest I wouldn't necessarily trust them. Sometimes you definitely get what you pay for ;-)

Hope you are having a lovely holiday Kitty.

Fashion Schlub said...

such a charming streetscape!

Kitty said...

Ha Fish, I almost never go to Little Italy, but I was roaming around Soho and saw the twinkly lights, and they lured me in!

For some reason I've never encountered the free condoms but I'll have to keep an eye out. Maybe they'd be worth something on ebay 25 years from now?

Thanks Miss B!

Elnast said...

Love your blog. I enjoyed the photo you took every day.

Happy New Year!

dianasfaria.com said...

this is such a funny contest to enter!
Remember Condomania in the West Village?
They used to have some of the most interesting window displays.

Louis la Vache said...

«Louis» notes that in this photo taken in Little Italy, we've got a bar with an English name, advertising beer from Italy, Mexico, New England and Colorado and offering Japanese-style music (Karaoke). Proof that the U.S. is a melting pot, n'est-ce pas?

BTW, "Karaoke" is Japanese for "empty orchestra."
hmmmmm....