Gowanus’ Kentile Floors Sign Will Be Lit For One Night Next Month


Photo: Missy S.
If you’ve ever taken the F or G trains as far as Smith-9th Streets or driven on the Gowanus Expressway, then you’ve seen the massive Kentile Floors sign. At eight stories high, it’s pretty hard to miss. By night, though, the sign more or less disappears.
Fortunately for us, on Saturday, May 3, it will be lit once again–if only for a short while.
The Daily News reports that three Gowanus-based artists have taken it upon themselves to light the sign, which has been there since 1949 and out of commission since 1992, when the Kentile Floors factory went out of business. Using projection mapping, Tim Bartlett, George Del Barrio and Karl Mehrer will project lights that line up with the sign’s lettering, giving anyone who sees it that night the impression that it’s been turned on.
While there’s no official start time, we’re guessing the sign will be “illuminated” soon after sunset, which will take place at 7:54 p.m. that day.
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