A Tale of Two Cities, Part 2: Broadway
I grew up in Michigan, 500 miles from New York City. But I know what typeface represents the Big Apple: Broadway.
- Linotype’s Broadway Regular, a Trademark of VGC.
I’m not the only one who makes this connection (signifier: Broadway, signified: NYC). One of my favorite visual puns in New Bedford, Massachusetts is the sign for “Times Square.” Times Square is an office building/galleria in the old New Bedford Times building. It has no relation (nor bears any resemblance) to the Times Square in NYC.
Except, of course, for the sign:
- A Broadway-style typeface on an office building/galleria in the old New Bedford Times building.
- Same sign, in context.
But the sign doesn’t really bear a resemblance to any of the signs in the Times Square. Nor to typefaces generally found in NYC (either historic or contemporary). We just think it does. Just like Claire associated the OfficeMax logo with Clifford the Big Red Dog (see previous post), we’ve learned to associate Broadway with NYC.
BROADWAY = ART DECO
Broadway was designed in 1928 by Morris Fuller Benton. A prolific type designer, best known for designing revivals of classic fonts, he was also influenced by what he saw coming to life around him. And in 1928, that was Art Deco.
Often described as “purely decorative,” Art Deco represented luxury and prosperity. It celebrated new technologies and materials. It was opulent and luxurious — a reaction to the forced austerity imposed by WWI on the French artists and designers who initiated the style.
Unveiled in Europe at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Art in Paris in 1925, Art Deco quickly spread to the United States where it continued to gain popularity.
ART DECO = PROSPERITY
In the 1920s the U.S. was feeling prosperous (even though millions of people lived below the poverty line). We had economically benefited from the war, and didn’t have to rebuild when it ended, since it was a war fought on foreign soil.
U.S. workers were more productive and paid better than before the war. Products previously available only to the wealthy (radios, refrigerators, toasters, washing machines, automobiles) became more available to the middle-class family, because mass production allowed for products to be manufactured less expensively. A new system of credit allowed families to “spend on the margin.” That is, to purchase new products even if they couldn’t afford them.
The increase in a consumer-based culture lead to a rising stock market — kept afloat by Federal Reserves that kept interest rates low in order to promote more spending.
(It’s like déjà vu all over again…)
Various cities experienced a construction boom in the 1920s. Cities strategically located along waterways were transportation hubs for materials and products. European immigration had dropped due to the war and newly imposed immigration regulations, but those that came flocked to the growing cities — providing a labor base for construction.
PROSPERITY = NYC
Dozens of buildings around the world are Art Deco. My home state boasts The Fisher Theater (Detroit, 1928)
- The Fisher Theater, an example of Art Deco Architecture in Detroit, Michigan. Built 1928. Photo by Shanes.
But for some reason Art Deco and the prosperity it represents are most associated with New York City.
Could it be the number of Art Deco buildings in the city? NYC was growing rapidly when Art Deco was at its peak.
Could it be the high profile construction projects of the time?
New technologies, new materials, and increased wealth set the stage for one of the greatest races of the late 1920s — the race for the tallest free-standing building. The Chrysler building (NYC, 1928-1930) was the first man-made structure to exceed the height of the Eiffel Tower. It remained the world’s tallest free-standing building for 11 months until it was surpassed by the Empire State Building (NYC, 1929-1931). Both buildings are Art Deco.
- Left: The Chrysler Building, completed in 1930. Original photo by David Shankbone. Right: The Empire State Building, completed in 1931. Note the Chrysler Building in the background. Original photo by Michael Slonecker.
Even during the Depression, Art Deco style buildings continued to be constructed (including the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, above). Rockefeller Center (the only major private construction project underway in New York during the Depression) no longer represented prosperity, but faith. After the stock market crash of 1929, and the subsequent withdrawal of the Metropolitan Opera from the project, Rockefeller persevered and finished construction of the original 14-building, Art Deco, city-within-a-city in 1939.
BUT TYPE IS NOT ARCHITECTURE
Even though Art Deco is a prominent architectural style in NYC, Art Deco type is not. Yes, there is an Art Deco presence, but most of it does not resemble Broadway.
- Rockefeller Center, 1930-1939
- American Stock Exchange building (dated 1930)
- The New Yorker Hotel uses a “Broadway-style” typeface, but images available on www.nyc-architecture.com suggest the lower sign is not original to the building, and the hotel has changed hands many times.
SO WHY DOES BROADWAY = NYC?
Art Deco type is not representative of a single city, but of an ideal. Prosperity, luxury, opulence, quality, technology all coming together in celebration of the end of a World War.
Growing up, I associated Broadway-style lettering with the 1920s. It suggested speed, wealth, and a kind of naughty fun (speakeasies, jazz, flapper dresses). But it also reminded me of Chicago (when you grow up just North of Detroit, Chicago is the Big City). So how did I learn to associate it with New York City?
I have a sneaky suspicion the Macintosh played a role in my personal shift from signified=1920s to signified=NYC. My Junior year in college, we started to use computers as design tools. And, while I can’t prove it, I think Broadway was part of an inexpensive font package loaded onto the computers. (My main graphic design teacher studied at Basel. We only used Helvetica Neue. No other font was ever needed… but we had Broadway.)
The remember the first time I tested all the forbidden fonts. I remember thinking: this is the typeface of New York City. I don’t know for sure if I was influenced by the forms of the letters or by the name of the font.
But I think it was the latter.
Tags: 1920's, Art Deco, consumerism, Morris Fuller Benton, NYC, WWI