The Pepsi-Cola sign in Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City seemed a little desolate in July 2009, when I shot it up front. At that point, the sign had just been moved a few feet from its original location on the old Pepsi-Cola Plant.
The sign was built over the three-story Pepsi-Cola bottling factory in Long Island City in 1940. By 1993, the sign was so downtrodden Pepsi hired Artkraft Strauss Sign Company to restore it. The original plant was torn down in 2004 and the sign now stands a few feet back (and also much lower) than where it stood.
In 1990, a proposed Hunters Point Waterfront Development Land Use Improvement Project for the entire industrial area envisioned 9 million square feet of mostly residential buildings. The state kicked-off the project with the construction of Gantry Plaza State Park and the high-rises soon followed.
In the 2009 photo, the yellow 44-68 5th Street building, which is about 1,000 feet from the sign, appears prominently behind it. You can also see, almost 4,000 feet away, One Court Square, also known as the Citigroup Building. By August 2018, when the after photo was taken, several high rises had been built and the sign was an intrinsic part of the area.The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission named it an official, protected landmark on April 12, 2016.
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