January 10–16, 2020 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 3
He’s painting the town
Meet the signmaker of Prospect Lefferts Gardens
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Talk about making your
mark!
A Prospect Lefferts Gardens
craftsman is lending local
mom-and-pop shops an
old-timey feel, devising handpainted
signs that would feel
right at home hanging over a
19th-century doorway.
“It feels like I’m a smalltown
sign painter 100 years
ago,” said Travis Fitzsimmons.
A Lincoln Avenue resident,
Fitzsimmons makes his living
as a signmaker, hand-crafting
individualized markers, and
operating by word of mouth,
as shopkeepers swear by the
marketing value of his artisanal
calligraphy, he said.
“There’s more feeling when
you actually have a human
being doing brush strokes,”
said Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons claims he fell
into sign making — a profession
he claims is sorely underrepresented
in New York
City — after his wife’s Crown
Heights clothing stores, Rosebud
Vintage and Peacock
Room, closed around 2015.
The vendor had crafted the
marquee over his wife’s shop,
Photo by Ben Verde
Travis Fitzsimmons with some of his handiwork on
Antojitos del Patron.
and soon other business owners
were asking to borrow his
skills. Before long he was
“cursed into entrepreneurship,”
he said.
While the craftsman
wouldn’t divulge what he
charges for his handmade
signs, he said the process can
take anywhere from a few days
to several weeks, with projects
ranging from small sidewalk
signs, to windows paintings
and large awnings, with
prices varying in part.
What’s consistent is Fitzsimmons
hands-on approach
to designing his products,
working with customers to
distill their needs into the
perfect sign for their business
— not their ego.
“Simplicity is key,” he said.
“They don’t need their whole
story up there, they just need
you to know that you can go
in there and get a taco.”
The signmaker has built up
a network of about 100 clients
throughout the city, but many
of his signs can be found not
far from his home in Prospect
Lefferts Gardens, where Flatbush
shops including Ix, the
newly opened Antojitos del
Patron, Risbo, and Bonafini,
and the Fenimore Street florist
Les’ Blooms boast his
work, with a total of 15 Flatbush
businesses seeking his
skills over the years.
Business owners say the
craftsmanship displayed in
Fitzsimmons’ signs makes
a big difference to shoppers,
and that factory-made, vinyl
alternatives don’t come bring
the same level of character to
their storefronts.
“We like hand-painted
signs, because it has its own
personality,” said Brenda Castellanos,
who owns Ix and Antojitos
del Patron and said the
brightly colored signage has
increased her foot traffic.
And with plenty of new
shops crowding into the neighborhood,
Fitzsimmons says
you’re likely to see more of
his simple yet effective work
popping up in the coming
years.
Board game cafe opens in Slope
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Talk about a monopoly!
Park Slope’s only board
game cafe celebrated its
grand opening last week,
giving gamers young and
old a chance to sip espresso
as they play any one of more
than 200 titles, according to
the owner.
“We realized that Park
Slope didn’t actually have
a space where people could
work and study in the morning
hours while having a board
game option at night,” said
Jonathan Li, owner of Sip
‘N’ Play.
The neighborhood is al-
ready home to the Brooklyn
Game Lab, but Li says the Seventh
Avenue establishment is
targeted towards youngsters,
whose parents want them to
harness the educational benefits
of board games, rather
than players of all ages.“We
wanted to be different and go
towards hobbyists or families
that are just looking to
have a fun family night out,”
he said.
Sip N’ Play charges $5 per
person for three hours of play,
or $10 per person for unlimited
play time, a good deal
cheaper than the average $15
asked for a movie ticket, with
Photo by Ben Verde
The cafe boasts a library of over 200 board games. a snack menu.
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