This lettering walk will take in two working class neighborhoods of Queens: Elmhurst and Corona. Elmhurst can trace its history back to the Dutch village of Middenburgh, established in 1652. In the 20th century it became an enclave for Jewish and Italian immigrants, but now it is nearly as ethnically diverse as nearby Jackson Heights. Corona was originally part of Flushing prior to 1870. It is largely Latino in population, but with an important African-American community that includes the Louis Armstrong House. On this lettering walk we will see predominantly examples of vernacular and commercial lettering along with the usual institutional lettering of post offices, fire stations, schools and churches. At the end of the lettering walk, we will either visit the Louis Armstrong House or chill out in Flushing Meadows Corona Park (home of the Unisphere).

Paul Shaw is a designer and a design historian. He has been leading lettering tours of New York City neighborhoods for 10 years and of other cities, both here and in Italy, since 1997. As a designer he specializes in letterforms from calligraphy to type design. Paul has designed or co-designed 18 fonts, including Kolo, Donatello and Old Claude. As a historian he has written or lectured about Bartolomeo Sanvito, W.A. Dwiggins, Oswald Cooper, Frederic W. Goudy, George Salter, Phil Gruskin, Hermann Zapf and others.

Meeting place and itinerary will be confirmed and emailed a few days in advance of the tour.