NYC DOT Releases Limited Batch of St. Mark's Place Signs Honoring the Iconic and Hip East Village Corrido

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January 30, 2026  
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NYC DOT Releases Limited Batch of St. Mark's Place Signs Honoring the Iconic and Hip East Village Corridor

NEW YORK - New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Mike Flynn today announced that a limited number of authentic St. Mark's Place street signs will be on sale today at 12:35 p.m. St. Mark's Place is a three-block segment of East 8th Street between Third Avenue and Avenue A, that is famous for capturing the East Village's creative spirit. Today's release is part of the agency's monthly 'sign drops,' where the agency sells limited batches of authentic, hand-made signs produced by the NYC DOT Sign Shop, which fabricates over 70,000 street signs each year.

"St Mark's Place captures the spirit of East Village, and now you can bring a piece of it home," said NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn. "So many great artists, writers, musicians and intellectuals spent time along this corridor, and it remains bustling and filled with energy today."

St. Mark's Place was originally residential and wealthy in the early 1800s, notable for Federal and Greek Revival townhouses. One famous dwelling amongst many notable addresses was the Hamilton Holly House at 4 St. Mark's Place, which was the home to Alexander Hamilton's widow Eliza. As New York changed and immigration brought new waves of New Yorkers to the east side of Manhattan, the townhouses were replaced by tenement living and boarding houses leading into the 20th Century. The new arrivals to the community were primarily German and Polish, with half of New York's population living in the area by 1855 and the area becoming known as Kleindeutschland, or Little Germany. Another significant arrival to the area in the same era (1834) was the creation of Tompkins Square Park, which begins where St. Mark's Place terminates at Avenue A.

The 20th Century brought new society, culture, counter-culture, music, and much more to the St. Mark's Place strip. Famous residents over the century included Emma Goldman, Abbie Hoffman, and Leon Trotsky from the activist world, as well as W.H. Auden, William Burroughs, James Fenimore Cooper, and Allen Ginsberg from the literary world. Musician Debbie Harry of Blondie lived on the corridor, while artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol were affiliated with nightclubs on St. Mark's Place, including Club 57 and Electric Circus. Musically, both The New York Dolls (self-titled, debut album) and Led Zeppelin (Physical Graffiti) shot album covers on street corner bodegas in the mid-1970s. The Five Spot Jazz Club hosted musicians such as Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis in 1950s and 1960s. More recently, Jeff Buckley performed his EP live at Sin-é in 1993.

Today the St. Mark's Place corridor holds a substantial footprint in New York City culture with clothing shops, tattoo shops, restaurants, and nightlife.

A limited release of 50 signs will be sold online for $100 each and are available one per customer. All signs will be sold via the CityStore, the Official Store of the City of New York, and proceeds will benefit the city's general fund. This signage offers a bit of nostalgia and a literal piece of the city's infrastructure.

Monthly sign drops from NYC DOT feature signs for iconic New York City streets, commemorations of famous New Yorkers, celebrations of special occasions, and other custom releases. NYC DOT began its monthly drops in June 2024, with the release of Christopher Street/Stonewall Place street signs to commemorate Pride Month.

Other recent sign drops include:

• 5th Avenue
• Bleecker Street
• Mulberry Street
• Hip Hop Boulevard to celebrate the genre's musical and cultural legacy
• Welcome to Queens: The World's Borough
• Gay Street in recognition of Pride Month
• Wall Street
• Leaving Brooklyn: Fuhgeddaboudit
• East 161st Street and Shea Road in honor of baseball's opening day
• Love Lane to recognize Valentine's Day
• Broadway in celebration of Broadway Week
• Cornelia Street to honor the street's prominence among pop music fans

About the NYC DOT Sign Shop

The New York City DOT Sign Shop is in Maspeth, Queens and manufactures over 70,000 signs each year. A team of 32 Sign Shop employees hand-make street signs, highway signs, directional signs, parking signs, and more. There are about one million NYC DOT signs in use across the 6,000 miles of streets in New York City.

The monthly sign drops are the latest iteration of sales that have historically been available from the Sign Shop.

About the CityStore

CityStore is the Official store of the City of New York. CityStore is operated by the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services. 100% of sales benefit the City of New York.

CityStore is similar to a museum store, which complements the museum by highlighting the treasures within while serving as a stand-alone retail entity for wonderful gifts, collectables and research materials. A museum store is a revenue source for the museum and reinforces and protects the integrity of the museum brand. CityStore is the 'museum store' for the entire City of New York.