Urban Palimpsest Again: Baby Ruth

Bye, bye, Baby.

I found this old picture on my phone from September 2007 of the new 20-story SVA dorm on the corner of Ludlow and Delancey, as it quickly grew to cover that old phantom of a Baby Ruth candy bar ad sign.

I love those old advertising phantoms around the city, and I figured I'd better take this one's picture before it's forever trapped between two walls like an ancient frieze of a forgotten god.

Do you ever wonder what demolition crews or archaeologists in the distant future will think about Baby Ruth if it ever again comes to light? Who was she? Someone quite important, no doubt.

I doubt they'll figure out that Baby Ruth was officially named after Grover Cleveland's daughter, but that the candy bar's moniker probably was also devised to cash in on the popularity of Babe Ruth upon its original marketing release.

Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, "The trademark was patterned exactly after the engraved lettering of the name used on a medallion struck for the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and picturing the President, his wife, and daughter Baby Ruth."

It's this famous candy bar trademark that's being swallowed by a new dorm for The School of Visual Arts. That barely rates as irony, but it's interesting.