Oct. 17, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
The Sunnyside Arch has lost its shine.
The lights stopped working earlier in the year, and various community leaders are working to get them repaired.
“The arch lights have been a long, ongoing project,” said Sunnyside Shines director Rachel Thieme.
Thieme said that Sunnyside Shines brought in a company to inspect the lights over the summer, and that during the inspection they were able to fix some, but not all, of the lights.
“We are now exploring options with what it would take to replace the lights completely,” Thieme said. She added that there is no plan in place at the moment, but that she has contacted Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz to see if they could help.
“The art-deco Sunnyside sign at 46th Street is a neighborhood icon,” Van Bramer said. “My office is working diligently with Sunnyside Shines to make sure the sign greets locals and visitors to our neighborhood for years to come.”
This is not the first time the lights have been down.
The lights stopped working for eight months in 2012, before they were repaired by the city, but have since “lost functionality after these repairs.”
When the lights were repaired in 2012, 46th Street under the lights had to be shut down at times, causing the repairs to take longer than anticipated. Thieme said that since there is no definite plan in place for fixing the lights, she is unsure if road closures will be involved again.
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35 Comments
electric current > insulated wire > light bulbs > power on
why are we struggling with this? theyre acting as if we just went from candles to electiric. Any electrician with half a brain can make it work.
Take the stupid looking sign down. Waste of money
IT DOES LOOK LIKE ITS GIVING THE 7 TRAIN THE FINGER. HAHAHA THATS GOOD.
Spell the southside of the the sign/arch in spanish and the north side keep in english. You have to honor the Hispanic community of sunnyside. Most of the southside is latino.
Lol, awesome. Libs are going to get all rowd up, not knowing how to protest on this statement!
L7- you seem to know only two words “lib” and “left”. Let us take a wild guess, you’re a Fox watching low information low wage low IQ Slob Limbaugh fan. You’re certainly not a man of fact or detail.
Im actually a 6 figure happy gay man, since you are so interested. Im guessing your a tranny? Hence the same Tracey.
The name is “Lucky 7” not L7.
6 figures and you don’t know the difference between your and you’re.
@lucky7 Here is the origin of name Tracey. Anglo-Saxon Meaning: The name Tracey is an Anglo-Saxon baby name. In Anglo-Saxon the meaning of the name Tracey is: Brave. You don’t show any evidence of being worth any of that six figure salary.
Not sure why it’s so difficult to keep the sign working. It’s a sign with lights on it, not a Mars orbiter. Get an electrician and some bulbs. And they should keep that part of 46 st closed to cars all the time. Make it a pedestrian plaza.
i Say fix it!
Make it all red, we’d make a killing during Fleet Week( what’s left of it)
can we get rid of that arch and put a nail salon or Peruvian restaurant there.
We need some Mad Max / KISS stuff going on! 60′ flames and confetti as far as the eye can see shooting from the sign or nothing! Let them know Sunnyside is the new Williamsburg / Greenpoint! Forget the L train, the 7 is the new hipster express!
No way the 7 was dubbed the orient express long ago.
Nope. It’s called The Third World Express
Its funny how people (probably mostly left) give a thumbs down to something they know is soo true, but will never admit!
Make sure JVB doesn’t replace it with a rainbow.
Does the arch matter to people? Would people care if it were gone tomorrow? For me it’s “no” to both questions. What’s its significance? Nobody comes to see the arch. Nobody cares about the arch accept for…umm…ahh, JVB I guess. It’s money better spent elsewhere.
Maybe you can sit on the middle part of that arch?
Yeah its giving it to Archie! Total tool!
Tool huhuhuhuh that’s funny beavis
Your name tells us exactly how much value we should give to your words.
That arch looks like it’s giving the middle finger.
can we please get these things to light up in one consistant color, this isnt the seedy part of las vegas. something that looks refined please.
it may have an art deco look but i believe it was erected in the1960s, its not that old.
I remember local politicians received like 500,000 to renovate it many years ago and then spent it on other things, a few years ago they found some money and i guess did a half assed cheap job and now we have problems.
The Arch was built in the early 80s.
-anon You’re wrong the arch was not built in the early 80’s.
Yes it was, 1983.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/brighter-arch-sunnyside-article-1.365282
how nice it would be to return to one color as designed, white!
The empire state building lights up in different colors reflecting a holiday or general NYC sentiment. You want boring white?
White is clean, classic and elegant. Multiple colors can be marvelous when employed by a skilled artist and can be flashy, tawdry and tasteless when directed by hacks. Usually when changes are made to a work of art it is best to consult the artist.
I’m suggesting to use color to celebrate other events or holidays. Besides, computer controlled LED’s are easily controlled and last for a long long while. Whatever. It’s not really a work of art, either. It’s a freaking sign, FFS. AND, flashy tawdry and tasteless is part of the american lexicon. Thats why they tore town the old penn station and replaced it with. . . madison square garden. Universally known as the great architectural work as a monument to stupidity and, you guessed it. Tawdry and tasteless.
The arch is a sculpture. It holds lettering that signifies the name of the place. Seasonal lighting is fine. If we want flashy tawdry and tasteless we have it already, it just doesn’t function properly.
If you think that’s “sculpture,” then I don’t know what to say. It’s a glorified sign. You’re right, though. It is tawdry and tasteless.
thats nice Pat.