I don’t want to sound lame, but as I spend a lot of time focusing on the minutiae of New York City, I really appreciate store display windows that actually make me stop and look. I’m also a big fan of the Natural History Museum, so it’s not surprising that I liked the window at Maxilla and Mandible.
Maxilla and Mandible is sort of like a slightly lower rent version of Soho’s Evolution – a store where you can buy real and replica skeletons, skulls, embalmed insects, and other pieces that would probably fit right at home amongst the cases at the Natural History Museum. Anyway, this type of store always lends itself to great store windows…
I enjoy store windows like these because they intrigue the customer in, rather than simply saying: Hey! Look at the Pants! They cost this much!”
Again, as a Natural History Museum fan, I also love that the nearby post office is signified as Planetarium Station.
-SCOUT
PS – While I’m on the topic of store windows, I have to say that without question, the best store windows in the city are at the Bleecker St Ralph Lauren at Halloween, a holiday they take very seriously. I don’t have any pictures myself, but here are a few I found only (which, though great, are not the best to my memory):
(courtesy The Fashion Informer)
(courtesy The Fashion Informer)
Be sure to check out Obscura on E. 10th St. between 1st Ave. and Ave. A. It has similar antiques / oddities / taxidermy.
It’s equal parts creepy and fascinating.
Ooooh, I haven’t thought about Maxilla in years! I grew up nearby and I can’t believe it’s still open. Yay for them!
There’s a similar store here in the Bay Area – the Bone Room. Their store window is like some crazy museum display. I love it.
love your blog – have seen it in the past but someone on twitter reminded me of it as we cover store windows. for more RL photos and other stores go to http://www.cdwmerchants.com/blog.html
love the curio shop!
1. Love your blog. LOVE.
2. While you were at the post office pictured above did you happen to scout the firehouse across the street? I’ve lived in the neighbourhood for 2 years now and go to that post office all the time and only today noticed this awesome dragon winch at the top of the firehouse.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glark/3375762887/sizes/l/
Maxilla has been near the Museum for decades, but they used to have a much larger, more luxurious store.. this one does look “low rent”, but their former space was anything but. A wonder emporium when i was a kid.
Maxilla & Mandible was glorious! it was double the size, actually it was the current store and the store to the left of it. The window displays are always awesome and the owner himself does them. The store is the original bone store of Manhattan and is celebrating it’s 24th anniversary and is about 10 years older than Evolution. You may see it as lower rent but with pieces in the Natural History Museum, it truly is a gem of New York. I am truly happy that people still appreciate M&M.
[...] Scouting New York is a pretty sweet blog run by a film location scout in… you guessed it, New York. I love all of the archtectural gems he’s scouted throughout the city. I just stumbled upon some shots he took of Maxilla and Mandible. I don’t want to spoil the fun, so go check out the photos on ScoutingNY. [...]
[...] within a block of each other) usually take their Halloween windows very seriously (as I’ve noted in the past), though I think this year’s are a mixed bag. First up is the Ralph Lauren store [...]
Память — важнейшая фасон психического отражения действительности. http://ehroairport.com/sekrety-pamyati/ – Секреты памяти
I work at the museum of natural history and every time Maxilla and Mandible comes up, the partnering story of the recently retired head of Anthropology/Evolution who once came into the store and found a REAL hominin fossil is bound to be told! Keep your eyes out for cool things at the place, you never know what you’ll find!
This was my favorite store when I was a kid. I was a weird kid. I would ask Santa for fox skulls and rat skeletons in vials. It was mandatory that we go to M&M after a trip to the AMNH. My dad would always buy me a little toy or souvenir and I would come home with human finger bones and ribs. I really wanted a human femur from the big cardboard box of human femurs but 45$ was way more than my allowance at that time.
[...] Maxilla & Mandible « Scouting NYMar 17, 2009 … Maxilla and Mandible is sort of like a slightly lower rent version of Soho’s Evolution – a store where you can buy real and replica skeletons, … [...]