Some Quick Thoughts About Awnings

With a Velvet Underground tie-in.

If you’re a fan of the Velvet Underground, you’re probably familiar with their spoken-word opus “The Gift,” about a naive college student who mails himself to his girlfriend. He gets the idea when he receives some junk mail from the Amalgamated Aluminum Company of America, “inquiring into his awning needs” — very nice turn of a phrase.

I think of “The Gift” whenever I pass a stretch of houses like the ones shown above. These homeowners clearly had some serious awning needs! This row of homes, which I spotted on Albany Ave. in Brooklyn the other day, is particularly interesting because the six houses have six different awning designs. Check it out: