Painted Signs and Hieroglyphs: Young and Schmuck

I never realized the connection between these old painted building signs and Egyptian hieroglyps until I read this recent Times' piece. Here's a portion: "They are hieroglyphics of a bygone New York; writings on walls redolent of a time when women wore corsets, nearly every parlor seemed to have a piano and buggies could be hired for a genteel ride up the avenue once a blacksmith shod the horses. Signs painted on the sides of humdrum brick buildings advertised such wares and services, in bold block letters accompanied occasionally by an evocative sketch. Amateur archaeologists can still unearth them, faded and weathered as they are, by walking the streets of the five boroughs and simply looking up." Here's the rest of the article combined with a slide show. The best source for these signs are found on frankjump's great site. BTW, do you old Brookyn College folks remember Professor Schmuckler?