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Calling Out Duane Reade For Confusing Chicago For NYC
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 11, 2011
Modified Oct 18, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 11, 2011
Modified Oct 18, 2011
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Duane Reade is a New York City shop to its very foundation, founded in 1960 by brothers who opened three stores here, with a warehouse located between Duane and Reade streets. These days the chain has even branded their products as NYC-centric, with bar codes in the shape of city landmarks, trail mixes named after different neighborhoods, and Brooklyn beers on tap. So how is it that they've confused Chicago for New York City? And how upset should we actually get about this? Over at Untapped NY, they're calling the store out after spotting this sign in one of their Midtown outposts, which shows many well known places around the city... and one questionable photograph:
I was stumped by one photograph. It depicted a statue with a gothic building in the background. Despite my best attempts I was unable to think of a similarly situated statue and building in New York City. I figured if I could identify either the building or the statue I might be able to narrow it down. The only building that I could think of which was somewhat similar in form was Riverside Church but I was sure that there were no statues in front of it. Next, I turned to the statue. I realized that the statue looked very similar to the statue of Nathan Hale I had seen at Yale, of which I knew there were copies, and close enough to the one in City Hall Park. As far as I knew, there was only one statue of Hale in New York City and that one was located in City Hall Park. When it was finally my turn to pay, I asked the cashier if she recognized the sites depicted in the photographs. She did not, though another employee suggested that the photograph has been taken somewhere in Brooklyn.
The statue in the photo is actually far away from both Brooklyn and Manhattan, residing at the Chicago Tribune Building. It's almost like this massive chain store just doesn't even care anymore.
Tagged
chicago
duane reade
landmark
mistake
nathan hale
oops
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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