Pepsi-Cola sign in LIC designated a landmark

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Queens’ Pepsi-Cola sign a landmark and extended the Park Slope Historic District as it dealt with its backlogged items.

In February, the commission rejected 65 buildings that were up for landmark status.

But 30 were “prioritized for designation,” including the Pepsi-Cola sign in Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City, the Bergdorf Goodman building at 754 Fifth Avenue and the Harlem Branch of The Ymca On West 135th Street.

Built in 1936, the Pepsi-Cola sign, which has become synonymous with the Queens’ waterfront, was installed at the top of a Pepsi bottling plant in Long Island City, Curbed reported. In the 1980s, the sign was considered for designation, and was calendared in 1988, according to Curbed. Developer TF Cornerstone bought Pepsi’s land in the early 2000s with the understanding the sign would be maintained.

“This is probably one of the most universally loved and recognized signs and it represents many things, and tells a specific story about industry in Long Island City,” LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan said at the meeting Tuesday.

Parts of the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn were also landmarked. The commission’s extension of the Park Slope Historic District, means that 300 buildings will now be added.

Last June, Srinivasan suggested removing 95 properties, which had been on the docket for years, off the commission’s calendar, but preservationist cried foul. [Curbed] — Dusica Sue Malesevic