Limited Batch of New Ruth Bader Ginsburg Way Signs Honoring Brooklyn Native and Legal Trailblazer

Image by NYCDOT

A limited number of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Way signs will go on sale today. These signs pay tribute to the life and legacy of the esteemed United States Supreme Court Justice and Brooklyn native. The signs are available on the first business day after her birthday, and during Women’s History Month. The original sign is located at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Avenue P in Midwood, Brooklyn outside of James Madison High School, Ginsburg’s alma mater. Today’s release is part of the agency’s monthly ‘sign drops,’ where the agency sells limited batches of authentic, hand-made signs from the NYC DOT Sign Shop, which produces over 70,000 signs each year. 

A limited release of 100 signs will be sold online for $100 each and are available one per customer. All signs will be sold via the CityStore, the Official Store of the City of New York, and proceeds will benefit the city’s general fund.

Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933 at Beth Moses Hospital in Borough Park, Brooklyn (now Maimonides Medical Center) and was raised in the borough. Following high school, she attended Cornell University, then Harvard Law School, completing her legal education back home at Columbia Law School after her husband took a job in New York City. She would encounter difficulty getting hired but eventually earned a clerkship and launched her legal career. President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to the Supreme Court in 1993 after a monumental career on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She passed away at the age of 87 on September 18, 2020 and the co-naming ceremony for Ruth Bader Ginsburg Way was held on May 29, 2024.

Monthly sign drops from NYC DOT feature signs for iconic New York City streets, commemorations of famous New Yorkers, celebrations of special occasions, and other custom releases. NYC DOT began its monthly drops in June 2024, with the release of Christopher Street/Stonewall Place street signs to commemorate Pride Month.

Other recent sign drops include:

• Welcome to Manhattan: “Hello, gorgeous!”
• St. Mark’s Place
• 5th Avenue
• Bleecker Street
• Mulberry Street
• Hip Hop Boulevard to celebrate the genre’s musical and cultural legacy
• Welcome to Queens: The World’s Borough
• Gay Street in recognition of Pride Month
• Wall Street
• Leaving Brooklyn: Fuhgeddaboudit
• East 161st Street and Shea Road in honor of baseball’s opening day
• Love Lane to recognize Valentine’s Day
• Broadway in celebration of Broadway Week
• Cornelia Street to honor the street’s prominence among pop music fans

About the NYC DOT Sign Shop

The New York City DOT Sign Shop is in Maspeth, Queens and manufactures over 70,000 signs each year. A team of 32 Sign Shop employees hand-make street signs, highway signs, directional signs, parking signs, and more. There are about one million NYC DOT signs in use across the 6,000 miles of streets in New York City.The monthly sign drops are the latest iteration of sales that have historically been available from the Sign Shop.

About the CityStore

Located at the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street in lower Manhattan, for nearly three decades CityStore has been the official retail store of the City of New York. 

The first New York City CityStore—originally known as CityBooks—opened in December 1981 at 61 Chambers Street and was a small store that primarily sold copies of the Green Book and a few select souvenirs. In 1996, renovations to the building caused the store to relocate to the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building, where the physical store has resided since. Between 1997 and 1998, CityBooks was rebranded to CityStore in an effort to expand beyond book sales and grow the city’s goodwill with visitors and New Yorkers. 

Visit CityStore in person at 1 Centre Street, shop online, and follow on Instagram and Facebook.

About the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services 

The NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) makes city government work for all New Yorkers. Our commitment to equity, effectiveness, and sustainability guides our work providing City agencies with the resources and support needed to succeed, including: 

• Recruiting, hiring, and training City employees.
• Managing 55 public buildings.
• Acquiring, selling, and leasing City property.
• Purchasing over $1 billion in goods and services for City agencies.
• Overseeing the greenest municipal vehicle fleet in the country.
• Leading the City’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions from government operations.

Learn more about DCAS by visiting nyc.gov/dcas and by following us on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and listening to the Inside Citywide podcast.