New York Printers — Perceptions Cloud Reality

“What I heard was a message recording at their headquarters, saying they were closed due to weather,” Ashworth laughs. “They got half an inch of snow and they closed the city.”

Close, Concrete Quarters

For those few printers still doing business in New York City, there are obvious hazards and inconveniences, like the lack of elbow room for anything. Brooklyn-based Prestone Printing has an interesting footprint: It faces west and is at the dead end of an east-west road that runs parallel to the Long Island Expressway. A block perpendicular to the road connects the Midtown Tunnel and the Queensborough Bridge. We’ll let Prestone President Rob Adler explain:

“As the Queensborough Bridge is toll-free and the Tunnel charges a $5 fee, there are many truck drivers and taxi cabs who use these two roads to jump off the expressway before they arrive at the toll tunnel and use the toll-free bridge,” he says. “It is not uncommon to look out of our front window from our production office and see a huge tractor trailer coming at full speed to what looks like directly into the office.

“It is for this reason that I chose to have a windowless office in the back of the plant.”

Vid, for one, is fiercely proud of the state he calls home. There is so much to do and see in New York. Unfortunately, he feels some residents take its beauty for granted.

“Everybody looks at Long Island as an expensive place to live. I believe you get what you pay for,” he says. “The opportunities for recreation and social activities are endless. Being in such proximity to Manhattan, you have incredible theater and entertainment. We probably have 50,000 restaurants on Long Island.

“If you do get an opportunity to experience it, it’s a wonderful place to live. That makes it worth the effort to go the extra mile and get the job that affords you to live here. I love the theater, love the beaches, love the restaurants.”

Suffice to say, Vid loves New York. PI