Sign of the times: NL music store changing its lettering
New London — Some of the city’s iconic signage bit the dust last week.
Actually, “C-A-R-U-S-O M-U-S-I-C,” the blue-green, argon-filled lettering that had greeted motorists entering the city on Eugene O’Neill Drive for more than two decades, was merely consigned to storage, soon to be replaced by “Caruso Piano Gallery,” script that better reflects the business’ focus in recent years, Richard Caruso said Wednesday.
The solid new lettering, which will be illuminated from above, will go up in the next couple of weeks, said Caruso, who runs the store with his brother, Larry.
Richard Caruso said the old lettering came down last week, prior to Sailfest.
Caruso’s, as it’s known, traces its beginnings to Corona, N.Y., where John Caruso, the brothers’ father, founded an accordion school in 1929. He moved the business to southeastern Connecticut in the early 1950s, around the time he caught Elvis Presley’s act.
“That was it for the accordions,” Richard Caruso said.
The business first alighted in the Norwich area and moved to New London in 1963. It occupied space on Main Street and Bank Street before settling at its current 94 State St. location in 1994.
The elder Caruso died in 1999.
In 2012, Caruso’s stopped being a full-service music store and became a piano-only outlet.
“We just dragged our feet on the signage,” Richard Caruso said.
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