New York Pastrami Factory (333 East 23rd Street in Manhattan) was cited in March 1983 for this jocular sign in a window:
“Protect your bagels. Put lox on them.”
The line (a pun on the word “locks”) has been frequently reprinted.
Google Books
7 March 1983, New York magazine, pg. 111, col. 2 ad:
Protect your bagels. Put lox on them.
(...)
New York Pastrami Factory
333 East 23rd St.
(Between 1st and 2nd Ave.)
New York (NY) Times
METROPOLITAN DIARY
By Glenn Collins
Published: March 23, 1983
(...)
Deborah Slom saw this sign in the window of the Pastrami Factory on East 23d Street in Manhattan: ‘‘Protect Your Bagels: Put Lox on Them.’‘
Google Books
Deli:
101 New York-style deli dishes, from chopped liver to cheesecake
By Sue Kreitzman
New York, NY: Harmony Books
1985
Pg. 79:
“Protect your bagels— put lox on them!”
Sign, Goldberg and Son’s
Bagel Bakery and Deli
Atlanta, 1984
Google Books
The Reader’s Digest
Volume 126, Issues 753-758
1985
Pg. 42:
SIGN IN THE WINDOW of a Manhattan eatery: “Protect Your Bagels. Put Lox on Them.” — Deborah Slom, quoted by Glenn Collins in New YorkTimes
Google Books
Get Thee to a Punnery
By Richard Lederer
New York, NY: Dell Publishing
1989
Pg. 15:
Protect your bagels. Put lox on them.
Google News Archive
23 October 1992, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “Putting a new peg on those holes in the golf course” by Alex Thien, pg. 3C, col. 3:
Louise O’Brien says the sign is in a deli: “Protect your bagels. Put lox on them.”
Twitter
Einstein Bros.
@EinsteinBros
Weekend Funnies: How do you protect your bagels?
Put lox on them! ha! http://fb.me/3A1sGe4uv
10:30 AM - 11 Jan 2014
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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