This memorial to Kastin’s Drugs stands as a reminder of the time before national chains and when neighbourhoods still had a degree of self-sufficiency and cohesion.
Kastin’s succumbed to the invasion of the national drugstore chains in 2004 after 86 years in Red Bank, 70 of them on the West Side.
This totem has survived the pharmacy for close to twenty years now. Quite an achievement in a town whose commitment to history and heritage seems tenuous to say the least. Yet here it still stands with its “Western Union” sign still there from an age before the internet and Paypal.
Perhaps it’s time for a catalogue of street paraphernalia to be compiled in this cool little town before everything is submerged under the wave of sub-Ruritanian faux architecture and voracious speculation. There are still remnants of heritage in the town, from ghost signs to original shop fronts and harbingers of contemporary culture such as the murals and installations around the town, even Christmas light displays. What do you think?
There’s an interesting article on Kastin’s pharmacy archived on jerseycentral.com with a link here…
