NYC Vintage Image Of The Day: Ritter Painless Dental Co., 1905

Now, now, this won't hurt a bit... The Ritter Painless Dental Co. at Third Avenue & Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn, specialized in cut-rate dental care. The "It Didn't Hurt A Bit" kid on the second-floor billboard outside certainly resembles Alfred E. Neuman, the face of MAD Magazine, eh?

Among the signage: "Teeth Extracted Without Pain (Open Evenings)," "Our plates are guaranteed to fit," "All operations are painlessly and conscientiously performed" and "Gold fillings $1." Can you imagine what those fillings are worth today, with the price of gold at an all-time high?

On the ground floor are and Levine & Brown Tailors, with $5 trousers and $20 suits to order; and "Smokers Articles," with Cigars and Pipes embossed below the window. Across the street, you can just make out an optometrist's office. Painfully, it appears there is a public parking lot there today. (NYC Vintage Images)