The Awl

Florida's 2000 Dumbest Personalized License Plates

Choire Sicha — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:15:23 +0000

Highly enjoyable: the full list of "2,000 personalized license plate requests reviewed by Florida's Obscenity Board." (Did someone really think they were going to drive around with "DOGSTYLE" or "GANGMBR"? Good news though: "JEW BAN" and "SUXTOBU" were reinstated after review.

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For Her Next Trick, She Will Try To Pay For Her U.S. Mint Souvenirs With Monopoly Money

Maura Johnston — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:30:40 +0000

I know it's tough to find parking in these car-choked times, but if you're going to drive around a vehicle with forged license plates, pulling into a spot at the local Department Of Motor Vehicles seems like a very risky way to solve any time crunch that might be imperiled by, say, circling the block a couple more times. And yet a Long Island woman who owns an auto body shop did just that while looking for a place to park yesterday! The story ended thusly: "not long after, a DMV inspector happened to stroll by. He immediately spotted the forged license plates." Perhaps this was all a test of some sort for the inspectors, although the felony criminal possession count would indicate otherwise.

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Ye Olde Design Is Making Manhattan a Theme Park of Itself

Dave Bry — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:50:16 +0000

It's an understandable thing that Manhattan is being recast as a shiny, silver-and-glass futureworld in these first thirty years of the Bloomberg era. Still, the antiquated vintage looks from many disparate decades that seem to be overtaking everything from restaurants to license plates to mustaches isn't really helping anything, such as our City's sense of self. Don't get me wrong, I like many of the establishments in the Frankie's Spuntino empire! And I got sick of feeling like I was in the Jetson's every time I walked past Astor Place, too. But when the zeitgeist gets a-rolling like this, people need to chill out. With all the faux-distressed wood and tiling and all the old-timey, painted-mirror style fonts, Clinton Street is starting to feel like one of those wild west film set facades.

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Ugly Thing Costs 25 Bucks

Alex Balk — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:25:39 +0000

Here is the new New York State license plate. It is apparently a tribute to the plates that the state used prior to 1986. The new plate will be rolled out earlier than expected so that the state can grab another $25 from residents who are renewing their registration, a fact that is not sitting well with motorists. As for the actual aesthetics of the places, one irate driver told the Post that, "they're ugly. It looks like we live in Delaware or something." OUCH. That is some A. A. Gill-type bitchery right there.

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Jesus H. Christ On A License Plate

Alex Balk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:38:07 +0000

Here's a new vanity license plate approved by the Florida legislature. I... just... yeah.

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