© Tommy Cole
Laxatives
Sidewalk Photography's Alex Richman on Ex-Lax, Inc.
© Alex Richman
I saw you had a category laxatives but didn’t have a picture of the old Ex Lax building on Atlantic Avenue. See attached image and some history below. Feel free to add if you so choose…
Prospect Park South used to be home to Israel Matz, founder of the Ex Lax company. He started the company in 1906 at 423-443 Atlantic Avenue. The product was produced there until the 1970’s. The building has since been converted to condo’s and Israel’s home is being converted into a community garden. see Forgotten Flatbush
When ex-lax began selling the same year the FDA’s predecessor agency, the Bureau of Chemistry, was created. The regimen for evaluating drugs was far different than it is today; medications simply had to meet certain standards for strength and purity. The FDA wasn’t created — and didn’t set stringent testing requirements — until much later. Even when it did, many old, widely used drugs such as Ex-Lax were effectively grandfathered in without testing.
Oddly enough, this image was in the first post I ever put on my blog – Sidewalk Photography
Thanks Alex! Great posting and equally exciting blog!
Fletcher's Castoria – Chinatown, NYC – March 1997
© Frank H. Jump
By far the most prolific NYC fading ad at one time. For more information about Castoria products, visit the Centaur Company website and the Fading Ad Campaign!
