Several people briskly walking down Mamaroneck Avenue yesterday afternoon on their way back to work or speed walking to escape the drizzle, slowed down and craned their necks to see what was going on in the window of Vinifera Wine and Spirits.

Pausing briefly, they saw an unusual site: a small, wiry man with curly shoulder length hair perched in the window, delicately applying gently creased and fragile slices of gold leaf with a wide brush over blue stenciled words which read “Wine and Spirits.” In between applications, he deftly touched the brush to his forehead to make “electricity static to pick up the gold leaf,” said Jerry Pagane, the artist.

The story of how Pagane got to where he is today, one of New York City’s few remaining gold leaf artists and possibly one of the most prolific, is no less intriguing than his beautifully painted windows, a remnant of a bygone era.

Pagane—who was born without ears and abandoned by his mother the day he was born, Dec. 24, according to an article in the Villager—was adopted at age 14 by a large family in Pennsylvania and, after surgeries and a device that picks up sound vibrations, was able understand what others were saying. He studied at the Carnegie Mellon and the National Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, eventually moving to NYC in 1983 for its thriving art scene.

The idea to commission Pagane to paint the Vinifera storefront came after owner Michael Grady spotted a French Brasserie style logo in the window at Patasserie, a NYC restaurant, and wanted to replicate the look in his own store.  A graphic designer whom he had worked with previously introduced him to Pagane.

The store—located on 410 Mamaroneck Ave. in the old La Cave Fine Wine Merchant location—came under new ownership this past summer.  Grady was eager to add a more eye catching logo to the unassuming storefront.

As Pagane heated the gel that would adhere the gold leaf to the glass, his tool box and tarp spread out on the floor amid shelves of European wines, he narrated the different steps of the process, which are detailed in the video to the right of this article.

“Right now it’s dull…when it’s shiny that’s how you tell it’s dry,” he said, referring to the gold leaf’s consistency.

When asked how many storefronts in Manhattan he’d completed, Pagane quickly answered, “Pretty close to one million.”  He has worked on windows at the former Windows of the World restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center, Bond 45, the Trump Building on Wall Street and Balthazar Restaurant in Soho.  A complete list of his commissions can be viewed on his website here.

“Not too many people do gold leaf anymore.”

“They don’t even make the soap anymore,” he said, pointing to a small square of Bon Ami bar soap regretfully, a symbol of the dwindling and specialized art form.

Vinifera Wine and Spirits is located at 410 Mamaroneck Ave. in Mamaroneck, (914) 698-3802.  The store holds wine tastings every Friday from 5:00-7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 3-7 p.m.