Feist appeals to Ryerson to save Sam the Record Man sign

Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist has thrown her considerable weight behind the campaign to preserve the Sam the Record Man sign.

The indie rock star’s letter to Ryerson University — posted on the Facebook page of SOS: Save our Sam the Record Man Sign on Wednesday — calls on the institution to “consider the importance of commemorating and protecting” the iconic placard.

“Our collective story in music, and the rare landmarks we have available to us to remember it by, are a way to avoid heaving ourselves headlong into the future blind of what helped form us,” she writes.

“It wouldn’t take much but to put it in the hands of people who will do right by its legacy. Please consider what you can do to help conserve your city and make it richer for the kids you’re educating.”

The city has yet to come up with ideas for where the sign should reside after Ryerson said it couldn’t, as hoped, hang it at Yonge and Gould streets — the former site of the flagship store and future location of a student learning centre.

The school said it did its best, but “ran into a host of issues including architectural, environmental and safety challenges.”

Coun. Josh Matlow, who has said Ryerson should be held to its original agreement, said the sign is now being stored in pieces in a trailer in north Toronto.

Read Feist’s letter to Ryerson University below.

Where would you like to see the sign? Comment below.

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