Saturday Night Live – “Bodega Bathroom” sketch

Highway Gothic is the typeface used for the signage in the Saturday Night Live skit “Bodega Bathroom” from March 2019. It is designed by Charlotte Hayes Harrison, and a hand-drawn approach was used to make the sign look “pre-aged.”

Highway Gothic was created by the Public Roads Administration during World War II and was used for the Interstate Highway System. The typeface is designed to be seen from afar most and is used for road signs across the United States as well as elswehere in the world. Because the sign was towards the back of the set, it is both readable but does not stand out. The colors and typeface are meant to imitate the homemade signage of bodegas in New York, and other signs on the set also represent the wear and tear of the handmade paper signs in bodegas over the years.