Helvetica, it's a font that is so commonplace in our landscape, we don't even notice it. From the MTA subway signs to that American Apparel store on 23rd between Park and Lexington (you've probably passed it at some point) Helvetica is the quitessential sans-serif typeface seen all over New York. In fact, it's so common, an entire documentary on the typeface was made, which I've seen, and taught me how universal this typeface is.

Though created in Switzeraland (though one could say that because it's been transposed into many other alphabets, such as Urdu, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Greek, and Japanese, the typeface is a sort of melting pot, like New York is often symbolized as) it appears to have really caught on in New York City, where the typeface adorns MTA subway signs, among variations on other signs.

Despite not being native to New York, it might as well be due to its acceptance by New Yorkers for its modern clean look. For instance, when one sees the American Apparel logo, one expects to get a clean pair of jeans, not grungy or full of holes because that's what the typeface suggests. In fact, the typeface seems to me to be a bit overused, influencing other famous typefaces such as Arial and MS Sans Serif. However, through its 52 year life so far, it appears that Helvetica is here to stay.