Ghost Signs!
Thanks for your ghosts! “Ghost signs” are evidence of days gone by. You can find them on the sides of buildings in cities and in rural areas. We invited you to send us images of the ghost signs in your neck of the woods and were happy to see what you found and shared with us. In this urban archeology experiment, anthropologist Mark Aldenderfer (one of our science diarists) commented on your photos, telling us what clues they revealed about our past. Associate producer Lara Ratzlaff started it off with our first ghost sign, from Cannon Falls, MN. Check it out below, followed by all of the entries from contest participants.
And we’ll be announcing a new listener challenge soon. Stay tuned!
Tags: Ghost Signs, Listener Challenge
August 16th, 2007 at 9:18 am
I have a couple of them. These are “ghost signs” from my hometown of Parkersburg, West Virginia. The city likes to find them, as well, and try to “bring them back” by repainting them, as you can see by how vividly these are displayed.
This first one is from the Oil & Gas Museum, located right in the middle of downtown. For the longest time, this building was just a building, with nothing much to it, until they turned it into a museum. I know it looks sort of “fake”, but that’s because the focus of this photo is the well, not the “ghost sign” in the background. If you saw the “ghost sign”, you’d be impressed. They didn’t just repaint the coffee ad text, they also repainted this huge mural next
This next one is a “ghost sign” taken from the side of the Smoot Theater in downtown, just up the street from the Oil & Gas Museum. The Smoot Theater is actually on the National Registry of Historical Places. Beautiful theater, and still very much used to this day.
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:57 am
Very interesting………..I am an Oncology Nurse.Over the years many patients have passed that I have known.This violet hue,is well worth looking into.The stories I could tell……………..thanks, Bonnie in Tampa,FL,formerly from WV
September 29th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I have over 300 “ghost sign” images so won’t put them all here. Here are a few:
Peterkin (St. John’s Hill, London, UK)
http://brickads.blogspot.com/search/label/Peterkin
Ariel (Kennington, London, UK)
http://brickads.blogspot.com/search/label/Ariel
(see also the comments made on this post for more info)
Black Cat (Dingley Place, London, UK)
http://brickads.blogspot.com/s.....lack%20Cat
Fount Pens (Stoke Newington Church Street, London, UK)
This sign, crafted to fit with the limitations of the wall space, has three components:
1. Horizontal banner stating that any make of fount pen can be repaired.
2. Upper vertical banner with the company branding (Walker Bros).
3. Lower vertical banner stating Walker Bros are agents for Watermans.
The sign features different typefaces and this is because the horizontal banner, which differs most from the rest, was amended at a later date. It is possible to see the remains of the original sign coming through, particularly near the end of the word ‘Repaired’. The vertical banner has not been tampered with.
It is likely that the original sign was paid for by Watermans. They would have done this in return for the use of Walker Bros’ wall space to promote their fountain pens. Walker Bros would have agreed to this arrangement because it gave their shop publicity in return for providing the wall space for the sign. This is quite a common feature of signs, with big manufacturers ‘borrowing’ retailers’ wall space to promote their own brands in return for including the retailer somewhere on the sign. Comparing the style of the Watermans branding to press advertising allows this sign to be dated to pre-1930.
The original sign had more consistency in terms of typefaces. It is likely that the amended sign was paid for by Walker Bros themselves and so they commissioned a cheaper sign writer to produce the wording with a much simpler typeface used.
The notion of getting a pen repaired would be alien to most people in today’s world of disposable biros but this sign is evidence that it was once common practice. Although Walker Bros are no more, they have been outlived by Watermans who are still manufacturing pens to this day. This would lead to the conclusion that Watermans got the better deal when they paid for this sign to be painted.
My site is http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk
and my pictures are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8.....454018908/
Sam
October 11th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
When I first read this entry, I bit my hand!
There was a great faded sign on the side of a building I would see driving south over the Chicago River on Damen Avenue, in Chicago. It was an advertisement for a lawn mower brand, called “Something Chief”. It showed the profile of an American Indian.
So many times, I drove past that image and thought about how popular culture celebrated these mythical images of the first settlers, whom in reality were continuously displaced and confined when they couldn’t make room for the new settlers.
The building was torn down and the image with it.
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
As an archaeologist, I find this thread of “ghost signs” fascinating. Although I don’t specialize in urban archaeology (I work on the high plateaus of the world in early time periods), I can appreciate how ghost signs like those illustrated on this blog can help us understand aspects of the past easily ignored or forgotten. Although created for very different purposes, I liken these signs in some ways to rock art–images created by peoples in the past to communicate something of value to their neighbors and themselves. These ghost signs are clearly advertisements, and are one aspect of a visual medium created to sell us something–pens, hats, and custards, just to name a few of the subjects shown here. But in a sense, the rock art of the past in almost any period you choose to consider also is “selling” something. By representing acts, events, or just doodling, those ancient peoples were communicating–sharing ideas important to them using the conventions of their times. And while we in most cases cannot understand the message being delivered, it was of importance to these long-gone peoples. For us, ghost signs evoke a nostalgia for the past, but for the archaeologists of the future, these signs may help them understand just a bit more deeply the conventions and messages of past times.
November 25th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Ghost signs of Philadelphia:
http://lawrenceotoole.com/signs
A few of my favorites:
http://www.lawrenceotoole.com/.....chine.html
Hope Machine Co.
http://www.lawrenceotoole.com/.....-loan.html
Uncle Bill’s(?) Pawn Brokers
http://www.lawrenceotoole.com/.....coats.html
Klosfit Petticoat
http://www.lawrenceotoole.com/.....-olde.html
Roxy’s
http://www.lawrenceotoole.com/.....lkies.html
Grand Theatre Talkies
November 30th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I’ve been taking pictures of ghost signs for a while now as I cycle or bus round London. I think they’re sadly neglected relics of a bygone era, when every high street was proud of its independent family-owned shops.
I live just a couple of minutes from the fount pen sign photographed by Sam on your blog.
Hackney Ghost Sign
Ben Hoare
writer & editor
Stoke Newington
London