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Ghost signs

Willow again.

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Messages
17,197
Location
New York City
Half playing hooky this week (work for myself, so I have a forgiving boss, but no work - no $'s :() - anyhoo, you have to have some fun. So, my girlfriend and I went out for a not-seasonal-at-all margarita and shrimp jalapeño popper lunch (oh yeah) and on our way there, we spotted this ghost sign on the Dryden East Hotel (now, just the Dryden East).

Built in '29, it was originally one of the common-for-the-era "residence" hotels where people would live in a hotel (eat your meals in common dinning rooms - full hotel service), but which have since gone away. To wit, The Dryden is now a normal apartment rental building with this old sign still hanging around.





And the front of the hotel (how great are it's surrounding buildings - a very time-travel street)
 
I tried to capture a few that are on Commercial Street here in Springfield, but lighting was against me on a couple (so I'll toss in some better images from the web).

This one had the lighting in my favor. Northside Hay, Grain & Produce Co.

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This one was exposed when a car crashed through the side of the building knocking down a concrete block wall back in 2008.

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This is on the far side of the building shown below in a 1910 photo.

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Messages
17,197
Location
New York City
Just this week, we watched the movie "Genius" about the famous Scribner's editor Maxwell Perkins and Thomas Wolfe and this exact shot (with the glass office tower CGI'd out - the movie was set in the '30s) was prominently displayed in the movie.

My memory is that several years ago this was a ghost sign (all faded), but recently it was spiffed up (don't remember when). Perhaps it was cleaned up for the movie, but I would think CGI would be a cheaper way to do that.

Anyway, it inspired me to go by yesterday to take a peak at it and snap this shot for all of us.

 
This was so ghostly I didn't even know about it in the 57 years I've lived in this town. Apparently it is not visible from the streets I drive on due to newer buildings being built near it, but can be seen from an alley (or from taller buildings nearby). Or maybe it is just my lack of exposure to the arts.

This shows it in 1969 and recently when it was restored.

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This shows the location. The parking garage has been there since the 1960s.

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This is the front of the Landers Theatre (built in 1909).

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