Ghost signs

[Talbot]

One I found a few weeks back, and took my 40 to get a pic in front of it. I have a better pic of more of the sign but this is the only one that was uploaded somewhere


https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd...._=1425304797_4591d6323c1566c663b7b5cadba84d9b

Nice 40!

 

[Talbot]

You can just barely see the sign on the rocks. It has faded even more recently, but here is one as seen from Harpers Ferry, WV.

Could you imagine this happening today!?!

 

[Fading Fast]

For those who remember my 8/26 post - the sign is nearly hidden - I snapped these shots today quickly on my way to a meeting. It makes me sad to see it go.

 

[1mach1]

That is sad. However, maybe the new building will further preserve the sign.

 

[Fading Fast]

That is sad. However, maybe the new building will further preserve the sign.

Yes, maybe, but kind of existential: does a ghost sign provide any viewing pleasure if it can't be seen? While we all know that modern construction won't last forever, my guess is the new building will outlive most of us. That said, I appreciate your positive sentiment.

 

[Giftmacher]

[URL=http://s307.photobucket.com/user/Giftmacher/media/IMG_4755_6_7_zps8de3d8fe.jpg.html] [/URL]

 

[dh66]

^^Cool^^

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Clifton's Cafeteria in L.A. currently being rennovated.

 

[1mach1]

Petersburg, VA

 

[dh66]

Birmingham, AL

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Good one, DH.

Rob

 

[dh66]

Thanks Rob.
You find all kinds of cool stuff when you stay off the interstate.

 

[Stearmen]

Not exactly a Ghost Sign, since it is constantly repainted over the years. Still, cool!

 

[dh66]

That's very cool that they keep it up like that.

 

[Fading Fast]

I started posting about this ghost sign going away back in August and, then, did an interim update in October, but I walked by today and it is gone. So that you don't have to scroll back, here is the sad story of going, going, gone in pictures:

The Sign


Construction has started, its fate is sealed


Not much time left in October (kind of like a drowning victim just keeping its head above the rising water)


And, finally and sadly, today, hidden from view for now (who knows, maybe in fifty years the new building will be taken down and the sign will breath again - odder things have happened)

 

[Stearmen]

That's not the worst fate. Someday, they may tear down that new building and guise what they will find?

 

[Blackthorn]

Wow, it saddens me to see history disappear like that. Ah well, it is happening all over the world.

 

[Fading Fast]

My own post above got me to thinking - (and I assume Lizzie will have the answer), was it more common / was there more demand for Fireproof storage (as advertised in the ghost sign a couple of posts above) in the Golden Era than today (as that is not something I see advertised in the City any more - although, mini-storage is advertised all the time - but as a space issue, not a fire-safe issue - as no one has enough space in this city)?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think the "Fireproof" angle was more a response to the many gigantic urban fires of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It wasn't just warehouses advertised as "Fireproof," it was any building made of concrete, steel, and brick -- theatres, ballparks, apartment houses, anything like that. There was a low asbestos-and-steel building behind the theatre here which opened in 1923 as "The Fireproof Garage," and was build shortly after a disastrous fire which had wiped out the entire block.

Meanwhile, so far as Ghost Signs are concerned, do you know the work of Frank Jump? He's a New York-based photographer who's done a lot of documentation of the city's old painted wall signs. His book, "Fading Ads of New York City," is a must for any coffee table.