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Ghost signs

LizzieMaine

Bartender
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33,823
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
It means, basically, to jazz your cheap little Tin Lizzie up with accessories so it'll seem fancier than it is. The "boulevard class" describes those who promenade along the boulevard in their high hats and spats and gold knob-headed walking sticks with their proboscises elevated. They wouldn't be fooled by a tricked-up Ford, but your neighbors down in Goat Alley would.
 
Messages
17,261
Location
New York City
It means, basically, to jazz your cheap little Tin Lizzie up with accessories so it'll seem fancier than it is. The "boulevard class" describes those who promenade along the boulevard in their high hats and spats and gold knob-headed walking sticks with their proboscises elevated. They wouldn't be fooled by a tricked-up Ford, but your neighbors down in Goat Alley would.

One of Fedora Lounge's best lessons is that very few things really change. Sure, this or that looks a bit different now versus then or something happens in a modified manner, etc., but most things in life just keep repeating if you look beneath the surface.
 

Bushman

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,138
Location
Joliet
A real spectre of a ghost sign here. I almost didn't see it. All I can really make out of it is the word "clothes"...
Y1Be6ir.jpg
 

3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,795
Location
Illinois
I just heard an ad for Bond Clothes on the radio last night. Fine quality suits with 2 pairs of trousers from $28 to $40.75.
B.C. gentlemen, and we're not talking about a period in history.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,823
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
bickfords_nathan_tweti.jpg


8th Avenue & 34th St, Manhattan.

Bickford's was a major player in the East Coast urban-lunchroom market during the Era, spotting a niche slightly higher on the pre-fast-food chain than the Automat or Waldorf Lunch, but a bit less than that occupied by Child's or Schrafft's. Bickford's stores, most of them offering a cafeteria format, were very popular for the white-collar worker grabbing a quick bite, and since most of them operated late into the night/early morning, or even 24 hours, they were also a favorite rendezvous for the nighthawk crowd.

The chain was focused on New York, but also penetrated into New England as far as the New Hampshire border -- the last l Bickford's unit I ever saw was in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and was still operating as late as the early 2000s. It seems to have closed around 2016, but there's still an active Bickford's website indicating units remain open in Acton, Burlington, and Woburn, Mass. These, however, appear to be more along the line of suburban "family restaurants" than the traditional downtown urban locations of the Era. The menu is no longer quite the same either, since there is no listing for a breaded veal cutlet served with tomato sauce and green beans.
 
Personal ghosts. These were from my wife’s late great-grandfather’s and late grandfather’s construction company which closed up in 1968 when Grandpa Chapman retired. Together they built quite a few landmark buildings in Springfield, Missouri.

The rusty one (which was outside for far too long) shows evidence of of a prior version. The nicer one was found in a stack of plywood in an open shed.

A gentle wipe down, a light clear-coat and they now hang in the new shop at the “farm” Grandpa purchased when he retired.

7490a144b1adbf0b8955a43241c1e1a7.jpg


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0b11be98e4489423fb83ff951eb2318f.jpg


831cd46640356832d5f7ec9fa3f3591c.jpg


5dab94c503358b7afd6f42991715a568.jpg


bcf66a9818d29196c59ced064495ba89.jpg
 
Messages
13,676
Location
down south
Personal ghosts. These were from my wife’s late great-grandfather’s and late grandfather’s construction company which closed up in 1968 when Grandpa Chapman retired. Together they built quite a few landmark buildings in Springfield, Missouri.

The rusty one (which was outside for far too long) shows evidence of of a prior version. The nicer one was found in a stack of plywood in an open shed.

A gentle wipe down, a light clear-coat and they now hang in the new shop at the “farm” Grandpa purchased when he retired.

7490a144b1adbf0b8955a43241c1e1a7.jpg


523c10cf263e91e7b3179a72820cb3a7.jpg


0b11be98e4489423fb83ff951eb2318f.jpg


831cd46640356832d5f7ec9fa3f3591c.jpg


5dab94c503358b7afd6f42991715a568.jpg


bcf66a9818d29196c59ced064495ba89.jpg
Very cool, Bob!!

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk
 

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