Tuesday, January 20, 2009

#20











#20, East Village, NYC


When 8-balls go away to college, they come back looking like this. This banner, painted on the wall of a one-story garage, is one of many ghost signs found on the brick buildings of New York. Some great examples of these vanishing pieces (generally old ads for long-defunct companies) can be found over at Forgotten New York. Countless more could be added to the endangered species list. Don't forget to look up when you walk around -- otherwise you might miss them.

6 comments:

Ray Gunn said...

It's killing me. What did the rest of the sign say? All I see when I look at it is Samuel C. And you know who that makes me think of.

Pierre said...

I grew up and lived in and around Portland Oregon for almost all my days. I loved going to Old Town and seeing all the elderly brick buildings with fading ads on them. They facinated me. I should have documented them as does the referenced web site.

Therese Cox said...

Ray -- Um . . . Coleridge?

The full text reads: "SAMUEL COHEN'S SON (illegible illegible)" in black and beneath it "IDEAL CLASS" in bold red. There was also a nice 22 bookending the 20. It's on East 2nd Street.

Pierre -- are any of those ghost signs still around? I'm amazed at how many I've spotted ever since putting them on my radar. "Old Town" -- I even love the sound of that.

Ray Gunn said...

HA! No, Clemens!!

I forgot entirely about Coleridge. And I'm going to go right back to forgetting him. Starting...now.

Pierre said...

Yes, Therese, there are however you have to wander around downtown Portland near the river in the old manufacturing areas. They're on both east and west sides of the Willamette which divides Portland in half, akin to the Hudson in NY.

Julie said...

They are plentiful down here in Sydney, too.