I spotted this ghost sign for the Independence Community Bank across the street from the Newkirk Plaza subway station in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Apparently this was “the best banking value.” Fading Ad Blog has a better photo, taken 7 years ago when the sign was less deteriorated.
This abandoned hotel on Cass Ave. at Temple in Detroit boasts two ghost signs for its two incarnations: the larger, painted Hotel Fort Wayne and the more modest American Hotel. More information about this building can be found here.
The former Classic Antiques & Collectibles is located at 119 North Ontario St. in glorious Toledo. It’s a pretty cool building that seems to have last been used as headquarters for the 2012 Obama presidential campaign. Forward!
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Located at 2104 East Washington St. in Indianapolis, the ghost sign for the California Nite Club contains a sun and palm trees as a kind of shorthand representation of the name. The building is fairly grand for the area and, while I know nothing about the club, this description recommended that you “bring your A-game.”
Mom & Pop’s Toy Shop was located in the heart of Hamtramck’s retail district on Joseph Campau Ave., Hamtramck being a separate town inside of Detroit, which was at one point mostly Polish, then seemed to become more hipster, with an influx of other ethnic groups and, on my last visit, seemed a bit barren, with more ghost signs than I’d expected.
How much do I love terrazzo signs? A lot. This one in downtown Ferndale, MI is for the old Innes J. Davidson Jeweler, and the color and lettering are so beautiful that we should ponder this lovely O before moving on to the whole thing.
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I spotted this ghost sign for Schulze’s Butter Nut Bread on 18th St. just west of South Damen Ave., in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
Ahh, the glorious and odd Frank Selmier Towel Supply! This ghost sign is located on the edge of Lockerbie Square, on East Michigan Ave., just off College Ave. and next to the gay bar 501 Eagle.
This terrazzo ghost sign for Herzog is located at 806 Madison Ave. in charming, sleepy downtown Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Herzog Jewelers still exists, albeit in nearby Fort Mitchell.
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I came across this really large ghost sign at 912 East Westfield Blvd. in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indianapolis. “Parking in rear” is the only part of it that’s really legible.
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Department of Everyday Visualingual 