The Last from the Trip, and, Another Inspiration

 

When I was in college, I lived not far from this large, red brick building, with few windows.  The structure was fascinating.    And now that I've seen in again, it reminds me of another large, red brick building I find fascinating.

 

 

Could this be a second Sign Zero?

Deep Schmidt

 

Oh, the Bitter, Bitter Irony.

 

In an alleyway, between 8th and 9th, between Main and Sycamore.

Japp's

 

 

Hastings, NE

 

 

Still in business, but with new signage.

Something Lost

 

We lost one to urban renewal.  

 

Here's what it looked like before:

Columbia

 

At the corner of Vine and Liberty, there's this.  And above that garish yellow sign, there's this:

 

 

Easier to see in person, but it's "Columbia Iron Works". 

Winter Warmer

 

It's so blah outside, how about a picture of blue skies, with green trees, and the idea of coffee?

The Last Train

 

Somewhere outside of Chicago.  There were dozens of ghost signs along the tracks, but this is the only picture to turn out.  And it does so just barely.

UPDATED....Signs of a Different Sort

Rest in Peace, Avtar. 

 

Off topic, but, I think he deserves the mention.  The Hat Guy was a fixture in Cincinnati for years, and his passing saddens me.  I knew him well enough to know his real name, and he knew me enough to "demand" I take his picture when we crossed paths.  I feel badly, because in the winter, I'd see him walking without a coat.  Instead, he'd have a baby blanket wrapped around his shoulders.  I often thought about buying a coat for him, but never did. 

 

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office was closed today, for Martin Luther King Junior Day, so, the cause of death hasn't been released.  Channel 5 says he died Saturday, at the motel on Central Parkway, where he had been living.

 

His room was burglarized last fall.  When President Obama spoke at Eden Park, someone broke into Avtar's room.  He told me he felt they were targeting him, and knew he would be at the President's speech.  The last time we talked about it, he said he wasn't sure if anything was stolen, because the room had been trashed. 

 

Hat Guy, you will be missed.

 

******

There's a number of blogs and facebook pages that have sprung up since Monday.   Like this one: HatMan Movement.

At First Glance

 

I noticed this after I started shopping at the Walnut Hills Kroger.  And while it qualifies perfectly, I wasn't going to use it, simply because it offends me with its ugliness.  Yeah, there are other ugly ghost signs here, but for some reason, the Ohio Blue Print Company sign rubbed me the wrong way. 

So, this is not a post about the OBPC sign.  Instead, it's an entry for Finn Jaske, bleeding through, across the top of the building.

Hastings, NE

Rock Bottom

 

Presenting: the last of the Omaha photos.

  

 

But, by no means the last of Omaha's great ghost signs.  This collection was just the tip of the iceburg.

 

 

Perhaps, one day, our guide on this field trip, D.L. Hudson, will start his own hunt, and share the bounty.

Must Be the Light

Today, the sky was overcast.  Bright, but cloudy.  And I don't know if it was that, or something else, but ghost signs kept leaping out at me.  Like this one, clearly visible from Central Parkway, below Harrison. One excuse for not seeing it before: as you face this, it would be directly behind you.

 

But, that's not the only one.  I noticed three other ghost signs in OTR.  On Vine Street, no less.  So, it's not as if they're out of the way.

 

So, I'm crediting the lighting.

 

As for this sign: I'm seeing the following words: RELIEVES FATIGUE, GOLD CROWNS, TEETH, PLATES.

Is they is, or is they ain't?

Spotting ghost signs isn't always easy.  Sometimes, what I think is a sign may only be discoloration.  To brighten up your Monday, here's a collection of Maybees.  Put your guesses in the comment box.

 

1.  Northside

 

2. Over-the-Rhine.  If there wasn't a sign up there, there should have been.

 

 

3.  Downtown.  Race Street.

 

 

4. Over-the-Rhine.  To the right of the display window.

 

 

5.  Over-the-Rhine.  Just off of Main, on 14th.

 

 

6.  Omaha.  Old Market.

 

 

7.  Downtown.  5th and Plum.

 

 

8.  Walnut Hills.  Gilbert Avenue.

 

 

9. Downtown.  On Broadway.

 

Honestly, I think most of these aren't ghost signs.  I think it's just a case of I'm seeing that which I seek.

So Many...

 

And with the passage of time, I don't remember where exactly in the Old Market this was.

 

I can't tell you why I focused the shipping & receiving, and ignored the rest, either.

 

But, I can say we've just about exhausted the photos from Omaha.  There are only four more.

Burlington, Iowa

 

Those who know me know I don't have many good things to say about Iowa. (It's an acronym for Idiots Out Wandering Around.)  But Burlington looked nice.  From a ghost sign spotter's perspective, anyway.

Heading west on the California Zephyr, we hit Burlington at night.  But, it still seemed to be a potential treasure trove, with lots of old, red brick, warehouse buildings along the railroad tracks. 

Heading east, in the morning, my suspicions were confirmed; There were ghost signs galore.  Unfortunately, they were either butting up to the tracks, while we were moving, and impossible to capture on camera, or, like these examples, were a few blocks away, and shot through the glass at an angle. 

Baker(?) Engraving

The Obvious

 

Part of the allure of ghost sign hunting, for me anyway, is finding things hidden in plain sight; seeing something that is so obvious that one (becomes?) is oblivious to it.

It just dawned on me last night that I've been staring at a couple of ghost signs a couple of nights every week for nearly three years.  (The entrance to the patio at Neon's Unplugged.) 

But, I suppose my excuse for not noticing is simple, and weak: I don't look for a lot of engraved or manufactured signs.  I'm usually more interested in painted ghost signs.

More Omaha

 

All these businesses, thought they'd be around forever, painted their names all over the bricks.

Today, businesses must assume they're a flash in the pan, installing plastic letters that are easily removed and forgotten.

Signy Sense

 

With the leaves off of the trees, sign hunting is made a little easier. I'd been eyeballing this building through the trees, from southbound I-71, and had a feeling about it. Not so much Spidey Sense, but... you get the point.

Anyway, heading north on the Interstate yesterday, I caught a glimpse of it, and the ghost sign, lit up perfectly by the rising sun. 

 

The building is still in use as a storage facility, methinks, and it's an impressive structure.  It's on Oak Street, just east of Cincinnati Children's. 

 

Since I hadn't spent a lot of time in this part of Walnut Hills, and with a free morning, I did a bit more exploring, and did not come away disappointed.  But, we'll save those for another day.

Gandalf & Co.

Back in the Old Market.

 

It doesn't really say Gandalf.  I just see an "AN", with maybe a "G" before them.  Then maybe a "ZZ".

 

A Different View

A new year means, for me at least, looking at the same things, but in a slightly different way.  For most of us, nothing's really changed from 11:59pm to 12:01am, just the date.  And so, in recognition of our celebration of the New Year, we present signs we've presented before, but from a different perspective: looking down on them from Carew Tower, instead of looking up at them from the street.

 

McMicken Avenue (A two-fer!)

 

Race Street, at 9th

Main and 7th

Main  (Another two-fer!)

Walnut, at 6th

7th, off of Race  (Another two-fer, if you discount the arrows aren't really a ghost sign, but a mural.)

Again, 7th, off of Race

Main, at 9th

5th, near Plum

5th, off of Plum (Another two-fer!)