Destruction Revelations

Sometimes... no. Often. No. Frequently. No. Let's stick with sometimes.

Sometimes the destruction of one building will reveal an unexpected ghost sign.

Or at least a partial, as in this saloon hand, visible after the closing and demolition of

of Campanellos on Central Avenue.

 

Gone, Not Forgotten

 

The Davis Furniture Building, a long time favorite of ours, is no more.

The roof collapsed in early June of this year, after years of neglect, and it was torn down.

Let's remember it as we found it: vacant, rotting, and covered in ghost signs.

The Rybolt Heating-Cooling sign here was painted over.

Delux Burgers and Sandwiches

At the corner of Walnut and Court,

A tip of the hat to Mr. N. Swartsell for cluing us in to their uncovering.

We're curious about what else could get uncovered during this project.

You may already be familiar with these which are just a few feet away, or the first photo in this series, which was even closer. 

 

Fourth Street

We don't know what M.R. Sanders & Son manufactured,

but a search turned up a 1950 patent on the name Gaile Terry,

 which appears to be a brand name for women's apparel.

 

The Big Reveal

It seems as though every time there's a renovation project Downtown or in Over-the-Rhine, something is uncovered.

Like these, found on Court Street, between Vine and Walnut.

They've been exposed for awhile now, so we're hopeful they'll be left alone.

We can't imagine what business they were for, but we can speculate:

Shipping? Railroad? Travel?

We do have ghost signs from many of the cities listed:

Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Detroit.

Recently Uncovered

As seen from the corner of 7th and Vine...

And from the corner of Central Parkway and Race.

As the renovation continues, we're hopeful more will become visible. 

**Update**

(It was painted over soon after this photo was taken.)

Hunting

We don't do a lot of ghost sign hunting Downtown any more,

because we've found everything.

Or have we?

Until recently this was covered by shoe repair sign on Vine, at Court.

The Brigadoon of Ghost Signs

Sometimes you can't see it.

Sometimes you can.

Go figure.

This giant HVAC box has another Shillito's sign on the western side.

Gone but not Forgotten

A couple of buildings at 8th and Main were recently disassembled. 

The work revealed, briefly, a sign, seen below...

And just under that roofline, the bottom of lettering.

See what was torn down here, and and in the second entry here.

Also recently lost: this one. It was painted over.

Revealed

In October 2017, a building in the 900 block of State Avenue started to fall apart.

It, and a neighbor were demolished, revealing this beauty.

You'll recognize the May, Stern names; they're so prevalent they have their own category among local ghost signs.

And this piece of artwork is signed.

Leaping to the southeast corner of Downtown and ahead to the late 20th Century, we find this ad for Grand Victoria Casino, nee Rising Star Casino.

It's usually covered by a vinyl beer ad.

Potpourri

Court and Walnut. Most recently, it was a fast food Mexican restaurant. Before that, fast food Chinese. Before that, a corner grocery store, if this Salem cigarette poster is to be believed.

Vine and Liberty. Previously spotted here. 

What's interesting is that the old sign was hung up on the wall, not painted on it.

But still, there's a ghost.

7th, between Vine and Race.

Court Street.

We don't remember. We believe it's on Vine in OTR. 

Main Street.

City Hall.

Race.

Big Boy Reveal

Again a tip of the hat to Mr. R. Salerno for alerting us to this recent uncovering on 6th Street,

between Main and Walnut. You can read more at his blog.

On the upper left of this former Big Boy, there's another ghost sign.

And to the left, another.

Dissected by a shadow here.

When the Light Is Right

New details reveal themselves.

Sure, we've seen this view before, but...

Before, we never noticed this. 

Comparing it to our earlier photos, it was there, but went unnoticed.

We believe it was part of the German National Bank sign.

Already Gone

Since we've lived in Cincinnati, this wall at 3rd and Broadway has been covered by billboards for beer.

Earlier this month, the billboards came down, and the scaffolding went up.

There's no certainty here, but with the blue and white patch in the upper left corner, and what appears to be lettering in the center, we're confident there was a ghost sign here.

It's since been painted over.

Touring Cincinnati

We took a tour of Cincinnati's ghost signs, Saturday morning.

Partly on the streetcar, partly walking.

A lovely morning.

It was inspired, in part by Ronnie Salerno's book:

Which, if you don't already have it, is a must-have.