Main Street Mystery

Yes, we've featured this one before...

But we have something new:

This historical photo which shows what the sign once said.

Granted, it doesn't match what shows today, but it does

demonstrate this wall has been painted over multiple times.

Up on Main Street

Our third entry this week from a loyal reader.  This time, from Mr. B. Johnson.

Our research indicates the J.B. Schmitt company was incorporated in 1882, and is still in business today.

When you have the inclination, be sure to review the other ghost signs submitted by you.

Coda

I swear this was just open a couple of weeks ago.

(Bonus: The greyish rectangle to the right use to advertise a bodega.)

(Double bonus: Spatz Foods has a faded sign too. But, they're still in business.)

Boarding House

 

Crummy photos, for sure, but it's not much more readable in person.

 

Digging Cincinnati History caught it first, along with another sign that's now safely in the hands of the American Sign Museum.

 

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.

What Once Was

On Main Street.  It was the Second National Bank.

(More photos from the trip a-comin'.)

 

 

Updating Now, Because I Won't Update Later

I'm going on vacation later this week, so you're getting a bunch of updates now, to keep you satiated.

Main Street.  You may remember the lower sign from this entry.

We Are Not Alone

I've only glanced at American Ghosts, but they seem to take their ghost signs/faded ad art pretty seriously.  Some great shots, even though they misspelled "Cincinnati".

Right on the front page, in the introduction, they refer to a cigar ad in Prescott, Arkansas, that makes me wonder if this one in Camp Washington is related.

This one, you've seen, in a previous entry.  I thought I'd try a new camera out today, and also post a pic of what's on the other side of the same building:

And this one, at 7th and Main... I've been eyeballing it for a while. I was pretty sure I'd collected this one last year, but apparently not.  There's no record of it in my files. 

Although, I suspect, I may have tried to do something arty with the Quaker Oats sign, on the north side of the Dennison Hotel, and failed, throwing the whole thing away, and forgetting to capture this solo.

This Didn't Used to Be Here

Well, naturally.  Go back far enough, and the building wasn't there either.  However, my point is, when I first started this blog, I deliberately walked up Main Street, to get a few signs that I knew where there.  I walked past this, and never saw anything.  And since it's on Main Street, I've been by it more than a few times in the last year. 

However, this summer, it decided to bleed through. 

 

Wonder how many others there are like that, waiting to fade through.

Revisited

Main Street. You've seen it before.

Below the Rugs Baking Co

6th and Main

I'd thought I'd had all of Downtown covered.  But, apparently not.  And, this demonstrates the usefulness of taking a new path.

9th, off of Main

Another textbook example: I've walked this way dozens of times, and never noticed "PAINTS" until the light was right, and I was looking up.

Main and Court

New Discovery

The back of 8th and Main.

Clearing House

Now, maybe I'll be motivated to go out and get some fresh ones.

Cigar Store Saturday

And a little larger...

 

Anyone notice the fire truck coming up Main Streets, lights all ablaze?

The Ends of Main

Something Old, Something New

Something faded, something bleeding thru.

Meanwhile, on Main