Detroit Nocture

The Electric Irons sign is in the lower left hand corner of the Hartz Building.

And the Simmons and Clark sign may not be a ghost, or faded, but it's beautiful.

And always remember: If you see a ghost sign on one side of a building, there's a good chance there someone on another side too.

The Motor City

Ignore the iPhone ad. Look above it.

More Motown

Detroit, Rock City

On a recent excursion north to visit a friend, we ventured across the border into what some people refer to as "that state up north."

Mr. M. Walker took us into Detroit's Greektown for a couple of hours of imbibing, and ghost sign hunting.

Nigh impossible to see in this photo, but the signature on the lower left of this lovely layered sign is from Walker & Co.  Ironic, considering our guide was Mr. M. Walker.

More to come...

From Michigan to Texas

Submitted by Mr. B. Johnson as he patrols San Antonio, Texas.

A cursory Google search turned up no hard evidence of this business, but plenty of stories of furniture made in "Furniture City" and exported to San Antonio.

In the meantime, please peruse our inventory from Michigan.

And So We Bid Farewell to the Furniture City

This magical, mystical, mostly empty city of glorious ghost signs.

But fret not.  'Though summer be nearly over, we have more finds from you, while you vacationed across this great land.

Near the End of the Road

Faded almost beyond recognition...

In the lower right, we can see "HOUSE", and in the upper right, "WARE".  Maybe you can see more.

We were wrong about there being plenty more signs from our excursion to Grand Rapids.  The stockpile is almost empty, and then we'll return to Cincinnati, and feature a few more reader submissions.

End of the Road

This is not the end of our Grand Rapids tour, though. Oh, no.  Plenty more to come.

Everything featured this week has been in the same area.  All of these signs are visible with just a few steps.

A Most Unusual Ghost Sign

Most ghost signs I've seen have big block letters, making them easy to read at a distance.

But this one, in downtown Furniture City, for a furniture company, has a stylized font.

Surplus

Surplus Office Furniture,

Downtown Grand Rapids

We said earlier that we found enough ghost signs here to fill up the month of July.

Truth be told, the GR feature will likely continue well into August.

It's really a fantastic place for ghost sign hunting.

Rubbers & Toys

Yes, we do believe that says "Rubbers", which is more interesting the more you look at the other sides of this building.

But first...

Experience has taught us to look at different sides of a structure.  

If there's one ghost sign, there may be others.

Wait a sec.  Zoom in.  On the side, the building advertises rubbers, but on the back...

Yes, toys.

Oh, Grand Rapids.

10-4 Good Buddy

Downtown Grand Rapids.

Harris

Please ignore the plumber butt.

Sheltered

Our assistant in Grand Rapids, Miss A. Birky was particularly enamored with this one, blocked by the solid wall of a parking garage.

And if you look closely, there's a couple more signs farther back.

At least they're protected from the elements, and when that parking garage comes down, they'll still be there.

New Over Old

As mentioned yesterday, there are a lot of new buildings in downtown Grand Rapids, and some of the ghost signs suffer for it.

Another example tomorrow.

Downtown Furniture City

For the rest of the month of July, our ghost signs will be from Downtown Grand Rapids.

We were amazed at how many signs we found, especially considering how many new buildings are there.  But, the City has kept many of the old structures in place, and in shape.

Quite frankly, it was also one of the cleanest downtowns we'd ever seen, but that should hardly be surprising.

As clean and new as everything looked, it also seemed nigh deserted.  Over the lunch hour, as we conducted our survey, there was hardly anyone out on the streets.  One might almost call this haven of ghost signs, a ghost town.

Foreground and Background

In the foreground, you see the Imperial Metal Products sign.  They are still in business, so technically, this does not qualify as a ghost sign.

In the background, there is downtown Grand Rapids.

Next week, our little tour moves into the heart of the city, and ooh boy, have we got some good ones for you.

She's Got Eyes

While we were looking up for ghost signs on a walking tour of Grand Rapids, our niece, Miss A. Birky, found this at street level.

Hip, Happening Nightspot, Part Two

On West Leonard.