From Pittsburgh to Gettysburg

 We were surprised to find only one ghost sign in Gettysburg.

Must make all those ghost tours I saw advertised pretty dull.

Ghost Signs of Pittsburgh, Part Three

Three, maybe four, in one shot. Can you spot them all?

This one is so far gone, without the zoom, it's easy to miss.

All of these were along Third Street.

Checking on Google Street View, I regret not going down Fourth Street while we were there.

 

Ghost Signs of Pittsburgh, Part Two

Ghost Signs of Pittsburgh, Part One

Really curious what the vines are covering: Sanitary, union made what?

Note the vertical lettering along the left side of the building:

Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco

 

Please enjoy these Mail Pouch Tobacco signs spotted from the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a recent vacation.

The top one is (obviously) restored. The bottom one appears to be an original.

There was another around 131 mile marker, but we were unable to get a photo.

Our thanks to Mr. B. Johnson for getting this one.

You can find out if there's a Mail Pouch Tobacco sign near you.

Philadelphia PA

Nearing the End

Our tour of Philadelphia is nearly complete.

And we've saved the best for last.

This ain't it.

And we should point out the Inquirer is still publishing, just not at this facility.

Two Ends of the Same Building

So you can see the signs on both ends.

In the Callowhill neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Mystery Solved

Growing up in the Midwest, Alco meant a chain of discount stores.

They went out of business in 2015, and didn't have a presence in Philadelphia anyway.

As it turns out, Alco stood for Arnold, Louchheim & Company.

And leave it to another ghost sign hunter to find the history for us.

Callowhill

North of downtown Philly, er, Center City, and north of Chinatown 

is the neighborhood of Callowhill.

It's mostly industrial buildings that are being given new life as lofts.

And thusly, there's no shortage of ghost signs here.

One and a Half Plus One and a Half

On the right, an engraved sign.

On the left, half a sign.

Presumably, they put the windows in later, and repainted the sign.

More from Philly

Center City

What surprised me most about Philadelphia was the amount of retail in the downtown, or, as they call it, Center City.

Yes, that's a Target store in the foreground.

It's almost as if they haven't received word that Amazon and the Internet have killed brick and mortar stores.

Kidding aside, it does make for a vibrant downtown or city center.

Half Hidden

Forget About It, Jake

It's Chinatown.

Screamin' Phillies

We did not intend to capture ghost signs with promotional banners featuring an open-mouthed Phillies player in the foreground.

But it happened.

Jewelers' Row

So named because there are a lot of jewelers there.

Still in Philly

Note the mostly ivy-covered sign near the bottom.

Sunrise over Broad Street

Philly Cheesesteak

Yes, when we were in Philadelphia, we had a cheesesteak.

No, it wasn't at Wendy's or Spicy Memory.