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.

Three Tiers

We often have to do a double take.

At first glance, we noticed only the camera store sign.

It wasn't until we walked by again that we noticed the other two faded signs.

Faded Philadelphia

Empire Building

Philly's Old City

We haven't been able to find much information about this building 

or the glorious ghost signage upon its walls, other than...

... there's an ice cream parlor there now.

Philadelphia's Ghost Sign Project says the sign is for Roxy's Sporting Goods.

Philadelphia

A little history about the building here. Apparently it stopped being a 

furniture store around 2008.

No matter what that first article says, Google Street View shows a hookah shop in the ground floor, 

and a sign advertising retail/office space for lease.

But what's really important to us is the glorious green Society Hill Furniture sign

and the layered signs it covers.

What does it cover? According to this site, a Wurlitzer Piano sign.

And where did Wurlizter start? Cincinnati.

Are there Wurlitzer signs here that we have overlooked or mistranslated?