Wheeling WV

We've wanted to hunt ghost signs in Wheeling after

seeing this a few years ago, from the Interstate.

 

(WWVA is still broadcasting, so that 

is technically not a ghost sign.)

We did not end up getting the WWVA sign, but we found plenty more.

Wheeling has a lot of ghost signs,

but it also has downtown streets

that are apparently in a permanent

state of reconstruction.

(Google Street View photos from a year

previous show the streets still torn up.)

Still, it wasn't just the state of the roads

that made this just a quick survey.

We had a long way to go to get home.

More from Wheeling next entry.

A few more from Indy

We are near the end of our visit to Indianapolis,

and I fear near the end of this blog.

Quality control has gone downhill.

Every entry seems harder to make.

(We read Hotel, but can't make anything

else of it. Although we seem to 

remember reading it clearly in person.)

 

In this one, we see "Taylor Belt,"

and on the second line: "Leather."

South Fairmount

 

Along Queen City Avenue.

What's particularly interesting, is that there's a painted

sign on the brick: "Home of the State Avenue..."

and the rest is covered by the Summit View Apartments sign.

(They are still open.)

On the western face of the building.

Nigh unreadable.

But it reinforces the rule:
Find a ghost sign,

check the other side of the building.

(Thanks to Ms. J. Fiesta for the assist.)

Hello Chicago

 

If you click on the Chicago link in the column on the right, you'll

find our previous attempts at ghost sign hunting in Chicago.

Those efforts were, as you can see, unsatisfying.

Honestly, we were under the impression most of Chicago's ghost signs

were gone.

But, thanks to a guide with lots of local knowledge, 

we found many, many more ghost signs across Chicago.

So, thanks to that guide, Ms. J. Fiesta, we are able to bring you

several entries in the coming weeks featuring the 

ghost signs of Chicago.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Downtown Milwuakee has the Milwaukee River running through it.

And along that river is a lovely riverwalk.

And the Nelson Brothers jumped right out at us.

It was from the riverwalk we spotted this one too.

Check out the signature: Life Signs.

 

Idaho

We pulled into Pocatello around lunchtime, after six hours on the road.

Six hours out of our way just to be able to say "We've been to Idaho."

We were tired, and we knew another six hours lay ahead of us.

So, we skimped on the fantastic ghost signs of Pocatello.

Shooting them through the windshield.

And not taking note of where they were were, or if there were more.

Which we feel confident there were.

But now, we can say we have ghost signs from every state that begins with I.

Ghost Signs of the Old West

On the eastern slope of Mount Davidson sits the town that won the Civil War for the North.

(The discovery of silver in the Comstock lode here in 1859 financed much of the war effort.)

Today, Virginia City's main street is a collection of souvenir stores and merchants selling everything from leather hats to knives to salt water taffy. (Seriously. There's a lot of salt water taffy for sale.)

There are also a number of restaurants and museums.

It's the first place Samuel Clemens used the pen name Mark Twain.

Few of the signs painted on the walls date back to the 1860s, because of a series of fires, including the Great Fire of 1875, destroyed much of the town.

Faded Ad Art Across the USA

In Colorado: we suspect the sign across the top is touched up, but original.

And just around the corner, by Denver's Union Station, (which is a beautiful structure by itself),

zoom in to see some true ghost signs:

Somewhere in Utah:

And in Ely, Nevada:

Let's get a close up on this one:

Not a ghost sign, and not even faded, but I liked this enough to include it: