Burlington, Iowa

 

Those who know me know I don't have many good things to say about Iowa. (It's an acronym for Idiots Out Wandering Around.)  But Burlington looked nice.  From a ghost sign spotter's perspective, anyway.

Heading west on the California Zephyr, we hit Burlington at night.  But, it still seemed to be a potential treasure trove, with lots of old, red brick, warehouse buildings along the railroad tracks. 

Heading east, in the morning, my suspicions were confirmed; There were ghost signs galore.  Unfortunately, they were either butting up to the tracks, while we were moving, and impossible to capture on camera, or, like these examples, were a few blocks away, and shot through the glass at an angle. 

Baker(?) Engraving

The Obvious

 

Part of the allure of ghost sign hunting, for me anyway, is finding things hidden in plain sight; seeing something that is so obvious that one (becomes?) is oblivious to it.

It just dawned on me last night that I've been staring at a couple of ghost signs a couple of nights every week for nearly three years.  (The entrance to the patio at Neon's Unplugged.) 

But, I suppose my excuse for not noticing is simple, and weak: I don't look for a lot of engraved or manufactured signs.  I'm usually more interested in painted ghost signs.

More Omaha

 

All these businesses, thought they'd be around forever, painted their names all over the bricks.

Today, businesses must assume they're a flash in the pan, installing plastic letters that are easily removed and forgotten.

Signy Sense

 

With the leaves off of the trees, sign hunting is made a little easier. I'd been eyeballing this building through the trees, from southbound I-71, and had a feeling about it. Not so much Spidey Sense, but... you get the point.

Anyway, heading north on the Interstate yesterday, I caught a glimpse of it, and the ghost sign, lit up perfectly by the rising sun. 

 

The building is still in use as a storage facility, methinks, and it's an impressive structure.  It's on Oak Street, just east of Cincinnati Children's. 

 

Since I hadn't spent a lot of time in this part of Walnut Hills, and with a free morning, I did a bit more exploring, and did not come away disappointed.  But, we'll save those for another day.

Gandalf & Co.

Back in the Old Market.

 

It doesn't really say Gandalf.  I just see an "AN", with maybe a "G" before them.  Then maybe a "ZZ".

 

A Different View

A new year means, for me at least, looking at the same things, but in a slightly different way.  For most of us, nothing's really changed from 11:59pm to 12:01am, just the date.  And so, in recognition of our celebration of the New Year, we present signs we've presented before, but from a different perspective: looking down on them from Carew Tower, instead of looking up at them from the street.

 

McMicken Avenue (A two-fer!)

 

Race Street, at 9th

Main and 7th

Main  (Another two-fer!)

Walnut, at 6th

7th, off of Race  (Another two-fer, if you discount the arrows aren't really a ghost sign, but a mural.)

Again, 7th, off of Race

Main, at 9th

5th, near Plum

5th, off of Plum (Another two-fer!)