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.

 

Travel Season

We'd like to thank Abbey for sending us this ghost sign 

from Chicago, one of a very few we missed on a

recent trip there.

Stay tuned for those photos, and a few ghost signs from Milwaukee, too.

 

Odds and Ends

First, a revisit, as we watch as different versions of this 

monumental sign fade and bleed through.

(McMicken, just west of Vine.) 

Not our normal fare, but this just always struck me

as a really cool name.

(On the curve going up Vine Street out of OTR.)

(On the back of the old Morlein Brewery.)

 

Uncovered

We regret taking our time to revisit this gem a block east of Findlay Market.

We wonder what the graffiti hides.

A little further up Vine Street, at McMicken.
We've had our eye on this for a while, wondering

if there was anything hidden under the white paint.

The overhanging sign seems to be a goner.

And while there was probably something there once 

upon a time, it's gone now.

 

A New Find and a Questionable Find

 

On Vine Street in Mount Auburn.
It's a pretty heavily traveled street, and we wonder 
why we hadn't seen this earlier. We strongly 
suspect there was another building blocking it
that was recently torn down.

Green Street, between Race and Elm.

We have some questions about this one.

It looks to be in really good shape, save the name of the proprietor

being unreadable. Suggests it was covered by boards or something.

But if you look at the Google Street View from 2018, 

there's no indication of a physical barrier protecting the lettering.

And there's no indication of lettering either.

Even more peculiar, the thin rods running the length of the sign are visible

in the Google Street View, as are the brackets on the corner.

And neither the brackets nor the rods seem to have been disturbed.

 So, we're not sure if this is a true ghost sign or a clever reproduction.

Revisits

 Regular visitors to this blog will recognize 

that we strongly encourage revisiting signs.

Here's why.

We'd often argued there was lettering beneath the red paint

here at 12th and Republic. And they laughed at us.

But just recently, those letters have started to become more legible.

And who's laughing now?? Huh? Who's laughing now???

Here's another you might recognize. It's on McMicken, by the Rothenburg School.

The letter has clarified itself to the point where we can now read Bull Durham,

a once popular brand of chewing tobacco. 

There's also the arrow on the right, pointing people straight ahead,

which suggests the writing across the top is the name of a local market.

Could it be this one?

Another favorite where the yellow has faded, revealing another sign beneath.

Compare it with a photo from eleven years ago.

Granted, the signs may not have changed all that much, but the cameras

in our phones certainly have improved.

Lower Price Hill

Along River Road, a bit west of State Street.

The circles on either end were probably logos for Coke. Or Pepsi. Or Barq's. Or something like that.

West 8th. We've featured this before, but this is a much better photograph.