James Lileks was the first person I noticed who collected pictures of these sort of ads and called them Ghost Signs. For those of you unfamiliar with James, he is mostly a writer (Minneapolis based), but he also takes some photos, and collects and displays all sorts of 20th Century memorabilia – advertisements, magazines, and such, and he has a lot of fondness for diners, black and white movies, 1930s Art Deco, urban history and whatnot. He’s hard to describe but you can easily get lost in his site if you find those things as interesting as I do. His daily blog called The Bleat is a must read for me, and here is the front door to his entire site.
Anyway, I couldn’t find much information about these ads. This is pretty much the most substantive thing I could find about the top ad “Style Undies.” There are a few other photos of this and similar Style Undies Ghost Signs on the web, but not as many as I expected.
By the way – almost no processing to speak of on this one, and the color cast is from natural light.
By the way, I did update yesterday’s post with a little more information about the Millinery Center Synagogue, so please take a look if you are interested.
Brian Furbush
16 May 2011Nice shot man – never noticed those before!
Chris Nitz
16 May 2011That is pretty cool how the ads creep up the side of the building. I also really like that small strip of light on the building as well. Nice post today 🙂
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Chris Frailey
16 May 2011Have to love natural light. The light is so warm on the building. Nice job.
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Toad Hollow Photography
16 May 2011Love the architecture and brickwork you’ve captured here Mark, and that almost invisible sign really gives the viewer a reward if they spend some time with the image! Awesome work, I really love it!
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Dave
16 May 2011I find this type of thing very intriguing, wondering about the past goings much like I do when out on Urbex missions.
Cool shot! 🙂
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Kristi Hines
16 May 2011Interesting way to advertise… makes me feel like those businesses have been around for ages and have a reputation that no modern billboard advertiser could beat!
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Sam Roberts
16 May 2011Great photo! Lots of background and links to other sites can be found at the UK Ghostsigns Project: http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk
Mark
17 May 2011Thanks all for the comments. I’m glad that people responded to the Ghost Ads. Apologies to Sam Roberts, whose comment was caught in the spam filter until I freed it. Anybody interested in more ghost signs should go check out his site.
James Howe
16 May 2011Very interesting subject, love the quality of light and the variety of shapes provided by the buildings.
Jason Hines
17 May 2011Love the whole scene Mark. Great capture.
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Sam Roberts
17 May 2011No worries Mark. These things are a fascinating discovery and somehow seem to capture the wider imagination. Most people I speak to know of one and have an interest in my work.
Tony
17 May 2011That is a great shot, capturing a piece of Americana like that.
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