looks like you've just seen a ghost (sign)
These days an advertisement can load a discount coupon onto your smartphone as you walk past. But not that long ago, ad men needed paint, stencils, and a crane lift. Above, for example:
Peters Tours was located in the Britex Building at 600 8th Ave. (at 39th St.) from the early 1960s until 1985. They then moved out to 566 7th Ave. and stayed in business until 1999.
Spiritual ghost sign? Not even close. Heaven was ostensibly a “sports bar” but was known as a “bikini bar” and/or gentlemen’s [sic] club. A blight on Astoria’s Steinway Street landscape, Heaven was surely Hell for its female employees. But… thanks to a flood of complaints, the local Community Board denied Heaven a liquor license (there’s a phrase I never expected to type) and it closed!
For about two decades, this location was home to a popular Astoria restaurant called "Souvlaki Source." When it closed, the incoming dry cleaners obviously decided to save a few bucks by repurposing the old awning... but they left behind two ghost words from the original!
The Elk Hotel opened in 1925 and it was rumored George M. Cohan lived there for a while — but it inevitably devolved into a classic pay-by-the-hour Forty-Deuce flophouse by the 1960s ($5 per hour and $40 per night as recently as 2004). The Elk somehow managed to survive the 1990s Disneyification of Times Square — all the way until it was finally shuttered in February 2012.
On Trip Advisor, a self-proclaimed “former crackhead” wrote, “this motel is the scariest place I’ve ever seen.” One can only imagine how many trafficked and runaway women and children suffered inside these walls.
On the side of a building at 145th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, this ghost sign was soon rendered invisible by construction. WABC MusicRadio 77 was a Big Apple institution from the early days of rock and roll until it went all-talk in 1982. Its iconic disc jockeys included Dan Ingram, Scott Muni, Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, and Chuck Leonard — one of the earliest African-American DJs to be on the staff of a major mainstream radio station.
Back then, you listened to WABC to hear Top 40 until you became “too cool” for pop music and switched over to WNEW 102.7 FM to hear what is now called “classic rock.”
Are there any ghost signs in your life?
Lovely! A friend and I used to collect bad signage; she and her husband had a city, client list of ad businesses in the Bay Area, and they always did such a beautiful job. We would each remark on ugly business signs and especially, on bad grammar. For one, I can’t stand seeing apostrophes in the wrong place, as “two bedroom’s,” “our video’s” Eeeeek!
I have written inspirational thoughts at times, and this reminded me of one from years ago about a difficult office environment…To wit:
…..Now I was driving down the boulevard in the early evening, feeling close to tears. The lights on the store fronts were blinking on and, as I passed one shop, my eyes caught the words of the sign, “Printing and Mauling Services”. I burst out laughing and was still giggling several blocks later. Unfortunately, things would be the same until I could quit that job, but the laughter had lifted my dark mood and put it all in perspective. I could manage, one more day…..
Yes, especially the ones on barn roofs while one is driving through the Midwest, ads for tobacco and such or….wondering what stories they could tell, from years of looking down on the Highway. And who was the painter who travelled for country miles to touch up their signs, have lunch with the family and hear of the new grandchild. Humans, aren’t we fascinating….
Here in small town GA a wall has been saved with old painted adds. Even though I see them frequently, I only remember the one for baking grease. The other has a horse on it but is barely readable anymore, probably quite old.
As a teen in Belgium I disliked the Dutch and Flemish music scene and mostly listened to the pirate stations, which had to close down in the 70s, and th AFNshape, which diuring the weekends had American music. During the week they did more talk shows.