Year: 2007

French Brickads

A recent trip to the south of France was surprisingly fruitful when it came to Ghost Sign hunting. Whereas discovering a new sign in London is something of a rarity, France is bursting with them. There’s something about the country that makes them comfortable with all things rusty and dusty i.e. they don’t mind if […]

13 Sep 2007

Redferns (RIP?)

These great brickads were protected for many years by a couple of billboards, although they weren’t entirely covered.  This meant that some of the outer edges were lost to weathering, cleaning and sandblasting. I must have got lucky that Chris told me about them as when I went to get a better photo on Saturday […]

7 Aug 2007

Ghost Signs World Record

This photo taken by Rick Lee in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA features the most ghost signs I’ve ever seen on a single wall, a world record perhaps? I’m now wondering if there are any other contenders out there? The building pictured on page four of Ben Passikoff’s book comes close and I think it is most […]

4 Aug 2007

Ghost Signs in Literature

Although not published until 7th August the following quote comes from chapter two of William Gibson’s Spook Country. “The old man reminded Tito of those ghost-signs, fading high on the windowless sides of blackened buildings, spelling out the names of products made meaningless by time.” William Gibson, from Chapter 2. Ants In The Water, Spook […]

3 Aug 2007

Gramophones Records (RIP)

I am informed by sarflondondunc that this ghost sign has been erased.  It was just by Clapham North Station and I used it in my recent presentation as an example of a plain text sign which has been designed to fit around the available wall space. It was visible from both the nearby train line […]

2 Aug 2007

Ghost Signs Book (Passikoff)

Ben Passikoff has written a great book on the signs of Manhattan, New York, called “The Writing on the Wall“. He describes walking the streets in order to compile an almost comprehensive survey of the area. This is probably more straight forward in New York with it’s grid-like street layout but, also in contrast to […]

1 Aug 2007

Southborough Butchers

Driving back to London from a wedding this weekend I pulled over in Southborough to take a picture of this sign. It’s obviously been maintained and I like the effect used on the corners.  Like the Vaneers ad it features an old style phone number, this one for Tunbridge Wells 529 757. However, my favourite […]

30 Jul 2007

John Brown’s Whiskies

Yesterday I hopped on the bike and went out to follow up some leads given to me by friends. On my way to the first sign, the great Spitalfields Gillette, I went past three or four in the same area that I hadn’t expected to see.  This is generally the nature of ‘hunting’, that new […]

22 Jul 2007

Literary London

Today Sebastian Groes and I presented a session on Ghost Signs to c.40 international delegates at the Literary London conference.  This is an event run by the Literary London journal and the key focus this year was representations of London in literature. Despite some technical difficulties early on we eventually got the projector working, albeit […]

20 Jul 2007

Guinness & John Gilroy

One way in which brickads are revealed is when an adjoining building is demolished. The standard of preservation in these cases is often emaculate, as the sign has been protected from the elements and sandblasters.  This example from Cardiff in the long running Guinness campaign is in fantastic condition and the question is whether it […]

19 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs Live (India?)

Painting Wall-Ads Originally uploaded by .Hessam In a flurry of discoveries on the painting of Modern Brickads I came across this from .Hessam.  It again shows an intricate sign being produced and you can see the artist’s miniture design sheet perched against the wall in front of his foot. I can’t read the text but […]

18 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs Live (Dewars)

Just came across this on Erniesmallz blog. It’s the team from Colossal Media at work on a creation for Dewars It’s great to see the painting live at such close range, someone has to film this next time! They are using very fine brushes to create a really detailed brickad, I wonder what the finished […]

17 Jul 2007

Pepsi Brickad (Mumbai)

Brickads are truly a global phenomenon. Here’s one for Pepsi, probably not that old, from Mumbai in India. It’s a slightly budget effort compared to some other modern signs.

17 Jul 2007

Fading Signs

This sign on Sidmouth Street in Central London is an excellent example of palimpsest and also featured in Time Out’s original article on disappearing London. However, this particular photo offers a dramatic illustration of the effects of weathering on brickads. It can clearly be seen from the shadow cast by the sun that the top […]

16 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs Live

Browsing Frank Jump‘s blog from USA I came across this great photo by Frank of some sign writer’s (Wall Dogs in USA) putting the finishing touches to a massive brickad. This is clearly for a current business (there’s a web address featured) and is part of the revival happening across the pond. There was also […]

16 Jul 2007

Brymay Palimpsest

I went to meet Sebastian Groes today as we’re doing a presentation at the University of Westminster next week. On my way there I passed this sign in Haringey, designed to be clearly visible from the train tracks. There are two signs fighting for attention, one from the classic blue and yellow Brymay Matches campaign […]

11 Jul 2007

MOT Tyres (RIP)

This old landmark at the Regent’s Park end of Parkway in Camden has recently been pulled down to make way for a couple of new illuminated poster sites.  I wouldn’t rate it as a classic sign but there was something about the slighty haphazard lettering that appealed. Even the lettering on the shop below was […]

11 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs Society/Club/Group

[Update: This idea has taken life in the various online locations for Ghostsigns.] I visited Louis Sheldon-Williams last night and saw some of his photographs which featured in his exhibition. There are some lovely shots including some that have since disappeared (this example can still be seen on the garage on this street). We talked […]

10 Jul 2007

Boots (Past & Present)

Boots – Camden High Street. While browsing some of the excellent Ghost Signs on Flickr I came across this picture by 2WArmy. I think it’s great compared to my photo so wanted to share it. Look at how the detail in the brick has come out and also the detail of the lettering. Having another […]

10 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs Book (Stage)

Ghost Signs – Brick Wall Signs in America W.M. Stage I bought this book last year and was reading through it again today. Not only does it feature some great photos from around USA but it also has a superb level of depth of research into the production of signs, the people who painted them […]

9 Jul 2007

Peterkin Mystery

This classic sign for Peterkin’s Custard, Self-Raising Flour and Corn Flour can be seen on St John’s Hill near Clapham Junction Station. See a bigger picture here. The sign was first brought to my attention by Nicola via the Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising.  She was interested in the company and what happened to […]

4 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs UK Video

Inspired by JDProductions’ Ghost Signs video I had to have a go myself. Here’s my first effort featuring “Loving Love” by Patsy Todd and 14 of my favourite signs from around London. It was made using MemoriesOnTV software. What fun, more to come! Also see the Only Fools & Horses video with a collection of […]

3 Jul 2007

Gillette Palimpsest 2

Here’s another example from the Gillette campaign where there are three signs revealed on one site (palimpsest) in Dalston: Gillette across the middle; Cafe vertically on the right; Sunday… on the diagonal in the top left. There are probably even more but these are the most prominent.

2 Jul 2007

Gillette Palimpsest

Following the previous post on Gillette Razors I was looking again at this sign which I had always referred to as ‘Westminster Criterion Matches’. It is a rare example of two signs on different walls of the same building, sharing its home with my original post. On closer inspection it is possible to make out […]

2 Jul 2007