Year: 2007

Gillette Razors

Frank Jump just posted this London sign he photographed while visiting in Spring 2001. It’s a classic Gillette ad with the characteristic blue background colour. The sign below is one I took on Clapham High Street and part of a an ongoing Campaign that Gillette ran in the Brickad format. You can see on the Clapham […]

2 Jul 2007

Ghost Signs Film

I came across this film that someone made with a nice music track to go with it.  It looks to be mainly USA signs but I spotted a couple in there from the Kentish Town/Highgate area, including the one for KM Larn and also the one advertising a place that used to offer Beanfeats. From […]

29 Jun 2007

Google Earth Experiment

Last winter I took some of my photos from Flickr and attempted to begin building a map of signs and locations. You can see my preliminary results here if you have Google Earth installed on your machine. You can zoom in and move around and then click on the thumbnail signs for a bigger view […]

28 Jun 2007

Production Process

Click here for some interesting notes on the production of Ghost Signs from the USA Museum of Beer Brewing. It implies that the sign writers (or Wall Dogs in USA) used sheets of paper to create a dotted chalk outline on the wall which they could then use to guide the application of paint. I […]

27 Jun 2007

Panasonic (New York)

Lena found this one some time ago lurking on the Wikipedia entry for Panasonic [Update: It no longer appears there]. It’s a fantastically simple design and a really nice photo from Uris. See the full size image here [Update: Link no longer active]. The information on Wikipedia says that the company stopped selling bikes in USA […]

25 Jun 2007

Mister Furniture (France)

My mum just got back from France where there is a great tradition of painted sign writing. This one is from Beziers in the south of the country and says “Mister Furniture Sauvagnac”. See this website for more French examples.

25 Jun 2007

Vaneers

This is a huge sign for London and is tucked away round the back of Shoreditch High Street/Kingsland Road.  It was painted in order to be highly visible from the nearby train line and has the old style way of writing phone numbers, SHO (Shoreditch) being 746. Out of view on this picture is the 7 […]

25 Jun 2007

Blue Star

Another picture from Andrew Hughes in Lincoln. He dates this c.1960 and says that Blue Star was a national chain of garages.  Also, above the brightly coloured sign, you can see the chopped remains of another older sign on the same spot. The well preserved nature of both signs, the fact that the older one […]

25 Jun 2007

Whitton’s Bread

Andrew Hughes, who is writing his dissertation on the protection of Ghost Signs, sent me this well preserved sign from Lincoln.  The bread would most probably have been made at Whitton’s Mill in nearby Whitton, perhaps an early competitor to Hovis as this sign is actually for the shop but probably paid for by Whitton’s. […]

25 Jun 2007

Dewars (New York)

Colossal Media I came across an old email from Faris that he sent me after he got back from New York. It had this picture attached with has been painted onto a concrete blocked out window. It was on North 6th, Williamsburg, New York City but I wonder if it’ll have the staying power of […]

23 Jun 2007

Thetford Warrens

This picture was sent to me by my uncle who lives in Norwich. I saw it for myself when I visited recently.  It is advertising the rabbit warrens at Thetford and is part of a series of similar signs on this building between the windows on the first floor. The sign writer has picked a […]

23 Jun 2007

Frank Jump

Frank Jump is a leading photographer of Ghost Signs in USA with quite a unique story as to how and why he got started.  I was in touch with him last year and he mentioned a visit to London where he saw one of the classic Gillette signs and also one for a tailor in […]

22 Jun 2007

Protecting Ghost Signs

It seems from people I’ve spoken to that it is very difficult to protect signs from distruction or being covered up.  However some notable exceptions exist such as the Bile Beans restoration project, the baker in Islington and now a judge has ruled in favour of a ghost sign and against a major outdoor advertising […]

21 Jun 2007

Hovis (Haringey)

Further to the previous post on the Hovis sign in Islington, here’s another example of this style from along Stroud Green Road in Haringey. The Hovis logo is different but the principle of Hovis sponsoring the painting of the sign in return for it being featured is the same.

21 Jun 2007

Hovis (Islington)

I discovered this sign at night on 3rd April this year and only got round to photographing it on Tuesday this week. I’ll have to go back to take another picture once the estate agent’s sign is removed but have put it up today because of the story behind it. On Tuesday I asked the […]

21 Jun 2007

Martin Thompson

Martin Thompson is an artist who has done a series of pieces based on his photography of predominantly London Ghost Signs. He calls them “urban fossils”. There was an exhibition in 2006 at the Bettie Morton Gallery in Brixton which I went to and was impressed with some of the signs. I would have loved […]

21 Jun 2007

Derelict London

Derelict London is quite a well known site run by Paul Talling covering lots of aspects of the decaying crumbling city that we don’t always consider or think about. There is a specific section on signs and murals which features a couple of brickads (see above). The Brymay matches one is in New Cross and […]

20 Jun 2007

Colossal Media

The art of large scale sign writing lives on in New York, USA through the work of Colossal Media  A full gallery of their work is available on their site but here are a couple of highlights, one more old school and one much more modern in terms of both product and design. These ads […]

20 Jun 2007

Happy Feet

I came across this on another Ghost Sign blog from USA.  I wonder if the music notes imply that there was some sort of jingle to go with the slogan ‘happy feet for all the family’, perhaps from a local radio commercial? Also, was this store run by a distant relative of mine? Visit the […]

20 Jun 2007

Peterkin’s Custard

Further to the post on Louis Sheldon-Williams, here’s my photo of the full Peterkin’s Custard sign (featured in the Time Out piece). The little boy looks to be of Dutch origin (look at the clogs) but information on the company is thin on the ground.

19 Jun 2007

Louis Sheldon-Williams

  Louis Sheldon-Williams is a fellow Ghost Sign enthusiast and held an exhibition of his photos in 2003. He refers to them as “commercial archeaology” and makes reference to advertising being the second oldest profession.  He has also campaigned for the protection of these signs but with much resistance. Shown here [Update: Image expired] is a […]

19 Jun 2007

Black Cat Cigarettes

One of my personal favourites, this one is on Dingley Road, EC1. It is for an old brand of cigarettes that no longer exists.  There used to be a factory located on this site but more interesting is that Greater London House in Mornington Crescent was originally built as a factory for these cigarettes by […]

19 Jun 2007

Blooms Pianos

I photographed this fantastic sign today after going past it so many times on the bus. It’s just by the Geoffrey Museum in Shoreditch and is covered at this time of year by a big tree.   I had to do a bit of monkey-style climbing to get onto the roof underneath, hence the odd angle. […]

19 Jun 2007

True Ghost

This sign is certainly on it’s last legs, so much so that you’d miss it if you weren’t looking. It’s for John Hirst Builders and can be seen just round the corner from the Dartmouth Arms pub, NW5.

19 Jun 2007