Sign Destinations
Places to visit for ghost signs.
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Milwaukee’s Ghost Signs Revealed in a New ‘Augmented History’ Tour
Augmented reality is used to facilitate a tour of Milwaukee’s HIstoric Third Ward ghost signs, presenting them as they once looked.
1 May 2024
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Alighting in Astoria: A Permanent Light Capsules Legacy
A wall of ghost signs brought back to life with a permanent Light Capsules installation.
9 Mar 2023
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Recovered Letters and Signs on the Streets of Valencia
Exploring Valencia’s historic signs with Juan Nava and his Letras Recuperadas (recovered letters) project.
27 Jun 2022
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Oslo Ghost Signs with Martin Holm
A look at the collection of surviving and lost Oslo ghost signs with Martin Holm, who has been photographing them since 2011 and runs the Oslo Type website.
20 Jan 2022
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Ghost Signs & Light Capsules in Winnipeg
Ghost signs & light capsules in Winnipeg are the focus of Writing on the Wall, a short film about the city and the work that has been done to document and preserve them.
4 Jan 2021
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Glasgow Ghost Signs Walking Tours: Free Maps
Three walks the reveal some of Glasgow’s wonderful ghost signs.
23 Nov 2020
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The Fascinating Legacy of Neon in Warsaw, Poland
Watch Eric Bednarski’s film ‘Neon’ and discover more neon and ghost signs highlights from the 2020 Neon Speaks festival.
9 Nov 2020
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Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Walk: 28 December
Details of Christmas special Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Walk on Friday 28 December 2018.
14 Dec 2018
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Singapore’s Historic Signs
I’ve never been to Singapore but have always believed it to be an ultra-modern city-state, and an unlikely place to find much in the way of historic signs. However, it turns out that this prejudice is unfounded, as this collection of photos from Mark De Winne, Vikas Kailankaje and Vishesh Wanvari shows. They were featured […]
16 Nov 2018
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Brilliant at Las Vegas’ Neon Museum
[This is a reposting of the original blog post on Better Letters.] Since 1996 Las Vegas’ Neon Museum has put the city’s decommissioned signage on display in its ‘bone yard’ exhibit. It was already a ‘must visit’ lettering location but has now been boosted by an innovative treatment of the historic pieces found there. Craig […]
3 Aug 2018
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The Grand Exhibition of the Society of Sign Painters
The following article is re-posted from the original on Better Letters. This August we’ll be opening a very special sign painting exhibition within the public-facing part of Letterheads 2018: London Calling. It is being curated by Meredith Kasabian of Best Dressed Signs and the Pre-Vinylite Society and builds on her research into an 18th Century […]
22 Jun 2018
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Karl Blaschke: The Sign Man of Munich
[This book review is reposted from the original on the Better Letters blog.] “Signwriters are entitled to their immortality just as are other artists and craftsmen” – Kevin Corrigan Kearns, Dublin’s Vanishing Craftsmen Signwriting is perhaps the least documented of the lettering disciplines; it’s nature is ephemeral versus the relative permanence of calligraphy on important […]
18 May 2018
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The Shopfronts of ‘Paris Re-Tale’
After publishing the wonderful photos of one-time Paris sign business E. Gautier, I was alerted to this project and the above video where the sign makes a brief cameo. Five of my favourites below, but make sure you check out the full collection, including background notes, by photographer Sebastian Erras for Pixartprinting.
4 May 2018
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NE Signs Scavenger Hunt
Following a series of discussions on Twitter myself and a handful of others have decided to run a scavenger hunt to locate, photograph and map the remaining street signs featuring the now-defunct NE London Postal District. It will take place 2-5pm on the afternoon of Saturday 21 April, meeting at the Clapton Hart, 231 Lower […]
13 Apr 2018
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Ghostsigns of Clapham, a Forthcoming Walk
Following my talk to the Clapham Society last summer we are joining forces, with Roy Reed, to develop a walk exploring the many ghost signs visible on and around Clapham High Street. We are currently carrying out a mixture of archival and web-based research into the 11 locations chosen for the walk, and would welcome […]
23 Mar 2018
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Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 4
The list below of painted advertisements in Islington was compiled in the hope that some of those reading it might write in with additional locations not known to the compiler, and in the belief that painted advertisements in other parts of London would make a useful, educative and rewarding topic for those, whether private enthusiasts […]
2 Mar 2018
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Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 3
The list below of painted advertisements in Islington was compiled in the hope that some of those reading it might write in with additional locations not known to the compiler, and in the belief that painted advertisements in other parts of London would make a useful, educative and rewarding topic for those, whether private enthusiasts […]
23 Feb 2018
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Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 2
The list below of painted advertisements in Islington was compiled in the hope that some of those reading it might write in with additional locations not known to the compiler, and in the belief that painted advertisements in other parts of London would make a useful, educative and rewarding topic for those, whether private enthusiasts […]
16 Feb 2018
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Images of Buenos Aires’ Advertising Past
Historia de la Publicidas is a wonderful archive documenting the advertising history of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Curated by Raul Manrupe the collection features a mixture of archival photography, contemporary images of ghost signs, and other artwork involved in the production and documentation of outdoor advertising. Raul has kindly let me reproduce some of my […]
9 Feb 2018
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The Future of Ghostsigns’ Walking Tours
After much deliberation I have taken the decision to cease leading my public walking tours after the last one in May this year. That means there are just two dates left for each of my Stoke Newington and Bankside walks. I will continue to offer private tours to larger groups, students and corporate clients, and […]
2 Feb 2018
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Gardiner & Lacey at the Cat & Mutton
The Cat & Mutton pub on Broadway Market in East London has a remarkable array of Victorian glasswork on display in the main bar (see samples below). However, on a recent visit for a family Christmas meal, my uncle and I discovered the above two panels fitted to the front of the upstairs bar. Being […]
26 Jan 2018
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Five of the Best: Books about Ghost Signs
Over the years I’ve tried to seek out and review books about ghost signs here on the blog. Here is a set of recommendations drawn from these, focused on those in English. In a future blog post I’ll feature work published in other languages. 1 Ghost Signs: Brick Wall Signs in America by Wm. Stage […]
19 Oct 2017
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Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 1
I am conducting a small investigation into the ghostsigns of Islington and am appealing for help from readers of this blog. The map below (view full screen) will form the basis for this, in the context of the following notes. Recently while going through old binders with some of my very early research into ghostsigns […]
4 Feb 2017
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Photos of Old Stoke Newington
Amir Dotan’s excellent History of Stoke Newington project has just published over 4,000 images on Flickr, from a variety of sources. They are well worth a browse, as are his Facebook and Twitter feeds. While looking through I pulled out a handful relating to locations featured on my Ghostsigns Walking Tour. The famous, and listed, […]
3 Jan 2017
