Little America, Granger, Wyoming, August 27 1938

Found this lovely thing in Indiana a few weeks ago:

This is the kind of weird old-timey Americana I'm always looking for in old pictures. And only two dollars! As always, click to enlarge, there's plenty of satisfying detail in there....

Hatch Show Print in Nashville

Here's the great old neon sign for Hatch Show Print, the legendary letterpress plant:

It's on Broadway in Nashville TN and is famous for having made posters for country music shows, all kinds of stage productions from vaudeville to opera, all with a remarkable flair for snappy design that's always professional but never slick. Here's the showroom:

  Click to enlarge! You'll be glad you did. These small posters are all for sale at quite reasonable prices, and they sell t-shirts too. The people who work there are very friendly (at least the ones who were there the day I went), just make sure you don't let the store cats out when you walk in. Look online at
www.hatchshowprint.org

Taxidermied Sewer Rats, Twenty-five Years On

 Here's what the Arouze Pest Control company in Paris looks like today.....

 And here it is around 1985. As you can see the muskrats at the bottom of the display have been moved over to the other side, and the hanging sewer rats raised.

And here's a closeup of the right side:

More of Cape Girardeau

 Coca-Cola Ghost Sign!

 Stag Beer Ghost Sign!

 Spooky Abandoned Restaurant! Inside and Out!

 And finally, the Cape Wiggery Shop, sadly defunct but with its sign intact.

The Cabinet of Dr. Sweeney, plus Bonus Ghost Sign

 A couple of years ago my filmmaker friend Mark W. Stone took me on a tour of the neighborhood where Dr. Francis Sweeney, almost certainly Cleveland's infamous Torso Killer, had his practice.

 Which building it was is impossible to say at this point, but these were the buildings that held those sorts of offices at that time.

 This one still houses some medical offices.

 On the right, a library converted into a chapel.....

 And here, windows both broken and boarded up.

And finally, a really nice Ghost Sign, in multiple languages (Czech?) advertising Mail Pouch tobacco.

Ghost Signs, Beverage-Related

 The first two were taken in Nice, France in 1987. I don't know if they really qualify as Ghost Signs since they're painted on glass, but the loveliness of their deterioration is similar. As always, click to enlarge!

And this one is from Brussels in 1982--too modern to be a proper Ghost Sign, perhaps (the number at the bottom reads 1/23/68, which could be a date, though in Europe it's usually Day/Month/Year.) 

Alfred E. Neuman twelve feet tall!

These giants can be found around the nation, often holding a giant axe or a colossal tire. This one, however, is the only one I know of with Alfred E. Neuman's head, missing tooth miraculously restored!

 I took this at the intersection of 43rd and Cambridge in Kansas City around 1985. Does anyone know if this is still standing? The film was motion picture print stock (don't ask) which made it unusually hard to scan and correct. Note, please, the image of Alfred E. on the banner above the storefront!

This has been your obscure midwestern signage report. Next: Vintage erotica!

Illinois Haunted House

 After dropping my kid off at camp this summer Mrs. Phillips and I passed by this Haunted House attraction in rural Illinois.

 I imagine that in-season this portasign is illuminated and marked with directions. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe it just sits there.

 "In season" would be right about now. I should go up there and check it out! Or you should.

 Here's the sign you see as you're driving away. See the tiny little car next to it for scale!

That's all I have in terms of rural haunted house attractions.

Dubonnet Ghost Sign and the Magic of the Digital Darkroom

Here's a picture I shot on Ektachrome in the summer of 1983 of one of the last Dubonnet wall paintings. The slide itself is disgustingly moldy, the mold attracting dust, but I was able through the magic of the digital darkroom to get this lovely image:

Here's what it looked like when I scanned it:

Church Sign

 Near Benton Harbor, Michigan, a Seventh-Day Adventist church with a cool mid-century sign.

 That's all for today and maybe for the weekend as I'm heading out on the road.

More pics when I return!