© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
Great Southwestern Railroad & Mechanical – Pecos, Tx – Part Two
Ghost signs, ghost ads & other phantoms
Great Southwestern Railroad & Mechanical – Pecos, TX – Part One
The R.J. Gunning Co. (Chicago) – Greatest of… At the Druggist – Cincinnati, OH
© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
R. J. Gunning founded a firm in Chicago in 1873, while Thomas Cusack began competing against Gunning there in 1875 (Presbry 1929, p. 501). 0. J. Gude organized a billposting firm in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in 1878. The latter three companies soon became and remained for many years the leading outdoor advertising firms in the nation. – Donald W. Hendon and William F. Muhs (1985) ,”Origin and Early Development of Outdoor Advertising in the United States”, in SV – Historical Perspective in Consumer Research: National and International Perspectives, eds. Jagdish N. Sheth and Chin Tiong Tan, Singapore : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 309-313. [https://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=12166]
May, Stern & Co. – Furniture & Carpeting – Cash or Credit – Cincinnati, OH
© Frank H. Jump
In 1906 Spiegel’s mail order sales were nearly $1 million, far exceeding anyone’s expectations. To handle the overwhelming success of the mail order operation, a new company—Spiegel, May, Stern and Company—was formed, allowing the Spiegel House Furnishings Company to devote its limited resources to conventional retailing, rather than assume the debts associated with building up the mail order segment. – Wikipedia
cropped from larger ad below – Spiegel, May, Stern, & Co. Newspaper Advertisement in The Los Angeles Herald (May 10, 1908)
The Los Angeles Herald (May 10, 1908)
1958 Spiegel Catalog Cover, open source from the Spiegel Website and Facebook group. They give open license to use on-line. – Wikipedia
Pueblo Auto Parts & Tire Co – Bernstein Bros. – Pueblo, CO – Featured Fade (& Repaint) – Vance Bass
© Vance Bass
© Vance Bass
Hi, Frank,
Here are a couple of shots from Pueblo Colo. The first is one I took in 2003 of a gorgeous sign I thought might be destroyed, judging by the construction tape, dumpster, etc. The second photo is from 2005, showing the repaint. I’m not sure it’s an improvement, as the faded version was in quite good condition, but at least they recognized that it’s worth keeping. – Vance Bass
Erected in 1882 and owned by Eugene Diekman, this building housed Pueblo Auto Parts in 1889 then the Bernstein Bros. Auto Parts and Tires in the early 1900s. – Waymarking dot com
N 38° 16.132 W 104° 36.44113S E 534347 N 4235719
King Bee Hats – Wrigley’s Spearmint Pepsin Gum, et. al – St. Louis, MO
June 1999 © Frank H. Jump
July 2015 © Frank H. Jump
Likely the largest existing wall sign in St. Louis, this beauty sits on the west side of what was originally the King-Brinsmade Mercantile Company and is now the King Bee Lofts. Several fading ads adorn the vast brick face, some of them partially overlapping others, having been painted at different times. From top to bottom,ad copy reads “King Bee Hats – King-Brinsmade Merc. Co.” “Wrigley’s Spearmint Pepsin Gum – Trade Mark Registered – The Flavor Lasts” and, within the pointing arrow, “Buettner’s – Seventh and Washington – Home Furnishings – Arrow Stamps.” To the right of Buettner’s is a barely legible ad for “Anti-Kamnia Tablets – Ask For A-K Tablets.” – Hats, Shoes and Overalls – Wm. Stage- The Painted Ad
Back in 1999 when I was already an Internet sensation with the Fading Ad Campaign website, I met Wm. Stage on a cross-country tour while driving a misguided friend back to New York from Santa Fe. Stage was very generous with his knowledge of signs and locations in his domain of St. Louis. We slept on his couch the evening we met and he sent me out on a photo expedition the next morning. This was one of the walls he recommended I shoot and one of the few left untouched in the last sixteen years.
Sun Chun Mei 1 – Chinese Restaurant – Closed Over Six Years – West Village, NYC
June 2015 © Frank H. Jump
I remembering coming to eat at Sung Chun Mei 1 after ACT UP meetings in the late 80s. Enzo and I would go there on occasion when in the Village. We happened upon it again after the LGBT Pride NYC and it looked so perpetually closed. I could remember the last time we were there. Pork and string beans in a brown sauce. Pan fried dumplings. Cold noodle with sesame sauce. Eggplant with garlic sauce. I found this article that mentions it called No Longer Driving the Culture, is the Village Now “a Geography of Nowhere?” in the Washington Square Park Blog where Catherine says:
I knew Sung Chun Mei, the restaurant referenced in the article as closed and sitting shuttered for six years (picture above), well. It was a vibrant thriving business, a Chinese restaurant I considered my “go to” place to order dinner often. It is hard for me to even think of it as closed.
Jeremiah Moss references Sung Chun Mei more recently on September 28th in his Vanishing NY Blog. Living in Brooklyn, working in Brooklyn – I am so out of touch with Manhattan anymore. So much is changing in Flatbush, I find it hard to keep up with the changes and harder still to keep up with what isn’t changing beyond my immediate horizon.
