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Ghost signs

Messages
13,669
Location
down south
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Bonus shot of the front
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Messages
12,005
Location
Southern California
^ Boy, that graffiti on the window on the left is proof that not everyone is going to be the next Banksy. I think the "artist" was trying to paint "Bone Head", but he/she tried to get too clever and it looks more like "Bile Head", which makes no sense to me.
 
Messages
19,409
Location
Funkytown, USA
The first mall in our area was the Salem Mall. Two retailers, Sears and Rike's (local) were already on a plot of land north of town, separated by some acreage. The two buildings were connected by the remainder of the mall, and a third anchor, a Liberal grocery store, was added. Several years ago the mall went belly up and was torn down, with only the Sears remaining. It's gone now, as well.

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Bushman

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,138
Location
Joliet
The first mall in our area was the Salem Mall. Two retailers, Sears and Rike's (local) were already on a plot of land north of town, separated by some acreage. The two buildings were connected by the remainder of the mall, and a third anchor, a Liberal grocery store, was added. Several years ago the mall went belly up and was torn down, with only the Sears remaining. It's gone now, as well.

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I find it somewhat amusing that, in the history of shopping, the shopping mall was a small, multi-decade blip on our cultural radar. For all intents and purposes, the shopping mall was a 20th century fad that started in the 1920s, and all but died by the 2020s. The era of the shopping mall barely lasted a hundred years.

Meanwhile, the "strip mall" design is timeless. American town have millions of them, and they often make up the heart of main street. Heck, one could argue that the design has been around since Middle Age Europe. It's simply convenient to have a block length structure of commercial outlets. The baker is right next to the butcher, which is right next to the candle stick maker. It's perfect!
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,715
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
^ Boy, that graffiti on the window on the left is proof that not everyone is going to be the next Banksy. I think the "artist" was trying to paint "Bone Head", but he/she tried to get too clever and it looks more like "Bile Head", which makes no sense to me.

"Bile Head" is me after getting another phone call from the medical collection agency.

As for strip malls, they're uniquely fertile hunting grounds for "modern" ghost signs. At our local examples, when a tenant moves out they take out the plastic insert in the little marker under the roof of the walkway and turn it backwards. So when the light comes on at night, you can read something like "ylppuS ytuaeB yllaS." Which annoys me because now I have to send away for the hairpins I like and can't get anywhere else.
 
You're not a true redneck until you have a truck body in your yard. We had this circa-1960, 22-foot, Brown box truck body moved from Grandpa's place in Springfield (where it was used to primarily store split-white-oak baskets we sold at craft shows) to "the farm" about 85 miles away. This is stashed behind the barn so not really visible, but it's a nice old aluminum trailer that will be good for storage. And the cost of moving it was 10% of the price of a shipping container ... and I think this is "cooler".

Anyway ...

While stripping out the carpet and shelf coverings that were put in nearly 40 years ago we found this remnant of a sign.

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This will look great in the barn/shop.

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Strohm's Lake Office was at Lake Lotawana near Kansas City.

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I was hoping my first vintage aluminum trailer would have been an Airstream or a Spartan ... oh well.

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