Over the past few days, I’ve taken my Nikon D700 and photographed several faded old advertisements that were painted 100 years ago on brick buildings in the Capital District. In a previous post, I showed off the Uneeda Biscuit signs in Troy, the Coca-Cola ad on Broadway in Schenectady, and the ads for RB Wing and Meginnis Electric on Liberty Street in downtown Albany.
Wanna see some more?
Sure you do.
Here’s one ghost sign that only comes out in wintertime. If you remember Lafayette Radio, a stereo store on Central Avenue in Albany, you might also remember this advertisement. The big red arrow at the top of the ad points across the street to 79 Central Avenue, and you can make out the words Albany’s Largest Stereo Clearance Shopping Center. But if you want to see the ad, you’ve got to go there before spring. That’s when all the creeping ivy attached to the building starts to flourish and bloom, covering the ad up like a green blanket. And if you tried to peel off all that ivy, all those roots have threaded their way into the brickface, so taking the roots out might actually cause damage to the advertisement itself.
Here’s another one. This is a ghost ad for the old Frear’s Troy Cash Bazaar department store. Frear’s is legendary – the famous stairwell, the vast selection of dry goods and clothes and the like, one of the earliest stores that promised satisfaction guaranteed.
Unfortunately, if you’re driving up Third Street, you won’t see the ghost ad unless you glimpse it in your rearview mirror. See, a few years ago Troy rerouted Third Street so that it goes up towards the hills rather than going down towards the Hudson River. I photographed Frear’s Thursday morning, and used a long exposure to catch the reddish amber lights of a CDTA bus as it traveled up Third Street.
Here’s one more for the collection. This collection of ghost ads in Schenectady was originally covered up by another building for many years. When that building burned in a fire, the ads were exposed to view once again. It’s another Uneeda Biscuit sign, along with advertisements for the Boston One Price Clothing Store. The star-shaped corner advertisement was for The Star Restaurant, a short-lived eatery that operated at the end of the 19th century.
Now what am I going to do with all these ghost sign photographs?
Let’s put it this way. I may be putting together my first self-published art book, and with that in mind, I’m keeping an eye out for these faded signs. 🙂
But for now, here’s a slideshow of the ghost signs I’ve captured over the past two weeks.
Chuck The Writer 
These are terrific.
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pretty cool, nice job
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