From Dave Brigham:
Welcome to the second part of what is essentially a scam, a way for me to fill space on the blog by repurposing content I created for another outlet. Although, is it a scam if I don't receive any remuneration? While we're tossing around fifty-cent words, is it possible to be combobulated? Anyway, I don't wanna go all Steven Wright on you, so let's just move on.
As I mentioned in the first installment in this series (see December 16, 2023, "Ghost-Sign Busting Around Boston, Part I: Introduction, Inspiration and Indoctrination"), in June of 2020, I gave a Zoom presentation about Boston-area ghost signs to the Historic Resources Committee of the Boston Society of Architects. The committee's chairman, Jack Glassman, had enjoyed Nora McGreevy's article about these relics of the outdoor advertising world in the Boston Globe from October 2019, in which I was featured.
I gave a PowerPoint presentation about these signs in and around Boston, to perhaps two dozen BSA participants.
While I share ghost signs here (and on Instagram) within my write-ups about towns and cities of Eastern Massachusetts, I thought my readers might enjoy learning about the history of these outdoor advertisements, and to peruse a guide about the faded artwork on view in and around Boston.
In this post, I will share photos and information about ghost signs related to transportation, warehouses, miscellaneous businesses, unknown relics and more.
TRANSPORTATION
Let's start in the Automotive sector.
The rise in popularity of ghost signs coincided with the growing American fascination with the automobile. I haven’t seen a lot of car-related ghost signs in Greater Boston, but there are a few.
Located in Newton Centre, this ad for Mohawk Tire is on a wall of a narrow driveway that leads to an auto body shop, J & K Auto Service. The building that houses the shop dates to 1903, and I’m guessing it has been a service station for most, if not all, of the years since. Mohawk Tire was made by the Mohawk Rubber Co., which was founded in 1913.
Also in Newton, I shot this Chevrolet logo, after getting a tip from my wife.
This sign, as you have probably guessed, is gone. The Clay Chevy dealership, which in later years was a Nissan store, was torn down to make way for an assisted living facility.
Even along tony Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, you’ll find ghost signs.
Located in a building currently housing a Uniqlo clothing store and other businesses, this sign advertised both Danker & Donohue Garage and a company called White Cars. Neither of those operations is still in business.
More rare than the Newbury Street sign is the ghost I found in Boston's Beacon Hill, which isn’t automotive, but is transportation-related.
This find is one of my favorites, as I wasn't expecting to stumble across anything like this in Beacon Hill, one of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods. "The stable was constructed in the mid-1860s for Margaret Barker Sigourney, a wealthy widow who lived nearby in Back Bay," according to the Buildings of New England blog. "After other owners, by 1922, a coachman named James F. Burke owned and lived in the stable. The painted sign on the lintel over the vehicle door reading 'Burke’s Hack & Livery Stable' apparently remains from this period."
At the time this sign was produced, hack and livery referred to horses and renting out and use of such. The former eventually became slang for a taxi, while the latter has come to mean, among other things, a car for hire or a vehicle's exterior appearance, as with airplanes.
Until I explored Beacon Hill and researched and wrote about it for this blog (see Parts I, II and III), I had no idea how many of the expensive homes there were once stables and garages. There are buildings of a similar vintage, constructed by the builders who worked on the iconic Beacon Hill homes of the 19th century, in Boston's Bay Village. On the back of a Stanhope Street building I found this series of signs, for two auto body/service shops.
I learned a valuable lesson with these signs: slow down. Most of these photos I have taken while out on subway trips with my son, who has loved the T since he was a little kid. He’s 21 now, but up until the pandemic hit, we were going out regularly on the T. I crammed as much exploration and photography into the limited time I had when my son and I split up for a while after lunch. So the first time I walked down this alley behind the buildings on Stanhope Street, I snapped two quick photos and moved on. It wasn’t until I looked at Flickr later while doing research, that I realized from other peoples’ photos that there was more signage here. So I returned and got the whole set.
Webber Carburetors was located at #66 Stanhope, and Bascom’s wholesale auto supply was at #27. Stanhope is a short street, connecting Berkeley and Clarendon streets, fronting on a small park that is squeezed next to the Mass. Pike. It's a cozy little area, home to breakfast spot The Friendly Toast, a small, unassuming Walgreens, Color Refinery, a post-production facility specializing in color grading, and other small businesses. Many of the buildings in this nook of a neighborhood were once stables for Back Bay residents, and date to the late 19th century.
The look and feel of this area, however, are endangered. In May 2023, Stanhope Hotel Holdings filed its latest documents with the Boston Planning and Development Agency related to its plan to build a 21-story, 300-room hotel with ground-floor retail or restaurant, basically right in the middle of this historic block.
Let's move on from automobiles to another form of travel: Shipping.
The White Star Line was a shipping company that ran between England and America’s East Coast. Its most famous ship was the Titanic. This building in Charlestown was apparently a warehouse for White Star and other companies.
The largest category of signs I’ve found in and around Boston is, as you might expect:
MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESSES/UNKNOWN
I’ve seen dozens and dozens of ghost signs on my treks around Greater Boston. But when I spotted this one in Cambridge’s Kendall Square in October 2018, it sparked my interest in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. I’d been focusing on old buildings and architectural details and not spending so much time on old signs. But this one forced the issue and I’m happy it did.
Kendall Boiler and Tank Co. is a going concern, which is awesome. The company isn't located at this site anymore, though; it's in Chelmsford, Mass. The complex of buildings was restored and converted into office space by PRA Architects.
Also in Cambridge, between Kendall and Central squares, I saw this sign, which I couldn’t read.
This property along Main Street was once home to Squirrel Brand, the nut maker that is still in business, although not in Massachusetts anymore. So I assume the ghost sign advertised something from that company.
There are two more ghost signs in this category in Cambridge’s Central Square.
Now known as the Barron Building, this place was once known as Prospect House, and a business there sold boating and fishing supplies.
Kennedy Steam Bakery moved from Arlington to Cambridge in 1839. Now apartments, this building on Franklin Street is where the company made such well-known treats as Fig Newtons, Lorna Doone cookies and Uneeda crackers. I’ve taken a few photos of this ghost over the years, and had no idea until researching for this presentation that Kennedy Steam was a bakery, rather than a power plant.
One of the most distinct signs I’ve come across, and I would argue, one of the rarest based on a search on Flickr, is this one:
Carter’s Arabin was a brand of adhesive manufactured here by the Carter Dinsmore Co. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Frankly, I’m not even sure how I spotted this sign, but I’m glad I did.
Now I’d like to talk about two more of these miscellaneous businesses, each of which had been out of business for a long time before I shot the signs. Unfortunately, neither of these signs still exists.
Circle Supply in Watertown went out of business many years ago. This building, which dated to at least 1925, was also once home to the Textile Thread Company. It was torn down in late 2014 and the site is now apartments.
Located on Essex Street on the edge of Chinatown, Dainty Dot Hosiery manufactured, well, I think you can figure that out. The company’s building dated to the late 19th century, and was torn down in 2012 to make way for a 26-story residential tower. This building, or at least part of it, would have been a good candidate for facadism. I love when developers incorporate part of an old building in a new project, and I think using the name Dainty Dot in there would have been great. Of course, I love even more when old buildings are renovated instead.
Right across Kingston Street from the old Dainty Dot property I found a sign for a former dry goods company.
While Bartlett Coppinger Maloon isn't in business any longer, as far as I know, this sign is still visible.
Another sign from the clothing industry is located not far away on Kneeland Street in Chinatown.
The last time I checked, this sign – I’m not sure the business name or location – had been covered by a large billboard. This area was Boston’s Garment District during the first half of the 20th century.
Also in Chinatown is this old sign for a medical office.
A short walk away, in Downtown Crossing, is the sign below, which is one of the few that I haven’t been able to decipher -- except for the one obvious word -- or learn about online.
Along High Street in Boston, near where the Financial District meets the Rose Kennedy Greenway, is this sign for Stimpson & Co., a company that made paper bags.
In the Fenway neighborhood, in the shadow of Christian Science Plaza, next to a fake convenience store that houses one of the hottest shoe and clothing shops in the city, is one of the larger, more intact signs I’ve seen.
Over the years, since I've been unable to find out much about Navin & Kelly, I've wondered whether the sign is a fake, created to make the made-up convenience store seem more real.
In the Haymarket/Government Center area is one of Boston's more well-known ghost sign combos:
Bostonia Cigars was founded in the late 1800s, I believe. I'm not sure when it was snuffed out as a business. The backside of this building, located at the corner of Blackstone and Hanover streets, has another faded sign, which I think pointed the way to the cigar store.
Directly below the pointing finger is the Boston Stone, which I wrote about a few years back (see May 22, 2019, "Everybody Must Get Stoned").
Not far away, in the North End, there are two other signs that I haven’t been able to figure out.
Across town, in the South End, is a sign that I thought was pretty cool, and something different than the typical restaurant/soda/furniture store:
Turns out it’s a fake! A person who I don’t know posted a comment on my blog about a bunch of photos I took in the South End. Of this place, he said a friend owns the building and that about 28 years ago he allowed a production company to use the parking area to make a TV commercial for CVS. The small area was turned into a Christmas tree lot, complete with fake snow, an old camper for the attendant...and this sign, which was painted by a few artists. The sign never made it into the commercial.
Also in the South End is a sign that’s confusing, but for a different reason.
Why is there a sign that says "218 WABASH AVE. CHICAGO" on the side of the building in Boston? I don't know. I posed the question on Instagram a while back, and the closest thing I got to an answer was, "Emerson Piano was in 560 Harrison and I believe that was the address of the Chicago location." Well, I searched online and there was an Emerson Piano in both Boston and Chicago, but the Boston one was on Boylston Street and the Windy City one was at 195 Wabash. There were piano factories in this area, so perhaps Emerson had one at this spot. I'd love to know more about this.
Across the parking lot from the Wabash sign, I discovered a sign the old fashioned way: complete dumb luck.
Painted on a building that’s near the SoWa Power Station complex in Boston’s South End, this one required some detective work to decipher. And that’s part of the attraction in this hobby: blowing up photos on my computer, editing the photo in an effort to highlight certain words or pictures. Not quite as romantic as working in a dark room, perhaps, but it can still be a painstaking process. The words "wise one" at the bottom were the key, as that is part of a tag line for Just Suits cut plug tobacco. And I could make out the words "real tobacco" at the top.
Moving on to another Boston neighborhood. Even with all the changes that have taken place in the Seaport in recent years, there are still some signs in that area.
This one is at the corner of Congress and A streets. It advertised Berman & Sons, which was involved in the metal fabrication industry. Close by, on A Street, is the palimpsest seen below.
"What the deuce is a palimpsest?" you may be asking. Dictionary.com puts it this way: a palimpsest is "something that has a new layer, aspect, or appearance that builds on its past and allows us to see or perceive parts of this past." In the photo above, there are at least two layers of old painted signs. I can make out the Terkelsen Building, which was home to the Terkelsen Machine Co., which, according to a Flickr photo I found online, manufactured "spiral washing machines."
I have a "before and after" located in Boston to show why it's important to document these signs, before they are painted over, their buildings are knocked down, or high-rise towers obscure them.
This is a sign for plumbing supply company Braman & Dow (thanks random Flickr person!), on Medford Street near the TD Garden. I took this several years ago. More recently I was in this area and wanted to find this sign and it took me a little while to figure out that a new Courtyard Marriott was hiding part of the sign. But I persevered and found it.
I will not be denied.
How about a bank sign?
Does anybody else look at this and see “Danca Stable”? That’s what I searched and searched for, to no luck. Then when I was reviewing Boston-area ghost signs on Flickr, I found someone else’s shot and learned that this is an old ad for Banca Stabile, a bank located in both New York and Boston that served Italian immigrants of the early 20th century.
The last two in the miscellaneous category are in Newton, where I have lived for the past 20 years.
This sign isn’t very interesting, but it represents a time gone by, as well as a building gone by. I don’t know what sort of supplies this old store sold. Perhaps art. This is one of several buildings on Washington Street in Newtonville that were torn down and replaced by Trio Newton, three apartment buildings of four and five stories. I shot photos of the entire complex before it was razed. That’s a big part of what I do: document history before it is knocked down, changed or falls apart.
The other sign is still visible in Newtonville.
Debbie’s Petland was a Newton institution for years. I don’t know how long ago it closed. It was succeeded by Newtonville Pets for many years, but that store also went under. The space on Walnut Street has been vacant for years.
Let’s move on to:
WAREHOUSE + STORAGE BUSINESSES
A view like this one gets my heart pumping. I know, that’s a really nerdy thing to say. I was walking through Porter Square in Cambridge, just wandering and looking for things of interest. I had no idea this sign was here. I walked closer and made some more shots.
The other one is in the Fields Corner area of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.
As I reported back in January 2019, this is the former O'Hearn Storage warehouse. It is now a post office. The building is actually made up of three buildings: a Federalist-style house built for Isaac Field, and two commercial buildings, including one that once housed the Dorchester Music Hall on the second floor, according to the Dorchester Reporter.
Now on to:
LAUNDRY SIGNS
First, the quiet, unassuming one.
This one is located along Concord Avenue in Cambridge; the little building is now occupied by an architect, I think.
And now the big, brash one.
This big old ghost is located on the corner of Hampshire and Norfolk streets, just outside Cambridge's Inman Square.
Now let's peruse some;
FURNITURE STORES, APPLIANCE SHOPS AND RELATED BUSINESSES
This beaut is located along Friend Street in Boston's old West End neighborhood. The hardwood flooring company Holt & Bugbee launched nearly 200 years ago in Charlestown. The company moved to Tewksbury years ago and also operates in Pennsylvania.
Nearby, on Canal Street, are massive signs for the former chairmaker Allen, Thompson & Whitney.
In Charlestown, near Sullivan Square, I saw this sign on the back of a building on Spice Street.
I’m not positive, but I believe this relates to Medford Appliance Repair, which may or may not be at this location any more.
The final sign for this category, and for this post, is pretty impressive.
Located across from the Bertucci's on Centre Street, this sign eluded me for more than a decade of living in Newton. One day I drove through Newton Corner, as I had plenty of times before, looked up, and there it was. Son of a bitch.
Make sure to check back for the third and final part of my ghost sign series, which will feature old advertisements related to entertainment, hospitality and more.
