On the corner of Central Ave and Shurtleff Street in Chelsea is this set of bizarre double ghost signs. Each square has 2 ads from different time periods overlaying each other. On the left is “You’ll go for Y-KOF cough syrup” combined with “Visit our Fountain”. On the right is “Sold Drug Counters” covering an old Coca-Cola ad.
This great neon sign and old-school clock sit atop a two-piece dining car known as Kelly’s Diner in Somerville.
There’s no shortage of Coke ghost signs in the city and this one resides on the side of a brownstone on the corner of Rutland Square and Columbus Ave in the South End. Strangely enough it’s paired up with another aging painted sign on the same wall – a vintage logo of longtime rival Pepsi.
Before the original Boston Garden was demolished and replaced by the current @TDGarden 1995, this sign graced the exterior on the Causeway Street side. It was preserved and now resides inside the building behind the bar in the Legends Club.
Villa Francesca is another one of those great Italian restaurants in in the North End and has one of the largest painted signs in the city. This well-hidden 4-story-tall beauty is tucked into the left side of the building and is blocked from view if you are walking from Hanover Street.
Along Cummins Highway in the heart of Mattapan, this Model Cleansers ghost sign is easy to miss because it faces an alley.
Suspension Specialists was was originally established by George Arcand in 1908, and was primarily a blacksmith shop fixing suspensions on horse carriages. They are still around servicing vehicles of all sizes, and sporting a classic red sign with a great sharp-angled typeface.
Where everybody knows your name.
Around the corner from MIT in Cambridge is Metropolitan Storage’s massive brick century-old warehouse. It’s the largest self storage facility in New England, housing 260,000 square feet of storage space including 1,500 individually locked rooms.
This multi-layered retro sign is the face for this mini golf joint in Saugus, but it usually plays second fiddle another tall structure on the property – a 12-foot high orange dinosaur that looms over Route 1.
Painted during a time when doctors apparently treated diseases with alcohol, this impressive ghost sign on Friend Street reads “The Old Marlowe Wine Co. / Medicinally Pure / Liquors / Bald Eagle Whiskey”
Boston is not known for stellar hotdog stands, but Simco’s in Mattapan is one of the few. They’ve been around since the Great Depression, and their retro-cool neon signage looks like it’s been there since the beginning.
Across the street from the Suffolk Downs station in East Boston is Jimmy Maggs “Napoles”, a typical restaurant and lounge, aside from the protruding Piper prop plane with its nose buried in the roof.
The iconic blue trim and flatiron design of Ferdinand’s furniture store still dominates the area of Dudley Square, even though the building has been vacant for over three decades.
Wedged into one of the neighborhoods of Everett and surrounded by two-family residences on Bucknam Street is this fantastic out-of-place Coke ghost sign.
The goal is to capture and post 100 photos of interesting signs in the Boston area. The project was featured in the Boston Herald in August. For more, follow my Instagram or Flickr stream at @pantone356.
