© Vincenzo Aiosa
Other postings on the Internet:
- Manhattan Ghost Signs Digital Collection – Otto Luna & Dana Rubin – Walter Grutchfield
Walter Grutchfield
The Dryden East Hotel – East 39th Street – NYC
Necchi Sewing Machine – West 25th Street & Seventh Avenue – NYC
Greenwich Savings Bank – Sixth Avenue b/w 14th & 15th – Chelsea, NYC
© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
Got the best shoe shine ever on this corner this weekend. Took many shots of this sign but never posted it. This one is from this past weekend. For an in-depth history of the Greenwich Savings Bank, see Walter Grutchfield’s remarkable site that documents fading ads from 14th-42nd Street.
Fading Ads – Pickled in Pixels – J. DAVID GOODMAN – NY Times City Room
Walter Grutchfield 14to42.net
The Fading Ad Blog, among other notable blogs on the subject – was mentioned again by the NY Times. J. David Goodman wrote a wonderful article that focuses on what I have coined “fading ads” and the work of the veteran urban archaeologist – Walter Grutchfield of the 14to42 website.
Before I started The Fading Ad Campaign in 1997, these urban palimpsests were known as ghost signs. In an attempt to raise them from the dead, I used the term fading ads since I was wrestling with my own mortality with HIV/AIDS and drawing parallels to these signs’ unexpected long life and my own. I see them as metaphors of survival rather than a spectral afterglow of capitalism’s castoffs.
In 1999 when I launched my website, I realized I belonged to a community of urban archaeologist that included the likes of William Stage (Riverfront Times & Ghost Signs), James Lileks (The Bleat), Kevin Walsh (Forgotten-NY) and Walter Grutchfield – all of whom were supportive of my early online presence. Since then, a wave of documentation has occurred on both sides of the Atlantic with Sam Roberts UK Brick Ads in London and other micro sites in the US from Lawrence O’Toole’s Philadelphia Ghost Sign Project and Jeremiah’s Vanishing NY.
Burnham’s Hasty Jellycon – Clam Chowder Clam Bouillon – New England Biscuit Works – Gansevoort Street, NYC
© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
The Bourbon News – Paris, KY – 103, Friday January 19, 1900
The Minneapolis journal. (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, February 04, 1901, Image 6
Tried & True – a collection of tried and true recipes – Trinity Church, Niles MI – Google Books
Cosmopolitan Magazine – November 1898 – Google Books
The Boston Cooking School Magazine June-July 1900 – Google Books
Previously posted:
- Fading Ad Blog – Burnham’s Beef Wine Chowder
- Walter Grutchfield’s 14-42 – Burnham’s Beef Wine…
- Walter Grutchfield’s – New England Biscuit
- Ephemeral NY – Faded food ads on Gansevoort
- Jellycon is the pioneer of all jelly powders – early 1900’s
- Chronicling America – Jellycon Recipe
A. Steinhardt & Bros. – 860 Broadway – Union Square, NYC
© Vincenzo Aiosa
© Vincenzo Aiosa
© Vincenzo Aiosa
© Vincenzo Aiosa
© Vincenzo Aiosa
A. Steinhardt & Bro., importers, exporters and manufacturers of “fancy goods.” Fancy goods is a term still in use today that was much in use a century ago to refer to luxury items such as giftware, ornaments, fragrances, toys, dolls and god knows what all too diverse to fit any more specific term. It was also used (as defined in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary of 1913) as “fabrics of various colors, patterns, etc., as ribbons, silks, laces, etc., in distinction from those of a simple or plain color or make.” – Walter Grutchfield, 14t042 dot net
Visit Walter’s site for more info on this company!
Sheppard Knapp & Co – Carpet & Upholstery Retailer – Midtown, NYC
9 East 40th Street between Fifth & Madison Avenues © Frank H. Jump
© NY Times
© NY Times
Other Sheppard Knapp & Co information at Walter Grutchfield’s 14 to 42 dot net
© NY Times (by way of Walter Grutchfield)
The Albra Metal Foundry – Aiosa & Grutchfield – Long Island City, Queens
Albra - © Vincenzo Aiosa
© Walter Grutchfield
- Visit Grutchfield’s site for more info.
- The Foundry has since been renovated and transformed into an events center.
