Wednesday, January 28, 2015

A bunch more SA ghost signs - starting with Port Adelaide

Here are some more ghost signs from my recent SA visit.

Anyone who's into ghost signs and in Adelaide should make a beeline for Port Adelaide - unlike other port areas in this country, this one hasn't been renovated to an inch of its life. Not though from lack of trying I hear...it's just that the investment dollars didn't follow. As it stands, the port still boasts blocks of vast un-apartmented Victorian warehouses and wool stores. As with the rest of Adelaide, there are more Victorian ghost signs around than the inter-war and post-war signs you tend to get in Melbourne and other places. There's a thesis to be had in why, but for the time being here are the pics:





Here's a great palimpsest. It's on the side wall of a row of Victorian terraces directly opposite the town hall, and that have seen better days, in the nicest way. Note the large sign for tea:








And here is some shots of the shops at the front. The cake shop goes back to 1870:







Staring inside at an empty shop with inlaid floor:


Now for the rest of the port.


There has been some 'ye olde' restoration/repainting as per the next three...but not too much:

 












One of the famous SA German settlers...Muecke means 'mosquito' in German.










 Old sign, new development





Not a ghost sign, but fabbo bit of early 20th century orientalist typography