Monday, December 17, 2012

A few signs from Hobart

It's been a mad few weeks in this pre-Xmas rush and there hasn't been much time to document or post - but there'll be more to post very soon.

In the meantime I'm very grateful to our fine friend Alberto for sending me these three ghost signs pix, taken during his recent trip to Hobart:






Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A cute little yarn about Australasian Radio Productions

It's been ages since I've posted anything about Australasian Radio Productions (a radio serial production company owned by novelist Morris West from 1946 to the early 1950s). As well as the Lewis and Skinner signwriting documentsI found at the Footscray demolition site in February (and that started me on this whole ghost signs adventure), I also found a series of books of correspondence to and from ARP - they were found together because both companies were bought out by UK advertising company Frank Mason which ended up in Footscray in 1960.

Anyway, today I was passing by the former ARP studio in Smith Steet, Collingwood - it's now the Travellers' Bookshop - and went in and spoke to the owner. I was telling the story in West's biography of him hauling endless bags of sawdust (for sound proofing) up the stairs to the soon-to-be first floor radio studio, which was constructed very much on the cheap by a then-penniless West. She answered that she had been wondering why sawdust kept falling inside an internal wall cupboard reaching up to the first floor...she hadn't seen or heard any building works. :)

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Latest batch of ghost signs

Some more to add to the collection...

Firstly, Hawthorn, around the Glenferrie Road shopping area. There wasn't a lot to find in this preened and painted part of the world - more hints than vistas of signs:






See the Robur sign underneath the peeling paint?




One of the few surviving wooden sign I've seen



And now for some others:

Preston milk bar

Reservoir

Reservoir 2

Richmond building site

Richmond

Richmond - taken from the car when stopped in Punt Road traffic

Sunshine