Today I went to visit the new Geelong branch of The Lab, the technology club for kids with Asperger's Syndrome that I co-run: www.thelab.org.au. For the non-Melburnians reading this, Geelong is a regional centre with 180,000 people, 75 kms to the west of Melbourne.
So as usual I put the bike in the back of the car, and, after leaving The Lab, went for an afternoon jaunt through the central part of town.
There were quite a few good ghost signs around, even though much of the old port area has been renovated to within an inch of its life. I wanted to take a look around Corio and other less pampered areas, but ran out of time before it started to get dark - next time.
I should also mention that passing by the vast old Ford factory complex on the way into town, I was reminded of this week's announcement that Ford will quit its Australian operations after nearly a century headquartered in Geelong - the photo below (courtesy of Wikipedia) shows its first model, the Model T, at the launch of the Geelong HQ in 1925:
So soon, the Ford plant will have its own ghost signs, and the local economy will lose thousands of jobs and millions of dollars. Today though, the place was buzzing, although quite a number of shops are already for sale or lease, so you have to wonder about the years ahead.
Here are the signs - a few are not technically ghost signs (since the businesses are still running) but they were too good to leave out:
So as usual I put the bike in the back of the car, and, after leaving The Lab, went for an afternoon jaunt through the central part of town.
There were quite a few good ghost signs around, even though much of the old port area has been renovated to within an inch of its life. I wanted to take a look around Corio and other less pampered areas, but ran out of time before it started to get dark - next time.
I should also mention that passing by the vast old Ford factory complex on the way into town, I was reminded of this week's announcement that Ford will quit its Australian operations after nearly a century headquartered in Geelong - the photo below (courtesy of Wikipedia) shows its first model, the Model T, at the launch of the Geelong HQ in 1925:
So soon, the Ford plant will have its own ghost signs, and the local economy will lose thousands of jobs and millions of dollars. Today though, the place was buzzing, although quite a number of shops are already for sale or lease, so you have to wonder about the years ahead.
Here are the signs - a few are not technically ghost signs (since the businesses are still running) but they were too good to leave out:
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| See the Las Vegas sign in the distance? Oh for a zoom. |
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| From ironmongers to users of steel poles... |
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| Brilliant old shop. Was still Griffiths Books until recently...now for sale |
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| Griffiths has its own painted ghost sign too |
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| No expense spared to create that sign... |
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| Not a ghost sign here...just an awesome example of car park lettering. |
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| Looks out over what is now an empty lot. |
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| Once a warehouse on the port, now Deakin University |
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| Back of the same building |
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| Not so ritzy any more. |
In the past, Geelong seems to have had a thing for bas-relief signs. Here are just some of the others I saw:
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