Nice write-up on this week's Lewis & Skinner exhibition from Sam Roberts in the UK

Thanks Sam from the Ghostsigns site for this post...

http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk/2013/09/lewis-skinner-exhibit-featuring-ghostsigns-and-live-signwriting.html

Photos of the setup for the exhibition - starting tomorrow!

Getting excited now...here are the pics of the space with the exhibition stuff in place:

The Tel Aviv dairy - barely-there remnant of North Carlton's former Jewish community

As a result of the article in the Age yesterday, some people got in touch and told me about the former Tel Aviv dairy in North Carlton - one of the last remnants of North Carlton's large pre-WWII Jewish community.

Today I went to take a look - pics are below. As I was snapping the side, I met the neighbour who told me about the history of the place. She got this from Esther, the last remaining descendant of the family,  who died some years ago. The dairy hasn't produced milk since 1957. The family was one of the first group who were supported to emigrate in the 1880s (along with other eminent families such as the Smorgons). They came from Poland.

As you can see, the signs are barely visible now and won't be around for much longer:

Update a couple of years later:

The dairy was sold last year - and a fact sheet on its history has been compiled by the Carlton Community History Group: http://www.cchg.asn.au/dairy.pdf. Here's an image version:

Kim's pic of a brilliant old milk bar in Preston

Love this shot (thanks Kim):

Tony's 'wall insurance', and article in today's Age newspaper about our signwriting exhibition

 Here's the link to today's article. They didn't use the photos this time (not unhappy about that...)

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/faded-signs-haunt-melbourne-streets-20130927-2ujel.html

Also, here's Tony's special 'insurance' for the wall he has just prepared for next week's sign painting extravaganza:

...and here's an article about ghost signs in Launceston, including an interview with yours truly

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/1777001/ghosts-of-yesteryear/

Nice article on Sam Roberts in this blog

Here's an article on Sam Roberts' ghost sign activities. It's on the blog of a sign specialist from Inverell in northern NSW:

http://www.danthoniadesigns.com/blog/better-letters/

More signs, from all over

Here are the most recent fruits of my phone camera labours: a combination of random stops in the car and things noticed on bike trips giving locals info on next week's signwriting exhibtion (more about that coming shortly...)

CBD

Carlton - Robur sign

Footscray/Seddon

Kingsville grocer - one of the locations where a Lewis & Skinner sign was painted

Yarraville #1

Yarraville #2

South Yarraville...spied by accident: another Robur sign

West Brunswick #1

West Brunswick #2

Kensington. Have snapped the sign below previously...but never noticed the one above. What does it say?

Footscray

Footscray. Business still in operation.

Footscray

Footscray. Be probably be gone soon.

Footscray. Vietnamese fashion ghostie.

West Footscray - another locations where a Lewis & Skinner sign was painted

Look down a Footscray driveway....

...and you see this.

Footscray

The big map for the exhibition is being printed...

Thanks Tony for the printing - and the pic:

And here's the blurb for the exhibition, coming in less than two weeks now:

If you’re in and around Yarraville in a couple of weeks, you might be interested in an exhibition of sign writing-related documents from the inner west (paintings, drawings, job sheets) and paraphernalia from 1915 – 1960. The documents, from the former Lewis & Skinner company, were uncovered in Footscray at a demolition site last year, then turned into an online archive (see www.lewisandskinner.com for more details).

Pride of place will be a giant wall map of Footscray, Seddon and Yarraville, taken from a 1945 arial survey, with the signwriting documents attached. Plus every day from 12.00pm to 2.00pm, there’ll be live signwriting on the café wall by Spotswood sign writing artisan and historian Tony Mead.

The exhibition will take place in a comfortable and relaxed upstairs space (with balcony) at Lady Moustache café, 84 Gamon Street, Yarraville. Open 8.00am – 4.00pm every day from Wednesday October 2 to Sunday October 6. The café has great food and coffee too – feel free to stop by.

More details are here:

http://www.vu.edu.au/news-events/events/the-walls-of-melbournes-west-speak-again

Hope to see you there!

A couple of hours around the Adelaide CBD's west end

....during a quick visit for work. And yes, I found a few signs, as follows:

this one is next door to a brothel, opposite what used to be the rehearsal rooms our band practiced in when I was a young fella (it's an apartment complex now). We used to watch the blokes sneak in in our breaks.

layers!