rustwater, kansas

 

This really is a "ghost sign" advertising for a diner in the non-existent town of Rustwater, Kansas.  In 1992, Plainview was used for scenes in the movie "Leap of Faith" starring Steve Martin.  A water tower still bears the faded fictional town's mascot.  And here, on the alley-side of Broadway Brew, is the sign for the Quick Lunch Diner.  Wonder if Heinz Ketchup paid a promotional fee?

 

Plainview, Texas

2.27.2016



ghost sign

 

Imagine my surprise when a quick search on "Bob Hooper" to learn more about this ghost sign on an empty building turned up stories about "ghost car dealerships"!  The Hoopers, father and son, had the Plymouth Dodge dealership in Plainview from the 1930s to the '70s.  It seems that Bob, through the years, stowed about a dozen or so new cars with low miles in his barn.  After his death his heirs sold the entire collection to Barrett-Jackson classic car auction.  The 1957 Plymouth Savoy two-door

blue coupe with 29 miles sold for $52,800!  There's more to the story than faded paint!

Bob Hooper Plymouth-Dodge
7th and Ash
Plainview, Texas



ghost sign in a ghost "populated place"

 



Crume Gin is identified as a "populated place" in Floyd County but that may be misleading.  Crume Gin is about a mile north of Providence at the junction of Farm Roads 2301 and 788 but there's not much population in Providence either since the school closed decades ago and consolidated with Floydada.  The Crume Gin metroplex also had a café and grocery-- probably closed in the 1980s, although the faded gingham curtains still hang.  The only patrons of the business I saw were birds (and probably other unseen critters!).  If you need a snack on your journey, your best bet is to stop at an Allsups in Petersbrug or Lockney or Plainview.

Crume Gin
Floyd County, Texas

fix it today

fix it to stay

 

The Welch Plumbing sign still bedecks, although not brightly, the brick building at 14th and Avenue J.  Apparently Welch's Plumbing has been in business since 1942, but I don't know whether they started at this location.  The building was built in 1934.  About 2000 it was purchased and turned into urban lofts with masonry walls, exposed steel beams and storefront windows.  In the background is some of the downtown skyline.  The Pioneer Hotel was built in 1925, sat vacant for years and then was renovated into up-scale condos -- and still sits vacant.  The buffalo is the emblem for Plains Bank which has its operating center in the former Hemphill-Wells building -- a premiere department store long out of business.  Downtown is not quite on life support but it certainly isn't bustling.  However it does seem that urban lofts do better than upscale condos.

 

View from 15th and Avenue J 

Lubbock, Texas

 

Bonus:  This building was also at one time home to the Jackson Motor Company.  I deduced that from the ghost sign in the alley.  I know Jackson Motor Company was in business pre-1960s because the phone number is 4644 -- long before the prefixes of PO, SH and SW!

 

 

 

fresh produce

 

Although the window advertises "fresh produce" there hasn't been anything fresh in this building in decades.  In fact, there hasn't been much business in the village since the Folsom man wandered here 10,000 years ago.  In the late 1800s, Folsom boasted two mercantiles, one of which is now the museum.  Today the 57 inhabitants have to drive 37 miles to Raton to shop Dollar General or another 20 miles on to Trinidad, Colorado for "fresh produce" at Wal-Mart.

 

Highway 25

Folsom, New Mexico

8.19.2013

the back of the building

 

Often, the rear of a structure has more character than the streetside.  This is the case of the former ice house in Raton.  The building has been around since 1903 when the Raton Crystal Ice and Cold Storage Company was started.  Over the years it has been a feed store, an oil distribution hub and in 2000, it opened as the Icehouse Restaurant -- currently it is a BBQ place.  Since the ice house was near the railroad tracks, its early business was probably the rails cars transporting foods.  Regardless of its occupants, the barred windows and bricked-up openings, the rear of the building retains the ghost sign of the original business.  Don't just journey down the main drag, explore the alleys and by-ways as well--the backside may be more interesting.

 

Raton, New Mexico

8.18.2013

anachronism

Anachronism:  something from a different period of time
  1.  swamp cooler
  2.  aluminum screen door
  3.  phonographs
  4.  records
  5  a bustling downtown

305 West 4th Street
Littlefield, Texas
4.12.2014

paint

 

Kudos to the architect who rehabbed the old paint store for his office and art gallery yet kept the "ghost sign."  Ghost signs are faded, painted signs, at least 50 years old, on an exterior building wall heralding an obsolete product, an outdated trademark or a clue to the history of the building's occupancy.   I especially like the way the motif continued with the "open" sign, although the window says "shut."

 



 

 

Original Townsite Art Gallery

152 Elm

Trinidad, Colorado

8.16.2013