from the archive... san francisco

i went to san francisco. once. years ago. and it was amazing. in fact, it made me want to move there. and i tried, for a long time to move to SF. but somehow, fate always put the kibosh on it. i probably spelled kibosh wrong.

in any case, enough about my west coast lovefest and spelling errors. lets just take a look at these really excellent SF signs. from the archives.

california is so cool for some things...
[but i hear portugal might be even better!]

>n

american legion

what is it with my new fixation on neon?

>n

shoe shine/repair

the logo is sort of interesting, but i really like the simple condensed type of the word "shoe". yeah, it's boring as sin, but i like it's usage. as an old mentor of mine once said, put it on an angle, and it looks good.

i also really like the sheer volume of things this guy does! is he going to come to my house and unclog my sink too?

i admit, this isn't the best post ever.
but cut me some slack, jack, i've got the flu.

cool neon arabic type

i took this in my neighborhood.
it's pretty cool, right?

>n

old subway advertisements

so i had the pleasure of riding a 1940's subway yesterday. and aside from the smell of the grease, the childlike looks on peoples faces, and my excellent flask drinking and well dressed company, the absolute joy that i experienced looking at these old ads will last a lifetime.

i had been to the transit museum before, in fact, not too long ago. but i never saw one of these trains in context, i never got to ride one.

i do apologize for the quality, they're a little crooked or ill cropped, or blurry even in some spots. but you get to see some great examples of early to mid 20th century typographic advertising and lettering.

anyway, i'll leave this post here and just put up the damn pics already.

my favorite i think is the grape nuts ad.
what's yours?

enjoy!

>n

bar signs

here are a couple of shots of some of my favorite nyc dive bars. like my friend marcus and i were talking about the other day, they have that old times square neon sign vibe that i miss about the disneyfied, too crowded, too clean, too corporate, non prostitute and xxx thearter new times square.

that subway inn sign is really cool though. it's got such style! it makes almost no sense. the word subway is on a slight arch, that s is a different style completely, and the inn is in italic. but somehow, SOMEHOW, it all works out beautifully.

and the old town sign. it's just so... to the point! its no frills style fits the charecter of the place just perfectly.

one more note of interest, i went to old town the other day, and noticed that the sign was no longer up. i freaked! but i asked around, and well, it's out for repairs.

hopefully they won't screw it up!

>n

japanese signs

so these shots are also on the older side. but they're still pretty rad. my favorite is the giant smoke. it'd take him a whole day to get through that thing!

as always, if you've got 'em, send 'em!

thanks,
>n

coney island

i took these pics a long, long time ago in coney island. coney has a special place in my heart. i grew up in brooklyn, and for a long, long time in my youth, coney island was off limits. it was a shithole where if you went to visit, you weren't coming back.

be it the subway gangs or the gangs on the boardwalk [yes, they were different turfs] or the rotten clams from the food stalls on the boardwalk, something was going to get you. and you weren't going home.

but in the last decade and a half or so, like most places in ny, walking through coney island is no longer an extreme sport, a place to risk your life. [unless you want it to be. the cyclone is still amazing and dangerous.]

i think its really cool that coney island has kind become noted for its typography and signage. there was that project a few years ago where the dreamland artists club [http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2005/dreamland/index.php] did some typographic restorations on the cyclone and some of the game stalls in and around astroland and dinos.

and they did a really spectacular job!

but all i all, i feel like there's a lot more to see and document out there, before they tear it down i mean. i've done a few "typographic walks" and seen some cool crap, but i'd love to see what you all have in the way of coney island type shots, or any other great circus or freakshow or great american carnival typography shots.

>n

UPDATE
my friend marcus sent along these REALLY dope shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/utensil-ed/sets/72157603535942742/

thanks marcus!!!