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Ghost Ads

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Ghost ads. As a student of advertising and graphic design, I became aware of old painted outdoor advertising around Downtown Pittsburgh back in the 1970's. These ads are commonly known as "Ghost Ads". I don't know if there are any rule as to what constitutes a Ghosts Ad, but some of the criteria I tend to use is that it has to be hand painted on brick or stone by professional sign painters, it has to show some signs of neglect or fading, other than that any form of hand painted outdoor advertising is fair game.

Most of these images were taken over the past couple years in Downtown Pittsburgh, the Strip District and Lawrenceville as well as in Springdale, New Kensington and Tarentum, Pennsylvania. Some of these ads are still there while others like the Quiky ad have been painted over. The large Coca-Cola Ghost Ad in New Kensington only became visible after the Liberty Theater was demolished. Many of these Ghost Ads are very large, painted on the tops of buildings and can be viewed from long distances, some are smaller and easily viewed at ground level. Some are so faded it's impossible except to the trained eye to even spot them, but they are out there, part of the tapestry of the cities and towns if you take the time to look for them.

Some of the ads in this montage are: Block Bros West Virginia Mail Pouch Tobacco, Breck, Bull Durham, Caesar's Palace, Castillo's Tavern, Coca-Cola, Cooper Music, Crown Diamonds, Darling Shop, Diamond Storage, Dravo Corporation, Fidelity Trust, Lowan & Shields Rubber, Otto Milk Co. Quiky Soda, Sleep-Well, Spearhead Cabinet Co., Shenka's, Standard Life Building, Stanton Federal Savings Bank, Superior Sanitary Shirt Co., The Bank Building, Tom Tucker, Uneeda Biscuit.
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792x1224px 588.11 KB
© 2007 - 2024 yankeedog
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This is AWESOME! Love it