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9 products
Fading Ads of Chicago
9781467141284
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%Like the Cheshire Cat, much of Chicago’s history fades away while perched in plain sight.
For more than a century, the brick walls of the city served as a ready canvas for advertisements that married artistic experimentation and commercial endeavor. Intrepid painters planted signs for horseshoers and Hamlin’s Wizard Oil in places where they would outlast the way of life they represented. Since author Joseph Marlin began documenting the city’s advertisements more than thirty years ago, many of them have completely vanished beneath the onslaught of blizzard and bulldozer. From national brands to mom-and-pop shops, his collection offers the last glimpse of a bygone era.
Fading Ads of Detroit
9781467138772
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%Detroit Free Press journalist Robert Allen sifts through these advertising fossils, exposing the gripping stories connected to the Motor City's historic rises, falls and eccentricities.
Across Detroit, fleeting symbols of the past hide in plain sight, behind weeds and under veneers of paint. Demolishing a vacant building among empty storefronts on the west side uncovered the telltale gold and green of a Vernors Ginger Ale sign, preserved almost as vibrantly as the artist intended. In faded red, white and blue, Mac-O-Lac Paint makes an expired pitch to passersby on Gratiot near Eastern Market. On the east side, Mohawk Rock and Rye still declares itself the World's Finest! Carhartt, Stroh's and Faygo appear in odd, deserted places.
Fading Ads of Indiana
9781467170949
Regular price $26.99 Sale price $20.24 Save 25%The businesses are mostly gone, but these Indiana ads still beckon
Indiana’s vintage brick wall advertisements—also known as ghost signs—still cling to life in small towns like Redkey and Alexandria and big cities like Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. From tobacco ads to early automotive services, these fading layers of paint in Logansport, Gary, Terre Haute, South Bend, and beyond reveal a bygone era of local industry and bold graphic design. Through striking photographs and engaging commentary, author and photographer Joey B. Lax Salinas captures the artistry, history, and resilience of the slowly vanishing landmarks that continue to whisper Indiana’s commercial legacy from weathered walls across the state.
Fading Ads of Milwaukee
9781467141987
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%
Across the city, fading advertisements and ghost signs tell the story of Milwaukee as it was in years gone by. Near Riverside Park, Schlitz still touts its national dominance decades after the brewery's dissolution. A recently restored downtown sign reminds passersby of the John Ernst Café, a once-beloved German eatery. In West Allis, Sealtest makes an expired pitch for its ice cream. On the northwest side of the city, a sign for Roundy's Foods stands as tall, bright and clear as the day it first went up. Join Milwaukee native and ghost sign hunter Adam Levin as he explores the national brands and local shops of the Cream City's past.
Fading Ads of the Twin Cities
9781467148740
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%On brick buildings throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul, overlooked, fleeting symbols chronicle the cities' past.
Champion, John Deere, and International Harvester still tout their agricultural equipment, and Gold Medal and Pillsbury Flour remind everyone where these now global companies began. Weathered proclamations from Grain Belt, Jacob Schmidt, and Gluek's Beer offer a glimpse into early local brewing. Ads from Schmitt Music and Dahl Violin Shop recall a thriving art scene. Local hardware stores like Welna Ace Hardware and grocery stores like J.H. Allen & Co Grocers and Schoen's Home Grocery hawk long-gone wares through elegant painted announcements.
Join photographer and author Jay Grammond for a fascinating journey through Twin Cities history.
