HUGE Vintage Ghost Ad being revealed in Downtown Vancouver!

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

They are doing demolition of some older buildings in downtown Vancouver, and during the demolition of one building, it slowly revealed the wall of the other building. The wall is revealing something truly extraordinary, An ad for a 1920's Harold Lloyd comedy called "Grandma's Boy"

City planners have revealed that the likelihood of what happened was that the ad was put up, then almost immediately covered up by the 2nd building once construction started on it. After that (like 90 years later) it's being uncovered. I have no idea what they're going to do with it. But it'll be a shame if this gets torn down and demolished. I'm not even sure how it could be saved.

More about this extraordinary find here..

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Ghost+signs+from+Vancouver+past+spring+haunt+still/6198993/story.html

Comments

[quasievil-bunny.livejournal.com]

That is so cool! I love Harold Lloyd. Hope they find some way of preserving it.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

That's a tremendous find! I hope they'll keep it!

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated with ...what I guess are trolly power lines over the streets? That's awesome if they still run those ;)

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

Here in Vancouver people often think of them as ugly but others see them as part of the city landscape. It's neat that we can run most of our transit on hydroelectricity that comes from our own province.

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

They are indeed Trolley bus power lines.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

I love that sort of thing. My city is being demolished and there are a few turning up, though they too probably won't stay in place for long.

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

[gatepromise.livejournal.com]

Hey, this entire post and thread is the coolest of the coolest. Spuzz, I'm digging the crystal clear pic of the trolley bus line!

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those new buses are great! They even made the tops of them look attractive for when you're looking down at them from above.

[pastoral.livejournal.com]

That is ridiculously awesome.

[1islandinthesea.livejournal.com]

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing with us. :)

[christies-world.livejournal.com]

!! So great! Thanks for sharing.

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Several years ago, a building in Times Square was taken down to reveal the ad to a carriage manufacturer. I took several pictures of it, but sadly I lost the hard drive they were on.

I found the above photo online. This was on 46th street and Broadway, which at the time it was painted, was way uptown.

I love when that happens, but I hate when they paint over old ads, which has happened with a few I can think of: "Children Cry For Fletcher's Castoria," "Pray With Dignity In A Zion Talis," and most recently a very old ad for Liberty Beer was covered up on a building near Canal street.

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

That is an amazing find and I hate the thought of it being destroyed. It's hard to imagine they went to all that trouble to paint a sign for a movie that would be gone in a few days or weeks.

Do you live there? If you hear anything about some sort of preservation project to save the sign, but sure to let us know!

[caerfrli.livejournal.com]

There's a book and a blog about ghost signs by Frank Jump

[noluck-boston.livejournal.com]

I love stuff like this. Thank you for posting.

[meezergal.livejournal.com]

This is incredible! I love ghost signs-- this is a beauty. I love looking for them wherever I go.

Man, I hope the city finds a way to conserve this one, though from the article, it sounds unlikely. lileks.com has a good collection of ghost signs, or at least they did, if you like 'em as much as I do.

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

“the ad was put up, then almost immediately covered up by the 2nd building once construction started on it” - That's exactly what happened with Tutankhamen's tomb, why it was almost completely undisturbed - it was made, sealed, then another was promptly dug right next to it, burying the entrance in the tailings. People simply didn't know it was there.

[and-your-point.livejournal.com]

Very cool story. I love seeing the old building ads.

[nekhbet_love]

This is wonderful, I got the chills! That would be terrible if it was demolished! It won't, it can't be...

[almond-cakes.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing about this great old sign- too bad it's probably going to be destroyed. I've watched hundreds of classic films, including many silents and have studied the history of film- Harold Lloyd was great!! I have a great dvd set w/ lots of his movies. My children loved watching his films too. We never could understand the appeal of Charlie Chaplin; we tried watching his films and excepting for THE GOLD RUSH, they rather bored us. My children and I much prefered Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, watching their films several times over.

[almond-cakes.livejournal.com]

Oh, how could I forget?? Besides Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH, THE GREAT DICTATOR is a film we admire as well.

[fanbot.livejournal.com]

Wow! This is awesome.

[wrascalism.livejournal.com]

The building the ghost sign is painted on is slated to be demolished, too. City of Vancouver archivists will be documenting the ad before that demolition begins.

[1geek-queen.livejournal.com]

Cool! :D