It is strange that only the upper part of this ghost sign has been painted over.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, a warung is a family-owned business. The term often applies to small shops that sell cigarettes, candy, bottled drinks and a few basic products, to cafes, or to restaurants. At this warung in Penestanan, a hamlet just to the west of Ubud, Bali's "cultural capital", there was certainly more than just cold drinks on offer. Indeed makan (litterally "to eat" or "eating") would suggest some food of some sort was also available, maybe some bakso ayam (chicken noodle soup), some nasi goreng (fried rice), or some mie goreng (fried noodles).
Location: Penestanan, Ubud, Bali / Pictures taken in June 2013
Could this former hotel in the heart of Habana Vieja have been the Nueva Luz? This particular hotel on Calle de la Amargura was mentioned in 1959 by famous Argentine writer and journalist Rodolfo Walsh in the article "Calle de la Amargura número 303" about Jean Pasel. Pasel, whose real name was Juan Carlos Chidichimo, was an Argentine war correspondent. Persecuted for his progrssive views by many Latin American governments, he joined an expedition to overthrow the Haitian dictator François Duvalier. Most of the rebels, including Pasel, were killed on a beach shortly after landing. In the article Walsh writes that Pasel owed the hotel US$58 and had had to leave part of his belongings there as a guarantee.
Location: Calle de la Amargura, Havana / Pictures taken in April 2010
The lower part of the advert is now hidden by the box with the extractor fans (click here to see a picture of the full sign). As a result the responsibility message that the alcohol industries agreed to include in its advertisement has disappeared.
In Tennesse | Old No. 7 Brand Tenessee Whiskey | At The Distillery | ||
Location: Adderley Street / Pictures taken in May 2012
Location: High Street Deritend / Picture taken in May 2012
In spite of its relative simplicity, this ghost sign is quite attractive with its blue letters slowly turning white.
Location: Forest Hill Road / Pictures taken in August 2012
Opened in 1982, this venue offers locals and visitors to the seaside town a good range of drinks and food. Live music is occasionally performed as well.
Note the arrow was originally straight. This was certainly not the intended design and when the sign writer realised it, he modified it straight away.
Location: High Street, Swanage, Dorset / Pictures taken in October 2011
According to the list established by the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Sachsen (Saxony's Office for the Preservation of Momuments and Historic Buildings) the building at Roßthaler Straße 1 dates from around 1870. Back then this residential block was located on the northern bank of the Weißeritz, a short tributary of the Elbe which ran through the Wilsdruffer Vorstadt neighbourhood, to the north west of the inner city.
However at the end of the 19th century, the authorities in Dresden decided to modify the lower course of the Weißeritz as the river was prone to flood. Therefore when the railway tracks between Dresden Hauptbahnhof (Dresden Central station) on the left bank of the Elbe and Dresden-Neustadt station on the opposite bank were relaid, it was diverted further north by means of a canal in order to avoid further floodings and damage to the railway arches. The earth excavated during the works was used to fill in the river bed. The current Marienbrücke of the railway stands roughly at the former confluence of the Weißeritz and the Elbe.
Following these works the street took its current appearance and in 1903 was named Roßthaler, after Roßthal, by then a small village 5 km southwest of Dresden city centre. I don't know when this residential block was transformed into a hotel but if the Hotel Roßhaler Hof was the first one there it can be assumed this was after 1903.
Indeed there is no information on the web about this hotel. There may be something in the book Die Wilsdruffer Vorstadt-Seevorstadt West, part of the excellent series Aus der Geschichte eines Dresdner Stadtteils, but it was unavailable last time I was in Dresden.
Unfortunately the building has been empty for two decades at least (a picture taken in 1992 shows it was already abandoned) and its future is uncertain. Indeed even though the former Roßthaler Hof and the buildings next door are listed, in 2006 surveyors recommended they be demolished on the grounds that they were structurally unsound and the cost of restoring them would be far too high. Nothing was done straight away but in 2010 in spite of the concerns of the Linke (The Left) and the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance '90/The Greens) groups on the council about the future of the Roßthaler Straße buildings, the mayor confirmed they would be demolished. This was not the end though as Bündnis 90/Die Grünen challenged the measure and this bought time for a private investor to be found who agreed to finance the restoration of the buildings at Roßthaler Straße 1 and 2 (number 2 is on the left on the pictures above) and Schweriner Straße 63 (on the right. The entrance is just round the corner, hence the different street address).
Apart from those for the Hotel Roßthaler Hof, ghost signs for the shipping company Julius Krümling can also be seen on the façade. The company was founded in Magdeburg in September 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War, by Prussian sea captain Julius Krümling. It became rapidly an important shipping company, with offices in Hamburg, Stettin (present-day Szczecin, in Poland), Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, in Poland), Berlin, Breslau (present-day Wrocław, in Poland), Dresden, Hannover, Duisburg-Ruhrort and Rotterdam. It operated a fleet of steamships (16 at least), motor boats, tugboats, and barges that carried goods not only along the Elbe, the Rhine and the canals of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium but also towards the harbours of East Prussia and of other countries surrounding the Baltic Sea.
In 1925 the name of the company was changed from Julius Krümling to Reederei A. G. (vormals Julius Krümling). The deep economic crisis that hit Germany in the immediate aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street crash dealt it a fatal blow. It was declared bankrupt in 1930 and its properties were seized.
This ghost sign was certainly painted not long after Julius Krümling was registered in 1914. Did the company have its offices while the hotel was open? Or did it precede or came after the hotel?
Click on the pictures below for an enlarged version.
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Ghost signs can also be found above the ground floor windows and entrance. This part was painted on a couple of occasions. Unfortunately I haven't managed to decipher everything.
The first picture below shows the complete façade, reconstituted by stitching seven pictures together. The following ones show parts of it. Click on each to enlarge.
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Apart from the palimpsest that includes Hausschlachterei (Butcher's) above the door, traces of other painted signs can be seen by the entrance to the building but only the two on the left pillar can still be read. As they overlap, one was painted before the other but it is hard to tell which one came first.
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 Fremdenglocke [Doorbell] |
The word Fremdenglocke is mostly found in texts from the 19th and early 20th centuries (and obviously on this ghost sign!) and could be translated either as doorbell or visitors' bell.
Finally two ghost signs can be read between some of the windows. As vegetation grows in front of the second one, two pictures were needed to get it all.
 Zimmer [Bedrooms] |
 [Garden] |
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This last ghots sign looks remarkably recent, or at least less old than all the others. It may well date from the GDR period.
Next time I'll be in Dresden I'll try to go and check whether the building that housed the offices of Julius Krümling and the Hotel Roßthaler Hof is still standing and if the restoration work supposed to be carried out by the private investor has been sympathetic to the ghost signs on the façade. If not all that would be left of them would be some pictures.
Location: Roßthaler Straße, Dresden, Sachsen / Pictures taken in October 2011
| Antiguo Café y Billares | Antiguo Café y ... |
As the signs painted on the pillar refer to the former (antiguo) cafe and billiards, one can assume they date from around 1929, when the cafe became a restaurant.
Under the Moreras the Restaurante de las 7 Puertas became the haunt of politicians, journalists, artists and other famous people, attracted by its famous arroz parellada. However by the late 1930s the restaurant was in decline. Needless to say the Civil War and its heavy toll on the Catalan capital played a major part. In 1942, a group of aficionados convinced Paco Parellada, the owner of a famous restaurant in the small Catalan town of Granollers, to take control of the Restaurante de las 7 Puertas. Since then it has been one of Barcelona's most popular restaurants, well worth a visit for its signature dish, the paella parellada.
To find out more about The Restaurante de las 7 Puertas and its history, you can visit its very good website.
Location: Passeig Isabel II / Pictures taken in October 2011
Location: Rue Neuve, Blaye, Gironde / Picture taken in May 2012
| Bière Limonade | Café du Centre | Vins Liqueurs |
One can imagine how busy it must have been on Bastille Day, with flags hanging from the windows and maybe an orchestra playing nearby.
Location: Avenue des Côtes de Bourg, Prignac-et-Marcamps, Gironde / Pictures taken in May 2012
The particular style of the central part of this ghost sign suggests it was painted in the first couple of decades of the 20th century if not slightly earlier. Some letters are reminiscent of those of the vannerie ghost sign in Cognac (15th picture).
| Hôtel des Acacias Tenu par A. Boyer Noces & banquets | |
| Salle de danse et billard | |
Actually 'Salle de danse and billard' was painted over two earlier signs. The original one read:
The shadows made strange patterns on the façade that day.
Location: Rue Nationale, Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde / Pictures taken in May 2012
The owners later stopped selling groceries to offer refreshments only as the second version of this ghost sign implies. The original sign included drawings of a bunch of grapes and a vine leaf in the bottom left and right corners.
As for the name of the owners of this refreshment room, a comedy writer could not have found a better one: Verdeau. In French it is pronounced exactly as 'verre d'eau,' or 'glass of water.'
Location: Cours Georges Clémenceau, Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde / Pictures taken in May 2012
Cubzac-les-Ponts owes part of its name to the three bridges over the River Dordogne. While the vast majority of drivers take the one of the A10 motorway, driving over the Eiffel Bridge, an elegant and impressive piece of engineering, is much more pleasant. Coming from Bordeaux, it also has the advantage of taking people straight into the small town of Cubzac-les-Ponts, where the first ghost sign of this series can be seen.
Located near the northern end of town, this ghost sign was painted for drivers coming from the north. Indeed the hotel and restaurant advertised on this wall were in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, on the southern bank of the Dordogne. The building still exists, with 'Hotel-Restaurant Chez Anatole' painted across the façade, although it is no longer a hotel. Unfortunately in the absence of hard shoulder and with cars just behind us, it was impossible to stop to take a picture. Maybe I will be luckier next time I fly to Bordeaux and we take this route to go home.
The small hotel and restaurant 'Chez Anatole' was founded by Anatole Coulon. Coulon fought during the First World War and may have opened his business upon his return from the trenches. He was succeeded by his son Claude, born in 1918. The hotel and restaurant may have closed down when he retired.
There was another sign painted on this wall but I cannot identify it.
Location: Avenue de Paris, Cubzac-les-Ponts, Gironde / Pictures taken in May 2012
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