De' Goes Salon, Ubud, Indonesia

Painted Sign for De' Goes Salon or Beauty Parlour in the hamlet of Singakerta, near Ubud, owned by Jero Ketut Sukreni. "Jero" indicates the person (usually a woman) changed caste, usually by marrying someone from a higher caste. As for "Ketut", it reveals this person was the fourth child of the family. According to traditional beliefs, Balinese families should only have three children, whose names reflect their position as the oldest one, the middle one and the last one. Should a fourth child be born, s/he is considered as a "bonus" child and named "Ketut", meaning "Little banana" or "Outer edge of a banana bunch." And if a couple has more than four, the name cycle starts again.

De' Goes Salon

Melayani

Paket Massage, Facial, Perawatan Rambut, Pelurusan,

Hair Calaoring, Perawatan Kakai & Tangan,

Tata Rias Pengantin, Sanggulan & Make Up

Jual Kosmetik

[De' Goes Salon

Offers

Massage Packages, Facial, Hair Care, Hair Straightening,

Hair Colours, Foot and Hand Care,

Bridal Care, Bun & Make-Up]

Location: Br. Katik Lantang, Singakerta, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Charms Beauty Parlour, Kathmandu

It is not uncommon for hairdressers for women in Nepal to call themselves beauty parlours. Hence their rather large number.

Only for

Ladies

Charms

Beauty Parlour

Remember Us for:

Hair Cutting, Make-up Facial,

Massage, Wax and Juro

(Specially for Bride)

In case, like me, you don't know anything about hairdos, "juro" seems to be some kind of high bun hairstyle particularly popular amongst long-haired brides across the Indian subcontinent (but don't take my word for it).

Location: Chikamugal, Kathmandu

LG Household & Health Care, Kathmandu

This large painted sign advertises various products manufactured by LG Household & Health Care, a subsidiary of the Korean conglomerate LG Corp. LG Household & Health Care spun off from LG Chemical in 2001 but I could not find when their products became available in Nepal.

Now in Nepal

Double

Rich

Shampoo

The shampoo bottle on the left is "For Normal Hair" and promises "Silk Treatment" while the one on the right, with its "Anti-Sactenal System" is for "Dandruff, Scalp and Hair."

Cliden

Advanced Cavity Fighting Fluoride Toothpaste 

High-Density

Super-Ti

Hot and Cold Wash

Detergent

LG Household & Health Care Ltd. Korea

Products Available at all Leading Stores

For Trade Enquiries...

Location: Siddhidas Marg, Kathmandu

Jay Bhairabi Jewellers, Kathmandu

Two colourful shop fronts brighten up the otherwise dark street.

Jay Bhairabi Jewellers

Location: Kathmandu

D. S. R. Gold Shop, Kathmandu

With its attractive combination of colours and nice lettering, it is hard not to notice this painted sign.

D. S. R. Gold Shop

Location: Kathmandu

Dental Lab, Kathmandu

Dental Lab

Location: Bangemudha, Kathmandu

Star Dental Lab, Kathmandu

After one week in China, this blog goes back to Nepal for a new series of colourful painted signs, starting with these examples promoting the Star Dental Lab. This one of many dental professionals operating near the shrine to Vaisha Dev at Bangemudha (see this post for more details)

Location: Bangemudha, Kathmandu

Jewellery Workshop, Kathmandu

It looks as if the more elaborate design of the first past of this sign was abandoned in favour or greater visibility. The combination of red letters and projected blue shadows did not give a great result indeed.

NR Jwellery [sic] Workshop

Location: Kathmandu

Santosh Best Hair Dresser, Kathmandu

Here is the first of a series of Nepalese painted signs spotted during a recent visit to this beautiful country.

Santosh Best

Hair

Dresser Sailoon [sic]

(Ladies & Gents) Massage

Hair Dai [sic]

Location: Jyatha Marg, Kathmandu

Hudson & Orsali, and J. Alfred Ouimet; Montreal

Built for Victor Hudson in 1857, the warehouse below included some retail space on the Rue Saint-Paul side. The name of two of the tenants can still be seen on the façade: Hudson & Orsali, and J. Alfred Ouimet.

Hudson & Orsali rented the warehouse between 1887 and 1905. The company imported fine food and beverages from England, France, Spain and the US. As for Joseph Alfred Ouimet, whose company imported perfumes and soap, he moved in in 1928. In 1948 his wife Marie-Antoinette Mercure bought the building. The company continued trading at this address until 1975.

The oldest sign reads simply:

Hudson & Orsali

Something else might have been written below (a few traces of letters can be seen) but I there is no way I can decipher it.

The one for Ouimet reads:

J. Alfred Ouimet
Importateur

Location: Rue de la Commune Ouest, Montréal

Hair cutting and shaving saloon, St Margarets

From far away, this hundred-year-old ghost sign can easily be missed. However from closer several letters and words can be spotted. They tell us that this residential dwelling was once a hair cutting and shaving saloon. Back then, this row of houses near the junction with Beaconsfield Road was home to several tradesmen, including a greengrocer, a boot maker, and a picture frame maker.

The part of this ghost sign with the name of the hairdresser is slightly difficult to read. It looks as if it was painted twice, what could indicate that ownership of the saloon changed at some point. However I managed to decipher only the name of the first hairdresser: C. Wilson. This is confirmed by the 1914 edition of Kelly's Directory of Middlesex, which list a Charles Wilson, hair dresser, at 146 Amyand Park Road.

C. Wilson's
Hair Cutting
And
Shaving Saloon

Location: Amyand Park Road / Pictures taken in February 2010

Gillette and Daily Mail, Westminster

Could this be London's most easily missed ghost sign, or ghost signs to be precise as a closer look reveals two adverts were successively painted on this wall? Every day, thousands of Londoners and tourists look at the buildings of Whitehall from Trafalgar Square. Yet, how many ever noticed them? To be honest, I only spotted them last year. Since then I have been taking several photos but I have had to wait until days were long enough to get a picture of the wall lit by the sun.

The easiest ghost sign to read advertised Gillette razor blades. This is one of many found across the capital. The letters were once painted off-white and the background may well have been blue.

The other ghost sign predated the Gillette one. It promoted the Daily Mail, the conservative newspaper first published in May 1896.

Gillette British Made Razor Blades

Daily Mail

The building was designed in 1904 by Treadwell and Martin in a free Jacobethan - late Gothic style typical of the partnership. With its elaborate stone façade, this is not the kind of building where one would expect some adverts to be painted on!

Location: Whitehall / Pictures taken in July 2013

Criterion and Gillette, Kilburn

Along Kilburn High Road is a great painted wall that combines two ghost signs: one for Gillette Safety Razors and one for Criterion, the safety matches that came in from the cold.

In the 1920s the British market for matches was largely dominated by Brymay. Over the years the company originally founded by Francis May and William Bryant in 1861 had merged or bought many of its competitors. However in 1930 two new brands landed in British shops: M.S. and Criterion, which came both from the Soviet Union.
The arrival of these two brands was part of a Europe-wide strategy by the Soviet authorities to regain a foot in countries where its manfacturers had been major players before the First World War and to counter the advance of Kreuger and Toll's Swedish Match Company. Kreuger, a great and extremely wealthy businessman (who would also be known after his death as one of the world's greatest swindlers), had increased dramatically the presence of his trust across most Europe and had even managed to secure a virtual monopoly in several countries in return for awarding large loans to their governments. As a result throughout the 1920s Soviet match manufacturers lost precious markets like Germany. The answer of the authorities in Moscow was to increase production from 4,000 million boxes before the Revolution to 7,000 million boxes by 1927-28 in order to flood the markets. In a bid to increase their share and ultimately drive out competition, matches made in the USSR were often sold at reduced prices, leading to accusations of dumping. Soviet brands also ran reward schemes. Although the British market was different and the share held previously by Russian manufacturers was negligible, it was a potentially lucrative market. This explains why this Soviet "offensive" finally reached Britain in 1930.
During the 1930s adverts for Criterion Safety Matches appeared in the press and in the streets. Several, like today's ghost sign, emphasised the company's gift schemes. Criterion was sold in packets of 12 boxes of around 45 matches and customers had to collect the labels to claim their rewards. For 100 labels they would get 7 lbs of fruit bonbons. If they did not give in to their kids and managed to collect 1,500 labels, they could get either a guitar or 1 lb of Russian caviar. Finally, with 1,700 labels, they could decorate their living room with a fine rug from Turkistan. Additionally some labels could win lucky customers cash prizes of £275 (£275 in 1939 is equivalent to £15,000 in 2012).
In spite of these efforts, Criterion safety matches do not seem to have been able to gain a firm seat in Britain (at least they are barely mentioned in documents and books about the matches market). The Second World War would have disrupted both production and the supply chain and efforts to come back once the war ended do not seem to have paid. Criterion matches may have remained available for a few years after the Second World War but seem to have disappeared from British homes by the late 1950s.

This ghost sign for Criterion was painted over an earlier one for Gillette Safety Razors.

Criterion Matches

Buy Gillette Safety Razor

Great Gift
Scheme

Pack of Criterion Matches / British Made

Save the
Packet Labels

The Gillette logo (the name in a lozenge) is partly hidden by the lower left corner of the matchbox.

While Gillette emphised its razors were "British Made", on the drawing of the matchbox the sign painter has not included the mention "Foreign Made", which featured on the packs themselves. The mention "Foreign Made", which was found on the first versions of the Criterion labels, was later replaced by "USSR Made." The sign painter did not include the words "Damp Proof" either. This may simply be because it would have cluttered the matchbox.

Impregnated
Safety Matches
Criterion
Registered Trademark
Average ... Matches

The matchbox on this wall, and in particular the design of the scrolls above and below "Safety Matches Criterion", match the one seen in a 1936 printed advert. On later designs (those with the mention "USSR Made"), the scrolls are straight and no longer rippling. The number of matches mentioned in the early designs varies between 45 and 50. Unfotunately the figure on the wall has completely disappeared.

Great Gift
Scheme

Save the
Packet Labels

Location: Messina Avenue / Pictures taken in August 2009

Sunlight soap and J. G. Chaddock, Weymouth

In a small street away from Weymouth's popular seafront is a very faded ghost sign for Lever Brothers' best selling product: Sunlight soap.

This is not the first time Sunight soap features on this blog and some information about the company and its product can be found alongside the ghost signs seen in Battersea and Upper Clapton.

Additional Sunlight ghost signs published so far include those from Willesden, Highbury, and Ravenscourt Park.

Sunlight
Soap
Largest Sales in the World

Sunlight soap was available at J. G. Chaddock's grocery store. Chaddock certainly allowed Lever Brothers to advertise its product on the wall above his shop and in return got his name and business added below. This kind of arrangement was similar to the one between Hovis and some bakers.

J. G. Chaddock
Family Grocer

Location: Turton Street, Weymouth, Dorset / Pictures taken in May 2011

Haircut, Ababi

If I had stopped each time I saw a hand painted sign in Bali, I wouldn't have had time to enjoy the amazing scenery, the fascinating temples or to sample the delicious food. Like in other countries of the region, their density is extremely high indeed. Still I managed to photograph some while passing, including this one in Ababi, a small village just above the water palace and rice terraces of Tirtagangga in the eastern part of the island.
It was relatively easy to guess this sign advertised the services of a hairdresser. First there was the pair of scissors and "rambut" reminded me of "rambutan", the delicious fruit with a hairy skin. Once back home I could check in the dictionary and found that "potong rambut" means "haircut". "Hairdresser" would have been "penata rambut".
The second line of the sign tells the opening time. "Buka" means "open" and "siang" refers to the part of the day that corresponds to the late morning and early afternoon, roughly between 11:30am and 3:00pm (in Indonesia, the day is divided between "pagi", "siang", "sore", "malam", and "tidur").

Potong rambut Buka siang

Haircut Open 11:30am - 3:00pm

Location: Ababi, Bali, Indonesia / Picture taken in May 2013

Ladies and gents hairdresser, Birmingham

The elaborate ghost sign promoting F. Price's ladies and gents hairdressing saloon was painted over one, maybe even two, older signs. This is particularly visible on the first and last lines, which are a mumbo jumbo of traces of letters from each sign.

...
Ladies & Gents
F. Price
Hairdresser
...

Location: Moseley Road / Pictures taken in May 2012

Ray's barber shop, Uckfield

This colourful painted sign near the top of Uckfield High Street is hard to miss with its bright red!

A good example of a modern sign with a retro look, enhanced by the 'A' of 'Barber.'

Ray's
Barber
Shop

I wonder whether the ghost sign for Kingsley's Court Hairdresser in Haslemere was as colourful when painted in 1920.

Location: High Street, Uckfield, East Sussex / Pictures taken in September 2012

Sunlight and Lifebuoy, Willesden

In an earlier post about a Willesden cash store, I mentioned that much of the space available was used to advertise goods on sale inside. While R. White's soft drinks were confined to the wall by the entrance, the whole façade was promoting Lever Brothers' best selling soaps, Sunlight and Lifebuoy. Some information about the company, its products, and how it was at the forefront of product placement in movies can be found in previous posts about Sunlight ghost signs spotted in Clapham Junction and Upper Clapton.

Sunlight
Soap
Largest Sale
In The World

...

Lifebuoy Soap

Unfortunately whatever was written to the left of the window has faded too much to be able to read anything.

Apart from those mentioned above, other Sunlight ghost signs on this blog include examples from Ravenscourt Park and Highbury.

Location: Villiers Road / Pictures taken in: November and December 2011

Sunday Illustrated, Gillette, Cafe, and Iron Jelloids; Dalston

This is a real palimpsest and it took me a bit of time to figure out which paper was advertised there. Yet after a close look it all became clear.


The sign for the paper reads:Sunday
Illustrated
...
Picture Paper
24 Pages 2d
There was more text advertising this 1920s publication, but it is hidden by the blue background for Gillette. The Sunday Illustrated was one of several newspapers and magazines founded by Horatio Bottomley, MP for South Hackney. Followers of this blog may remember the name of this journalist, politician, and swindler from a post about the National News and Sunday Evening. Actually the former, having been a failure, was revamped and relaunched in July 1921 as the Sunday Illustrated. As part of the launching campaign, Bottomley convinced Silvanus Vivian, the Registrar General, to allow the amendment slip of the delayed 1921 census to carry an advert for his new weekly paper. The census had been planned for April 24 but was postponed to June because it was feared a coal dispute and the threat of a strike by railway workers would invalidate the results. Instead of reprinting 11.5 million forms, the Registrar General printed small slips with the new date at a cost of £2,000. Although this was not a large sum, it was decided to offset it by allowing an advertising agency to sell the space available on the back of the slip. In early 1921 Bottomley had already offered £100,000 to have an advert for his papers printed on the original census forms but that had been rejected. In May 1921 though, Bottomley's offer of £900 per million slip was accepted. As one can imagine, the presence of an advert on official material raised a few eyebrows and questions. In Parliament, some MPs argued people could mistake the slips for an advertisement and throw the forms straight into the rubbish bin. Others argued this could be seen as official endorsement by the government. When some of the enumerators refused to distribute for conscientious reasons the contentious slip carrying the advert for the forthcoming Sunday Illustrated, Vivian had to allow them to cross the date and write the new one instead on the original form. As a result the advertising agency that had bought the space from the Register General Office refused to pay and was sued by the Crown, while Bottomley also sued the said agency. Yet far more damaging for the Registrar General was the association with Bottomley, a crook and multiple bankrupt who was about to spend five years in jail for fraud, having sold just after the war Treasury's £5 Victory Bonds at a discounted price of £1 to readers of the vulgar and populist John Bull, another of his magazines. Many people subscribed but of course there were no bonds! This was the only time advertising was allowed on census material.


The other main ad on this wall, clearly recognizable with its typical blue background, was for Gillette. It reads:Gillette
British Made
Razor Blades
Written vertically on the right side and equally well-preserved is the wordCafeWhy was such a narrow space used on such a large wall? Cost may have been a reason.

The different ghost signs mentioned above don't account for all the words visible on this wall. One of the other products promoted here was the sub-carbonate of iron and jujube mass tablets Iron Jelloids. Although it is very difficult to see "Iron Jelloids" written there, part of the text of their typical adverts can still be read:Re[liable] Tonic
Of All Chemists
...
A few more letters that don't go with the Iron Jelloids advert can be seen here and there, suggesting yet another ghost sign, but this one will remain a mystery.

Location: Kingsland Road / Pictures taken on: 01/04/2008

Spencer Maynard, Eastbourne

At least four different signs were painted on this wall at the end of a Victorian terrace in the seaside town of Eastbourne but nowadays only two can be easily identified.
The most obvious one is for furniture dealer Spencer Maynard. Unfortunately I haven't found any information about him. It seems his son Charles Sidney (his other son Sidney Spencer died of influenza in a military hospital in northern France in 1918) took over the family business but experienced some financial difficulties in the late 1920s. In April 1930 the Courts granted him a bankruptcy discharge.
The other sign that can still be seen here is actually a very familiar one. With its off-white letters on a blue background, it promoted:Gillette
Safety
Razors
... Blades
Of the other two signs only a couple of letters can still be spotted here and there.

Spencer Maynard
Dealer
Modern & Antique
Furniture
Works of Art. Pianos &
Goods Bought To Any Extent For
Cash
Location: Seaside Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex / Picture taken on: 26/03/2011