Thursday, August 11, 2005

Reverse "ghost ad"

For those who don't know what a ghost ad is, it's an advertisement that was painted upon the wall of a building a long time ago, and has since faded, but isn't removed due to its historical value. Often, the companies advertised in the ad went out of business decades ago. The city of Portland has many, many ghost ads downtown, especially in the Pearl District. They definitely add to the charm of the area.

This ad was found on a building at the east end of the Hawthorne bridge, and it's unique among its kind. It started as an ad for Coca-Cola painted on a west-facing wall, but then another building (the one you see here) was built right up against the first one, obscuring the ad. Years later, the first building was demolished, but the paint from its ad had transferred to the east-facing wall of the second building, which is why it shows up in reverse.

4 Talked Back:

At August 11, 2005 at 12:18:00 PM CDT, Blogger Scott said...

I remember that building, it's down by AP.
I have always been amazed of this ad on the wall. I hope they never paint over it.

 

At August 11, 2005 at 5:02:00 PM CDT, Blogger stan said...

It was a challenge to photograph it through the passenger window while making sure that a) there were no cars in the shot, and b) I wasn't going to rear-end the SUV in front of me. After all, it was the McL at about 5:30pm, major traffic time.

 

At August 11, 2005 at 7:41:00 PM CDT, Blogger Samuel John Klein said...

My favorite is the one you can see if you stand at the corner of NW 10th and W Burnside and look up, about twenty or thirty degress, a little west of southwest.

Best vantange would be from by the OzoneUK store, not from Powell's Books.

There, on the tallest exposed building, is a ghost-ad for some long-extinct business college (no, not Western).

It exulted in its night-class offering.

 

At August 11, 2005 at 11:45:00 PM CDT, Blogger stan said...

I've seen that one many times, as I worked on the corner of 11th and Burnside for a few months, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it says. I guess another trip to Powell's is in order :)

 

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