I Thought This Would Be Easier

But I can't really make out what this one says either. Once again, it looks like maybe it's been painted over or modified over time. It looks like the top of the signs says "Witts," which may be an add for Witts Liquor around the corner (I'll have to go by to see if it's still there). It looks like it may now be Team Liquor (watch out for sounds).

I can only make out "Lan" at the beginning of the word superimposed over that, so I don't know to what that refers.

This one is at 705 S. Hennepin, directly above the Chevy's (the roof of Chevy's is at the bottom of the picture).

I'll Move On, I Promise

A final duo from the back of the Hotel Seville. My guess is that these are of a slightly newer vintage than the signs advertising rooms, but I don't know. The broken Hamm's sign and the rear-entrance Red Room bar, however, were too tempting to bypass.

This post brought to you from the Land of the Sky Blue Waters. It's the post refreshing.

A Picture Is Worth 1000 Tries

This one features the features the name of the Hotel Seville, although I've had a bit of trouble getting a legible shot. N. 9th St. & Glenwood.

Ghosts of Song and Stage?

This is the first of several on what used to be the Hotel Seville, and what is now the Seville Club, which seems to be a gentleman's club. According the the Club's webpage (surely a credible source), the hotel used to be a popular spot for Vaudeville performers visiting Minneapolis. Today the club is bordered by the bus station, the transit parking garages and Target Center. N. 9th St. and Glenwood Ave.

Looking out from the parking ramp skyways during one morning's winter commute is actually what sparked my interest in these signs. Soon I was seeing old signs everywhere, and wondering what stories went with them.

ETA: I especially like that fireproof beds were a selling point.

Convenient Accomodation

This is the back of the Hotel Amsterdam/Saloon Hotel connected to the famous downtown gay bar/club. It's a bit hard to read, and looks like perhaps it's been painted over a few times. My guess is that it once said Tourist Hotel, but the first world also clearly ended with a "y" at one point too. N. 9th St. and Hawthorne Ave.

Age Is Relative

It's hard to tell, but this one may not be all that old. It says "The Unpainted Place" and it's on the back of what is now Utrecht's art supply at 1601 Maple Street.

Mysterious

Not all ghost signs are created equal, and this is our first example of a sign whose company name is tantalizingly close to, but not quite, legible. I can make out National and Co., but I've not been able to divine the word or two in between. We're still in the historic Automotive District, and the last two letters of the word before Co. look like they could be "us", so maybe it says "bus." The sign appears on the side of the building at 1222 Harmon Place.

If you can do better than me in making sense of this, please let me know in the comments.

Holden #2

This is the other side of the the building. A walk by last night reminds me that the building seems currently to be unoccupied.

ETA: A bit of poking around on the Minnesota Historical Society website suggests that in an even earlier incarnation, this building housed the Sturr-Bullard Motor Company, consistent with this area's past of Minneapolis's Automotive District.

Update:  Construction is well underway for the "summer" opening of a Lunds wine and spirits shop.  The good folks at Lund's tell us that the building is known as the Sturr-Bullard Motor Company Building and was built in 1914. Even better, it appears they are going to preserve the signs (at least so far).  Good for Lund's!

Inaugural Sign

This blog's very first sign is nearby your humble blogger's home, and is one of the pair of signs on either side of the building at 1208 Harmon Place.

As is reasonably legible in the sign, it's for H.A. Holden Inc., apparently a maker of electric motors and parts. As of this writing, a 1953 product catalog is up for auction on eBay. Holden was apparently acquired by Genuine Parts in 1999, although the press release for the completion of that transaction suggests that the company wasn't founded until 1954.

My alloted time for internet search on the history of this sign as expired without turning up much more that's worth reporting, but regardless, this sign is a fitting place to start in exploring what can be learned about the history of a former industrial town from the ghosts left in paint on some of it's older remaining walls.

Update:  Construction is well underway for the "summer" opening of a Lunds wine and spirits shop.  The good folks at Lund's tell us that the building is known as the Sturr-Bullard Motor Company Building and was built in 1914. Even better, it appears they are going to preserve the signs (at least so far).  Good for Lund's!