Ghost Me Two Times

I'll leave it to you to figure out where this one is.  Have you found it yet?  I knew you could.  You are so smart!

Okay, so, this building has two generations of ghosts, and both seem to be actual ghosts in that at least when I went buy, the place was empty and shuttered.  Up top there you can see it says "Nicollet Technologies."  Given that Joseph Nicollet was French, I assume the technologies his people manufactured here were cheese, wine, and surrendering. (I kid, my French friends!  I know all about the bravery of the intrepid French soldier.  Unless he's had too much wine, of course).

Okay, so that was obvious crap, and Joseph Nicollet wasn't involved.  But that logo just screams, "1980s technology company" so let's see what we can find.  Maybe they made mapping software or something.

Well, look at that.  They make equipment for testing phone lines and were founded in, who woulda guessed, 1986. The company's still around, but apparently they've moved on up to the suburbs, Bloomington, to be specific.  Please judge them accordingly.

So let's stroll around the other side and  check out the other one:

It's the famous Plant No. 8, and that tantalizing sign above it.  It's so close to being legible that it's painful.  But I don't know what it says.  As will become increasingly clear, this seems to be the neighborhood of ambiguous signs (stick around for more).

And with that, my friends, I've gone away.

Ghost Metal!

Some of my favorite signs are from businesses that used to work with metal.  I'm sure there are important differences between what these people do or used to do, but it's all metal to me, baby, so I'm lumping them together.

So, in what is becoming a bit of a pattern, we've got some pretty generic words painted on the side of a wall without much other identifying information (maybe now you know why I've been sitting on these for awhile -- look at those green leaves!).  I'm pretty sure you could get aluminum and bronze-brass from these people, but I really wish they'd just put their last name or something up there too.

I had brief hope for a clue from this shot:

But after studying it, I think it just says, "Ornamental Iron & Steel."  Sorry, no luck.

The building is part of the Nordeast "Arts District" in a largely defunct old industrial area by the railroad tracks.  It's now called the Q.arma Building and houses Altered Esthetics, an arts advocacy organization.  It's at 1224 Quincy St. N.E.