Ghost neon signs and skeleton signs

 

 

As I walked along Sydney road I looked up and saw this wonderful old sign, not the supermarket one, but the one that says All Night Café. Straight out of some Hollywood movie. The metal structure is also magnificent. I have vague memories of driving back from Sydney in the days when the trip down Sydney Road was basically the only way to get into Melbourne, and no doubt the sign was then visible from afar. Not sure if it still lights up at night, must check that out next time I go to the Brunswick Green of an evening.

 

There is another old ghost neon sign on Sydney Road, but this is a mystery - what did it used to advertise? No trace of lettering is visible but the shape just screams 60s.

 

 

Just underneath you can see an "empty" sign, with just the frame and perhaps an old neon tube, as well as the lightbulbs all around it. That is not really a ghost sign; I suggest it be called a skeleton sign - but no doubt somewhere there is a website already tracking these.

Here are some more skeleton signs:

Small empty shop on Nicholson Street, Coburg - what did it sell?

 

High on Sydney Road Coburg - what did it used to shout?

 



Ronnie's Hairdressing on Lygon Street is on the way to becoming a skeleton sign

 

 



on the corner of Ewing and Weston Streets

This is a ghost sign - Milk Bar and Continental Delicatessen.

Look around you as you walk through these old shopping strips or past old corner shops, there are many ghost and skeleton signs, trying to whisper about the past, but their stories drowned out by the noise of the passing traffic and the rush to develop the future streetscapes.