The Morris Diner

Blurred by Saturday's rain, an old sign rests outside the Quintessence Diner as the building is torn down as part of the Albany Medical Center expansion.

The Phantom Flour Sack

44 Central Avenue is one of two buildings which form "The Point" where Central and Washington Avenues meet.  A wonderful old commercial brick building an old hoist stick mounted on an upper floor, it is now home to the Preservation League of New York State.

I have walked past this building hundreds of times over the years - as a little girl going shopping at Woolworth's and, later, on the way to buy David Bowie albums at World Records or vintage clothing at Daybreak.  In more recent years, I'd walk by on the way to Honest Weight.

But, while I had noticed the faded ghost signs which overlook the parking lot on the west side, I would never have noticed this ghost sign on the front if not for a discussion in the Facebook group, Albany...the way it was.  If you're from Albany, have an interest in its past (distant and recent), and you're on Facebook, consider joining them.

 It's a flour sack - a nod to the building's past as a grain and feed store.  Man

Signs Revealed

Renovations on a storefront along Central Avenue reveal a set of vintage signs.

A Faded Ghost Sign

While loitering for a moment near Capital Rep, I noticed a ghost sign - faded to almost complete illegibility - on the north wall of the old Harry Simmons building.

The Writing Is (Not) On The Wall

Albany is dotted with ghost signs, the fading relics of old ads painted on the walls. Previously, I've posted about a Times Union sign on Pearl Street, a 7-Up sign along lower Madison Avenue, and an electrical goods dealer on Liberty Street.

And All Over Albany had a feature on local ghost signs earlier this year.

This is a tiny one on a 19th-century brick building where Central and Washington Avenues converge in a point. The building has several very faint ghost signs on its western wall...what appear to be ads for Pilsbury products and an "Albany Diner" (not to be confused with the current Miss Albany Diner on Broadway). This one, on the south wall, is barely legible and one that escaped my notice until this weekend. Maybe the light was just right or I was looking from just the right angle, but the words Albany, N.Y. seemed to just leap out at me and, thankfully, I'd just put new batteries in my camera.

Every Electrical Need

Overlooking Albany's oldest park and forming the rear of Broadway's Plaza Row, a number of the historic buildings along Liberty Street still bear the ghost signs of long-gone businesses such as this one, McGinnis Electric, Inc..

Soda Sign

A faded sign for 7-Up on the side of a former grocery store along Madison Avenue east of the Empire State Plaza.