Hmmm….I love this old ads, but what I love about them is how they look after all these years. Redoing them is a nice gesture but it ruins their charm to me.

Yeah, the issue is that there is no remnant of an old, faded ad or mural there at all. Perhaps they have a historical photo of one, but otherwise, I think this is just creating a fake history of the neighborhood to make it SEEM more interesting, which should be frowned upon and taken down, not encouraged.

If you go to Shorpy’s web site and search for 9th Street you will find a 1930′s image of this building. This is the direct link. http://www.shorpy.com/node/5822

The ghost signage is evident in the old photo not only at the top but also below. It had already faded. Before the current restoration was done, you could still see the outline of the original signage.

Agree with the idea of patina appeal. Perhaps “new painted signs” should use a paint that fades and eventually disappears after 20 years without damaging the underlying brick.