Buffalo The City Of Ghost Signs
One of the coolest things about Buffalo is the fade history painted on the sides of buildings.
Ghost signs are these faintly visible signs of businesses or products over 80-100 years old that you can still see on Buffalo buildings.
Buffalo Rising did a great piece on them
"If you pay attention when you’re bouncing around town, you can still catch glimpses of these images, which have been weathered and worn throughout the years...The painters of the signs were called “wall dogs”, often times hand painting these signs from 3 story ladders placed on the roofs of next door buildings."
It seems that the original Ghost signs were painted with oil-based paints and that mostly survived Buffalo weather because the paints were made with lead. Now lead kept the painted from fading, because it helps the paint
"strongly adhered to the masonry surface. Due to this, many of the surviving signs today are believed to be 80-100 years old.”
Do you have a favorite? More a full map of these Buffalo beauties, click here.
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