Hotel Royal

Hotel Royal, 1905

This Hotel Royal ad is a classic example of early 20th-century signage; simple, descriptive, to the point. The "Alaska Plumbing & Heating Co." sign was uncovered when the old Corno's building was demolished in 2006. The building now houses Montage restaurant under the Morrison Bridge. This view is from SE 3rd at Alder.

2009:

Portland Seed Co.

Portland Seed Co. Building, 1912

The "Portland Seed Co." signs across the west and east faces of this building were long ago covered by a not-well-matched-to-the-brick paint job. Fortunately, enough of the old signs show through that we can still make them out. These old signs do not date to the building's origins however. I've seen a 1929 photo that shows signs painted between the 2nd and 3rd floors. What we see now was painted sometime after 1929. The low building to the east, now covered with metal siding, once sported some nifty old "Portland Seed Co." signs too. One hopes they are still there underneath that cladding.

Check this out on SE Alder between 2nd and the train tracks.

2007 (looking west):

2009 (looking east):

Towne Storage

Towne Building, 1916

The Towne Building started life as an office and warehouse for the Blake, Moffitt & Towne Paper company. That name is still barely visible, printed vertically, on the southeast corner of the building (see third photo below). The other original signs have been painted over, including most, but not all, of the "... PAPER" sign on the north wall overlooking the Burnside Bridge. The word "PAPER" is still barely visible on the water tank, too.

One remaining original sign, severely faded, is on the west wall, below the top floor windows, that says, "PAPER HEADQUARTERS."

This building is hard to miss on the east end of the Burnside Bridge. Take a walk around the entire building; every wall has a sign of some sort.

2007:

2009:

2009:

Rinella Produce

W.B. Glafke Co. Building, 1917

This "Rinella Produce" sign is fairly recent by ghost sign standards. The barely visible sign across the top, however, probably dates back to the building's origin which was a warehouse for the W.B. Glafke Co., a produce wholesale company.

You can see this from the corner of SE 3rd and Alder.

2008:

Chas. H. Lilly Co.

Chas. H. Lilly Co. Building, 1911

My previous post showed "Fisher's Blend Flour" on the north side of the Chas. H. Lilly Co. Building. Along the top of that building on both the north and south sides are the remains of the "Seeds - Chas. H. Lilly Co. - Fertilizers" signs. The photo directly below shows the south side while the second shows the north side sign, as well as the "Fisher's" sign, as viewed from the Burnside Bridge.

2007:

Fisher's Blend Flour

Chas. H. Lilly Co. Building, 1911

This nice "Fisher's Blend Flour" sign is on the north side of the building that now houses, appropriately, the City Sign Co. at SE 3rd and Pine. The building once was home to the "Chas. H. Lilly Co. (Seeds - Fertilizers)" and I'll cover those existing signs in an upcoming post.

2007:

Portland Storage Co.

John Deere Plow Co. Building, 1911

The Portland Storage sign is hard to miss looking at it from the east. Stretching the width of the building and two stories high, it's not subtle. The building was originally the John Deere Plow Company and is designated a National Historic Landmark.

I took the top photo from SE MLK Blvd. and Alder. The green barricade in this photo surrounds the old Corno's building, demolished in July 2008 to make way for the Alder Shaft, part of the East Side Big Pipe Project. The second photo shows the door detail, hidden under the Morrison Bridge between SE 2nd and 3rd.


2007:

2007:

Circa 1930:
(Photo source: http://people.reed.edu/~cosmo/mural/)