Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I was wondering if Fall River has any "Ghost Signs"---leftovers from the days of yore when signage was painted directly onto buildings. Like this example from Toronto:



Always having been a "time traveller", I often notice these & wonder about them.

Here in my town, we have an old sign that sez "FURNITURE" attached to a building with the letters spelled out in wood. It can be seen in a photo from the 1870s & still exists today, tho the business is LONG gone. (Wish I had a digital camera so I could share!)

Here's a nifty site of Ghost Signs in Toronto---

http://ca.geocities.com/dtill914@rogers.com/

Maybe our intrepid Fall River denizens know of some of these?

I don't know about Fall River, but there are lots of ghost signs around the U.P. We even have a few ghost towns, usually old mining or lumber towns which were abandoned when the trees or the ore gave out. There's not much left of them anymore, but the foundations of the buildings are still there.

what a neat name for them, "Ghost Signs" . There used to be a few in town, I'll have to go see if they'
re still there.

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FR KNITTING is still there- just missing a few letters!

I am not sure how long it has been there but the main one that comes to my mind from Fall River is Facciano's Shoe Repair on the corner where Smiths Drug Store was.

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I know I have the pictures somewhere, I'll have to look, but on one building in my hometown it said Racicot Bros. Furniture. My hisband's grandfather worked there for years. Right underneath that was a huge painting of a Coke bottle & it said 5 cents.

You beat me to it MB. I was going to say the lamport warehouse. I used to work there and was working there back during the blizzard of '78. Anderson Little had the 1st and 2nd floors. Why it came to mind was I was going to say I think Fall River probably has more "ghost" smokestacks then signs. Alot of the old mills have their name on the smokestacks.

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My first full time job after college was doing advertising work for the Raincoat Outlet on North Main Street in Fall River. (While I was there they became the Milltown Factory Outlet.)

They were no longer making raincoats at that facility, but in the back room where my first "office was set up were boxes and boxes of labels for various brands of coats they made. I think "Misty Harbor" was their own brand.

One of New Bedford's most famous ghost signs has been resurrected. It was the animated neon Paul Revere from the old Revere factory. It was rebuilt and installed on the big message board on Rte. 195.

Does that Mackenzie Grain sign say "BONDS" in a box below the company name? Kind of odd...I wonder if that was an overpaint.

(Thanks for the pics!)

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No MB , they didn't make the suits at the Lamport Warehouse just at the Bedford St. site. Lamport Warehouse was used by Anderson Little as a distribution center for all their retail stores. Funny story about your friend's Mom making her own suit and sewing the Anderson Little label in it because towards the end thats pretty much how all the Anderson Little suits were done. Some were still made right on site on Bedford St. but alot were made by other manufacturers like Bradley Scott right in Fall River and then the Anderson Little label was just sewed in. So technicaly your friend DID have an Anderson Little suit Yes, I also got alot of awesome deals at Darwood mfg. myself. Like you said, sometimes it would just be 1 wrong button but you would get the suit for like 50 to 75% off. I haven't been in Fall River in a few years now but alot of the old old drug stores had the names painted on the outside and if I remember correctly the bowling alley up the Globe on Globe St. had the name outside..Walko I think. I also wanted to ask you MB if you remember the Arlens dept. store(? spelling) off Plymouth Ave. that used to be in the mills across the street from where Masons Furniture used to be?

Revere? Was that the copper bottom pan factory? I recall going to the Seconds shop back in the 1970's. I am still using all the Revereware pans nearly 37 years later. Gorhams used to have a great Seconds shop, I got a great silverplated waterpitcher for six bucks and I never could find the faults. There used to be great bargains to be had in metalware and textiles in this area, and on jewelry and lace in North Kingstown-Cranston area. Taunton had fabulous pewter, a curtain factory outlet and Gentlemen's Wearhouse. Those were the days!

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WOW, that was spectacular footage of the Arlans fire MB. I had been trying to explain to friends here what it's like when one of the mills catch fire and that video was explanation in itself. Yes, the Kerr Mill's, Arlan's and Globe Mill's where like the Walmart of their day...never really thought of it that way but it's true. To this day if i walk in Walmart or even a flea market, and I smell popcorn, my mind automaticaly takes me back to those days. I must definitely be getting older because to me they are fond memories of a time when life was so much simpler.

Shelley, I don't think New Bedford's Revere actually made the pots and pans, but yes it's the same Revere Copper & Brass that dates back to Paul Revere himself casting church bells and such in the 1700s.

I've got Revere pans that I've used for thirty years and they were "seconds." And my elementary school had an original 1794 Revere bell.

Steve & MB. New Bedford had an Arlans, too. The first one, which I vaguely remember was in an old mill, then they built a new one in a plaza. It's been closed for some time.

Did you guys have Mars Bargainland in Fall River or was that just a New Bedford place. We had two locations here. Out of all those pre-Wal-Mart New England discounters only Ann & Hope survived (although it's really, really scaled back.) I've read that Sam Walton actually studied Ann & Hope before starting his place. . .

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God MB, I had totally forgot about the Parker Candy sign. Wow did that bring back happy memories. I also remember that sign from when I was a kid back in the early 1960's. Always made an impresion on me because of the candy cane effect.

That "Flint Mills" sign is gorgeous. Love the seagull taking his photo-op, too!

Fairhavenguy, I like the idea of a Ghost Sign being rebuilt and restored.

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Richard,

The vocational school restored Paul Revere for the City of New Bedford. The Revere sign was such an icon, visible at night from the Fairhaven-New Bedford Bridge for decades. When the plant closed, the sign simply had to be saved.

Another animated neon sign in New Bedford that has survived and has been moved to different locations is the "Plumber's Supply" sign that has a red faucet with blue water flowing out of it.

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mbhenty, Thanks for the photo of the Revere sign.

Ann & Hope, you know, is not completely gone. In the former Ann & Hope plaza on Faunce Corner Rd. in Dartmouth, there is a small Ann & Hope curtain outlet. They also have a seasonal garden center there. (Both curtains and their garden center were among the main draws when they ran their full stores.) I don't know if they have other locations.

I remember well the seasonal curtain shopping at Ann and Hope. Is Apex still around?

Tina-Kate @ Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:42 am wrote:I was wondering if Fall River has any "Ghost Signs"---leftovers from the days of yore when signage was painted directly onto buildings.

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This is a really neat topic TK- thanks!

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Yes MB, I remember the UK well. Like you said you cant be from Fall River and never have eaten or drank at the UK. I grew up in the Globe and it was Walko for bowling, St. Patrick's for church, Slade School. Mee Sums for chinese, and the UK for polish food or a beer. We always got our meats from New England Poultry. Candy from Parkers, God....most of these places dont even exist anymore. How sad. You and I always seem to see eye to eye when it comes to Fall River and the way they totaly disregard anything of historical significance all for the almighty dollar. I also spent a huge portion of my life in the Flint. Seems like you and I have alot of the same memories of our beloved Fall River. I used to love going in Salvo's and the smell of the fresh potato chips being made. I miss Nira's warehouse. Dave's Shoe Store. Tony & Bella's. I am getting so homesick now.

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Kat @ Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:35 am wrote:This is a really neat topic TK- thanks!

I'm enjoying all the subsequent stories!

Yes MB, OMG, are you sure you are not me??? I guess us Old Fall River Boys have all the same memories. I am definitely old enough to remember the jet at Father Kelly's. My family has always kept a picture from the Herald News of 1 of my aunts that was taken at Father Kelly's in front of the jet raising her below the knee dress up ever so slightly .....LOL she had sold the most war bonds in Fall River for WWII. Chew Park across the street was my favorite haunt as a kid. After I wrote my last post in this topic I was talking to my best friend here in Texas and i swear I mentioned every single place you just mentioned in your post. I was telling him about how "Dirty" Nicks had the best gaggers in town and that he could make like 10 of them at once up his big sweaty arm....LOL yet they were sooooo good. Every one of those places is special to me I think, because it has a family story attached to it. It wasnt your B day unless your cake came from Luddy's. We had my Dad's funeral reception at McGovern's...the new one not the old...that wouldnt have been big enough. When my Mom was in St. Anne's dying of cancer I would always treat my Dad for some seafood at Higsons. He loved it, he was worth it and it cheered him up a little so I never cared that the line went down South Main St. This Higson's one came up just today as I invited my friend over for some fried Atlantic Cod I managed to get....they never heard of or ate it here.....all they eat is catfish. My Dad and I had all our father/son talks at Bella's and Tony's over a grape soda. They also catered for my sisters 1st wedding. I will always love mee Sums but I know what you mean about the kitchens....our back yard was connected to the original mee Sums back yard off S. Main and they use to hang the meat right on the fence out back YUCK!!!! but i'm sure thats true for just about every kitchen from every restaurant back then and the food was soooo good and nobody ever got sick. I thought I was the only member in this forum to remember Buddy's in Tiverton at the line. I also had the same thing happen to me at the Ponta del Garda but the movie I was there watching with Denise was "The Excorcist"....you curse Clint...I curse Linda Blair....LOL. Pizza wasnt pizza unless it came from Manny's. To us kids that was pure Italian heaven to have a family "eat out" there for pizza . I also didnt think anyone else would remember Wally's or the old Fernandes Markets or Faneeks...or even dirty Nicks for that matter. I guess alot of the mentality from Lizzie's Era carried over still because as I was realizing how your memories are alot like mine are but that you live just down the door from lizzie's Maplecroft now.....my first thought was "WOW.....he made it". I am sure that was also what the mentality was like in Lizzie time too.....WOW.....she made it. This made me stop and wonder what other mentalities might have carried over to you and I that Lizzie might have shared. What we might consider "normal" reasoning because of our collective upbringing in the Fall River environment might not be considered so normal by outsiders......OMG as I typed that i realised just yhow much I sounded like Victoria Lincoln. But to answer your question MB...you sure did make me cry but it was a trip down memory lane that was also beautiful and was more a part of me then I had realised.

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This is great stuff, MB! Thank you so much!

It sounds like you ate out a lot!

"One more South End photo, then I will have to stop or I will turn into Shelley. "

Well geez MB- there are worse things you could be. I wish somebody had taken a camera out and shot more pix of the city 50 years ago. All of my houses, buildings, interiors, street scenes and cemetery photos are burned on CD and going to the Historical Society for the next bunch to come in the future.
I finally saved enough pin money to buy the digital camera of my dreams. After spending a fortune last summer on getting film developed, it occured to me I could have bought a digital twice over. So, I get a real kick out of photography which is FREE to share. In fact, blog #9 went up Monday on New England Graveyards. Here is the shameless plug http://yankeestones.wordpress.com I was talking to Lefty over at View from Battleship Cove about doing a regional food blog. New England Bites is a good one with a mother-daugter team, but I was thinking of a Fall River area foodie blog. Lefty wants to do one- maybe you"locals" should compare notes and do one together. I volunteer to do taste-testing. There aren't too many current restaurants in FR I have missed in the past 30 years, but you will probably know some of the oldies.

Big thanx MB. Those pictures are beyond description for someone like me that remember every single one of them from a moment in their lives. Knowing Fall River's disregard for older buildings/ build a new one mentality....most of them I thought I'd never get to see again by the time I ever make it back home. It was like I had died and my life was flashing before my eyes. (never realised just how big a part food played in it) Some of the facades have changed like you mentioned but I was real surprised at how much alot of them have remained exactly the same.....even from what I remember from childhood 40+ odd years ago. I wish I had been riding shotgun on that picture journey with you. When I saw the Salvo's picture I could actualy still smell the fresh potato chips in my minds eye.....made such an impression on me as a kid(the magic potao chip place). I can't thank you enough (and Shelley) for sharing the places I hold dear to my heart.

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alot of the buildings have bright colors on them. Really eyecatching, and pretty.

Yes the foodie theme was inspiring!
I was trying to figure out since I've lived here 40 years, if I could name that many eateries and could not!

Here is the link to New England Bites http://www.newenglandbites.com/

Yes, I am serious about a FR Foodie Blog. You could do great food of the past and present. I will even set it up for you , although Lefty could sure do it himself if he just gets around to it. Call it FR Past and Present Bites, or Fall River Eats or something catchy. Maybe someone here could dream up a title. I think it would be great fun and maybe we'd get some coupons for dinners around town! Steve- you can be the long-distance correspondent.

I must say- eating is about all I ever found to do on a weekend evening in FR. Just TRY to get into the 99 or Applebee's at 9 p.m. on a Friday or Saturday night! All the eateries in the city are jamming by 6 p.m. I guess there is the Eagle if you want a club, but I think most Fall Riverites must go to Providence to look for "night life".

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Now I'm getting hungry!
And *oops* just for a minute there I thought you, Shell, were responding to moi!

Salvos was on South Main St., I want to say from what I remember it was a little up from Nira's warehouse on the west side of S. Main. We lived on Dwelly St. at the time and it was well withing walking distance for a kid of maybe 6 or 7 yrs old to walk by himself...then again it was a different time back then. I want to say the original Salvo's was a green building.......I could be wrong.....it looked alot like the brown building you posted the picture of but I also want to say there was a 2nd floor to it....or it was at least 2 stories high because I remember the huge conveyer belt comming down with the fresh made chips on it still unbagged. YUM! When I saw the picture you posted I just assumed they must have taken the 2nd story off at some point. And Yes Shelley, I would love to be a long distance correspondent for the food blog....sounds like a blast. I think between myself and MB we have probably eaten at every single restaurant that Fall River ever had. I'll job MB's memory.....remember the Chicken Coop on Pleasant St.? That was down your neck of the woods MB. It was way before the days of KFC. The fried chicken was actualy served at your table in a basket. After it closed as the Chicken Coop it became a bar known as the Sword and Shield. I have no idea what might be there now. I think the Mcdonalds you are refering to on S. Main is up way to far to be where Salvos was unless my memory is getting faulty.