Saint Louis was once a beautiful city. As it slowly decays, some people are fighting to preserve its unique architecture.
This site is pretty tangential to all that. We like the signs. In more developed areas, the commercial design aesthetic of the mid-20th century now exists only in photographs. As much of St. Louis has yet to be redeveloped, the city and its outskirts still hold some fine examples of this discarded aesthetic. Many of these are found on or around Gravois Road, which branches southwest from downtown St. Louis, midway between highways 44 and 55.
Some of these may strike the viewer as kitschy junk, and others may seem wholly unremarkable - but lined up on just a few miles of one street, they constitute a tangible, visual memory of a city's historical past.
We hope to include some historical information for them as we come across it. Sadly, since we started photographing these signs in the summer of 2001, at least two of them have been replaced. On the other hand, one restaurant was reopened, and the owner is keeping the sign.
The first dozen are up, so please, enjoy.
