Signs and Billboards

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of signs and billboards (any type of sign—traffic, store, warning, printed, handwritten, big, small, etc.—or any kind of billboard advertisement or announcement) . For similar sign posers, see Speed Limit 15 Miles , Danger—Keep Away from Edge of Cliff , and Slow!

At least it doesn't say Stop! There's no date or any other identifying info on the photo, unfortunately. Not to be confused with Speed Limit 15 Miles (below).

Sign: "Danger. Keep away from edge of cliff." Unless you're having your picture taken, of course!

A dysfunctional family (or oddball family) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For another possibly dysfunctional family, see First Time I Ever Saw Grandma and Grandpa, Palisades Park, 1920 . Searching for a dysfunctional/oddball family photo that I hadn't previously posted on Ipernity wasn't the easy task that I thought it would be. I do hope, however, that this photo of unsmiling family members--ironically posed beneath a "Smiles" sign--suggests enough dysfunctionality or oddballness to qualify.

A signs photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Guess who?" is what appears on the sign on the backs of these women (or could they be men disguised in women's clothes?), and the handwritten message on the other side of this real photo postcard says, "If you know us, drop us a line." The card was postmarked Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec., 4, 1911, and addressed to "Master Clairmont Hileman, R.F.D. No. 3, Hollidaysburg, Pa." If this is the same person identified as Clairmont W. Hileman (1903-1943) on the Find A Grave Web site, then he was eight years old in 1911.

A 1970s photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. In the original scan of this photo, the Pennsylvania license plate on the back of the truck looks like it has a "74" or "75" sticker in one corner, so I'm reasonably sure that it dates to the 1970s.

A Kodachrome slide dated July 1959.

A waiting photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This snapshot shows a crowd of people standing along both sides of a wide tree-lined street. Across the street is a bus, and there are various buildings in the distance, but there's nothing that identifies the location. In the foreground, a man is looking down the street to the left, and next to him a woman is glancing back toward the photographer--perhaps she's a friend or family member. Visible on the lamppost near the woman is what I think the photographer was trying to capture--a poster of Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower with the caption, "Welcome, Ike. Buy extra E bonds" (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After a couple of Google searches, I located a front-page article in the Daily Republican , Monongahela, Pennsylvania, June 18, 1945, that mentioned the poster: "If Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower has any loose money lying around, he'll know what to do with it after today. On practically every lamppost along his homecoming parade route is a big poster bearing his photograph and the words: 'Welcome Ike. Buy extra E bonds.'" In 1945, General Eisenhower, who was later to become the thirty-fourth U.S. President (1953-1961), returned home to the United States following the end of World War II in Europe, which occurred on May 8 (hostilities didn't end in the Pacific, of course, until later that year). He continued to promote the sale of E bonds , which were U.S. Savings Bonds used to finance the war effort. So it's possible that the people in this photo are waiting to see General Eisenhower in a homecoming parade on June 18, 1945, in Monongahela, or maybe the parade actually took place in nearby Pittsburgh. Or perhaps this photo was taken at another in a series of homecoming parades for General Eisenhower. In any case, it's interesting to catch a glimpse of the people who were there in this little window to the past.

For more information, see the uncropped version of this photo:

Two sailors "Just leaving Milwaukee," one with a drink in hand and the other with a gun at the ready! Yikes!

Butter and other products are advertised on the sign painted on the side of this building, which may be the D. A. Griffith & Sons dairy in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Mouse over the image to see a close-up of the sign . D. A. Griffith & Sons Oh boy it's good. Griffith's Home Farm Butter. Made from pure pasteurized cream. One pound net. Guaranteed by D. A. Griffith & Son, Uniontown, Pa. Schlosser's Oak Grove Butter. Farm roll style, 2 lb. Butter, eggs, cheese, milk, smoked meats, etc. Wholesale exclusively. Von Sign Co.

For more information, see the full version of this photo:

An extra wild card photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park on the topic of The Long and Winding Road - road photos, winding or otherwise (submit a photo on this topic each week in addition to—or instead of—a photo for the weekly topic) . Caption: "21 miles east of Cumberland, Md., U.S. 40." Sign: "Top of Green Ridge Mountain. Elevation 1115 feet, 1¼ miles down grade. Descend in second gear when road is wet. Use brakes only to snub to safe speed. State Roads Commission."

Billboard: "The Home of Fry Bros. Turkey Ranch & Dining Rooms. Turkey dinners, $1.25. 24 hour diner service. Tourist home." Caption: "Caulkins, T-58." Here's a 2006 view taken from about the same vantage point (below). The billboard is no longer there, unfortunately.

Slide (probably dating to the 1950s) showing cars parked in front of Watson's Motor Hotel, which was located at 3333 Euclid Avenue (U.S. Route 20), Cleveland, Ohio. Visible in the background is the sign for the Colonial House Motel, 3301 Euclid Avenue. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any trace of either motel on the current Google Maps street view of the area . Main sign: "Watson's Motor Hotel. Restaurant. Elevator. Penthouse suites. Meeting rooms. Air conditioned. AAA approved."

A hotels/motels photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . An undated red-border Kodachrome slide showing two women posing in front of an unidentified motel, probably sometime in the late 1950s.

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide (probably 1950s). The Humpty Dumpty Potato Chip Company was originally a U.S. company (now it's called Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods and is based in Canada), and I believe that this photo of a Humpty Dumpty Potato Chips factory was taken somewhere in Maine in the 1950s.