Chicago Ghost Signs: BARNES COFFEE, RIVERVIEW

Revelation before demolition.

Blustery late afternoon, a few springtimes ago. Near Wrigley Field, demolition is in progress to make the space for a new El track.

Bankes Coffee, American Demoliiton. Photo by Ray Pride.

I learned more about Bankes Coffee. Over twenty stores. The Starbucks of its time in Chicago, but for the working class. Here’s a photo of their onetime location at 1644 West Chicago. This building on North Clark was reportedly built in 1894. Vanquished 2018.

Coffee Store with wildposting. Photo by Ray Pride.

The poster to the left with the wheat-paste wildposting was too delicate to remove. Closer, though…

Barnes Coffee Store, detail. Photo by Ray Pride.

Closer to the lettering and the brick, yes, but…

Opening weekend wildposting or Riverview. Photo by Ray Pride.

Could that be an opening weekend poster for Riverview? At Belmont and Western? (There are more photographs of this poster taken closer, with a longer lens.) Riverview opened in 1904.

Ghost sign upon ghost sign, palimpsest peels on brick, revealed to the light after decades behind more brick.