Melbourne ghost signs

Melbourne's cityscape, reflective of its continual renewal, is peppered with "ghost signs", obscured pieces of history pointing to our common heritage, ready to be picked up by the keen eye and quick shutter. Sean Reynolds, a transplanted American, takes you on a tour of fascinating photos — sometimes nostalgic, sometimes gaudy — and the stories behind them — variously delightful, heroic, and tragic. Find the cities behind the city you thought you knew, one ghost sign at a time.Reynolds first became fascinated by these old signs while walking in Yarraville and Footscray with his young daughter during their daily lockdown outings. He loved the hand-painted letters, the intricate glasswork, and the old factories marketing brands he’d never heard of before: big names like Uncle Tobys and Four’n Twenty, but also smaller ones, no less important, like ‘Miss Watson’s Motor Garage’ or the ‘St Kilda Coffee Palace’.