I have a new love ... it's wall adverts. You know - every town's got 'em. Those shadowy ads painted on the brick walls of old town businesses. Then there are the old barns with "Chew Mail Pouch" and "See 7 States From Rock City." If you'd like to see my collection, click here.

Cher

cher, those are great! danbury (the town i grew up in) has some really neat ones. the town i live in now has none, but about a year ago some did a mural of the town (or something) on a side wall, and it came out pretty well. i'd like to see how it looks years to come ...

Ugg. I like the old kind, but the entire concept has left a bitter taste in my mouth. Here's why...
Clear Channel owns pretty much all of the billboards in Portland. They decided they wanted to do more full wall ads. In response, City Hall passed an ordinance limiting the size of such ads. Well...Clear Channel, being the capitalistic bastards they are, played the "No fair" card saying that murals should ALSO abide by this rule. So, you literally could not paint a mural on your own building for a time.
I'm not exactly sure where the law stands now. I'm seeing more and more wall ads pop up over the city - so I assume that the law had some type of compromise or something - but yeah, pretty much ruined most wall ads for me (as well as most Portlanders).
Like I said, I know you're probably talking about the types that have been around for years - the type that is arguably a piece of found art. - not the type that has some sick looking girl encouraging everyone to "party like a rock star" or drink Budweisers." Yeah, the whole capitalist against the artist scenario, lol.

There's a town mural on the old Gimbel Corner building which is beautiful in its own faded way. I took a photo of it earlier this summer and am I glad that I did. It's being repainted this week. The same mural just repainted. The artist is doing a good job, but it takes the 'quaintness' away for me.

Cher