Crazy Cat

Elizabeth St, Melbourne

Photo courtesy of Kitten Wrangler

What this cat is doing here, how it got there, and what if anything it was advertising remains a mystery (until I can be bothered trying to find out). He just sits there, poking his gigantic head above the surrounding streetscape, possible trying to catch pigeons with his two dimensional tongue. Or not, whatevs.

Women
Random Public Toilet, Neerim Rd, Murrumbeena
Photo Courtesy of Kitten Wrangler
God love 'em. Before you give me funny looks for hanging around toilet blocks, note that I didn't take this pic. That said, both Kitten Wrangler and I are in love with the font choice.

Newman's Have Removed

Collins St (I think), Melbourne

Photo courtesy of Kitten Wrangler

'Have removed'. How quaint. Also, note how it's painted over another still older sign, all of which we can read is 'jewellers'.

Bulla Cream

Corner Arden and Leveson Streets, North Melbourne

Lovely font. I assume this building is now full of over-priced apartments.

Melbourne Folk Club

East Brunswick Club, Lygon Street East, Brunswick

Where's a good folk club when you need it nowadays?

Electrical Repairs

Munro Street, Brunswick

Masonic Catering Service

Maribyrnong Rd, Maribyrnong

An exclusive for the old masonic hall. That's right, just call 370 8696.

Ancient Bus Stop (Route 74A)

Corner Maribyrnong and Ascot Vale Roads, Ascot Vale

Any guesses as to how old this must be? I'm plumping for 40's, 50's at the latest.

Old Street Signage

Fern Avenue and Rae Court, Toorak

There's a few more of these scattered around in this neck of the woods, one can only assume they used to be everywhere. These are just two examples off Williams Rd Toorak that have escaped the clutches of the 21st century.

Not Kosher

7-11, Hawthorn Rd Caulfield South

You know you're in Caulfield when...

Fork Please

Willesden Rd, Hughesdale

Do Not Piss Here

Latrobe Street, Melbourne

This sign is a pisser.

Sorry.

Dulux

Jaydee Paint and Hardware, Racecourse Rd Flemington

The shop itself has come crazy-weird crap in it, but this old Dulux sign is gold.

Old Mechanic

Flemington Rd North Melbourne

This place, across the road from the Royal Women's Hospital, is plastered with old painted signage like that above. I bet the inside is an absolute goldmine - sparkplug ads from the 60's, a nude calendar for the year 1977, that sort of thing.

Commit (No) Nuisance

Heffernan Lane, Melbourne

Photo Courtesy of Chloe Wilson

A new piece, in the style of an old sign, telling people to commit no nuisance. Oh, okay then, I won't. I mean, there's a sign and everything.

This pic serves as a sequel to this one, my first post, and I think somes up this entire project nicely. Perversely this one is mean to be a piss-take on the former, the artist stencilling the refrain 'commit nuisance'. Someone has then come and added in the 'no' themselves. Is that in itself a nuisance, or was the original stencil, or both, or neither? I'm confused.

No Smoking

Melbourne Exhibition Centre (aka Jeff's Shed), Clarendon St Southbank.

This single beam hangs in the otherwise soulless, cavernous corridor running down the side of the Exhibition Centre. Apparently it's an old oregon floor beam that was ripped up during renovations in 1985, 11 years before the current building was opened by (vomit) Jeff Kennett.

What of course remains to be explained is why the old building had no smoking signs painted on the floor.

Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron

Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park

This building looks like it's now an empty shell, so this sign might have seen its last days.

V Line Maintenance Depot (E Gate)

Footscray Road, West Melbourne

It's only a matter of time before this sign gets swallowed up by the rapidly exploding Docklands (this is near the site of the gigantic new ferris wheel) I bet there's a whole bunch of cool stuff in this depot to photograph, but it's the type of place you don't want to wander around uninvited with a camera.

You know this is old - check out the prehistoric phone number.