We do love our ghost signs in Uptown, and recently found out about another one. This one is for the Chicago Motor Club: "You should be a member!" It's located on the back of the building where the Sunlight Nail Supply is located, on the 4800 block of Broadway, between the strip mall and Just Tires, facing the el.
We really don't know how to date this ghost ad. The Chicago Motor Club began in 1902, we learned from this link. One of our older relatives had a suitcase with this logo emblazoned on it, dating from the 1960s.
It amuses us, though, that the sign was apparently targeted to people riding the el... presumably people without cars!
Update: A reader sent us a link from the Uptown History blog of the Chicago Motor Club offices on Broadway in 1977. In fact, even though that photo says it's at Carmen, we're positive it's the very same building with the ghost sign on it, at Gunnison and Broadway. Compare the current facade with the one in the photo. You can even still see the bracket on the building where the CMC sign used to hang.
So, it now makes perfect sense for the ghost ad to be painted on the back of the building. The Texaco station in the background of the 1977 photo is where the strip mall is now. (We love how the logo of the Motor Club is nearly identical to the Texaco service station just behind it.)
Does anyone know anything about the ghost sign on the "Sylvia Center" - aka warehouse, on Clifton by the Wilson El? Its probably from the 60's or 70's. It appears to be an old alderman sign of some sort - and all I can make out is "your man in City Hall."
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