It’s hard to believe this still exists. It’s a classic art deco industrial building, complete with art deco neon sign. And it’s not falling down, or in danger of being razed. It’s as if 70 years of architecture and design have overlooked this little spot on Broadway Street NE in Minneapolis. They seem to know what a rare gem they’ve got, and I hope they never change it.

While I was off doing type things at TypeCon in Buffalo this last July, my partner was off seeing the city. She got a picture of this breathtakingly beautiful old sign. Wow.

I’m a long time fan of the work of Winsor McCay, including his hand-lettered titles. Blogger “Morpheus” has posted a big collection of title panels from McCay’s Little Nemo comics on his “Meeting McCay” blog. Amazing stuff. (Via Boing Boing)

UK reader Aled Williams sent me this photo of a beautiful hand-painted sign on a hardware store in Bristol. Just lovely.

Update (7/12/08): More photos from the same neighborhood by Jon Tan on Flickr.

A couple of weekends ago, I attended the “Back to the Fifties” car show in St. Paul. This was the first time for me, despite the fact that we live within walking distance of the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, where the show takes place every year. Since the cars are always cruising around our neighborhood when the event is held, we never felt a pressing need to pay the admission fee. But this year, I decided to get a closer look.

I was glad I brought my camera. I realized what a great opportunity it was to snap photos of car nameplates—the stylized chrome lettering that adorns automobiles. The Fifties was an especially inventive period for “brightwork,” as it is called. For practical reasons, script styles were most often used—it meant that the nameplate could be molded in a single piece of metal. It was a treasure trove.

Here are some gems that I found:

July 9 Update: I just posted these photos (and a few more) on Flickr where you can see them a bit larger.

I dragged my old paper cutter up from the basement to use for something I was working on, and the “Ingento” label fell off it onto the floor. I had forgotten what a beautiful logo this is. Just lovely.