Last Sunday, when Fatidjah Nestman looked out of her high-rise on West 13th she noticed that an old painted ad for White’s Grocery had popped up when construction workers removed the cement siding from a building on Granville Street. Her neighbor, Karen Fiorini, took this picture of the ghost sign and kindly sent it to me.
“I wonder how old this is?” Nestman wrote. “The phone number Bay 433 predates the ‘60s.”
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
It certainly does.
White’s Grocery, a neighborhood store, was at 2932 Granville from 1915, when the building first appears in the city directories, until 1931. It was owned by Thomas and Mary White, who also lived nearby on 13th Avenue.
In 1932, the Whites moved their grocery store to a new building in the next block at #3039, and their former store became Treasures and Oriental Goods, owned and operated by a Mrs. Clark who lived in an apartment above. Mrs. Clark ran the store until 1950 when it changed to D’Arcy’s photography studio.
In 2018, the ground floor retail store at 2932 Granville belongs to Lord’s–shoes, clothing and accessories, and wedged between a women’s clothing boutique and a lingerie shop. The four apartments with the big bay windows, look empty.
On Monday, Fatidjah sent me this message: “Good thing we got the photo yesterday, today they are nailing siding over it,” she said. “It was a dream, now it’s gone, I wonder if the workers took any photos?”
I highly doubt it. But I guess that’s why they’re called ghost signs, because of their ephemeral existence.
Most of the ghost signs that have appeared, seem to be from the 1920s and ’30s. Other signs that have popped up include Rennie Seeds in False Creek, Shelly’s Bakery on Victoria Drive, Moneys Mushrooms on Prior Street, Wildrose Flower in Chinatown and Royal Crown Soap on the London Hotel on East Georgia and Main Street.
For more on ghost signs see Lani Russwurm’s great piece at Past Tense Vancouver
And, if you know of any others currently standing, please send me a photo and location!
- We’ll continue our ride along the North Shore’s Spirit Trail in November
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