Lowell has many “ghost signs” on buildings where you can see remnants of a beautiful, painted, historic advertisement. Restoring them probably isn’t feasible in the short term, but we could recreate the sign on a computer and use a projector to throw the image up on the building in its original location at night.
Ghost Sign Projections
Idea:
Benefit:
Captures an interesting fragment of lost history, adds interesting nighttime feature making Lowell feel more active and alive after dark, and builds interest in possible larger project to restore.
Example:
Sounds like a great idea to emphasize Lowell historic buildings, and make them pop up over others, making people to always recognize them or to get the right attention of the new people who moves to Lowell.
The Uneeda Biscuit sign on Merrimack St. would be good to do – it’s almost gone.
Also, Spindle City Corps did an inventory of these signs maybe 15 years ago. Maybe CTI has the info, as they took over SCC about 2008.
Lastly, Kim Robinson (who, among other things, is finishing a mural at the back of the Robinson School to honor a pollinator garden with pictures of milkweeds and monarchs), worked on one of the murals on Merrimack St. decades ago and might be able to share info about it.
My phone # is (978) 452-4101 (quickest way to reach me – leave a message.)
Making these permanent, as well as somehow getting the city to re-light the sun sign would make Lowell much more vibrant at night. Not sure if this project is still ongoing but I am interested.