A project I’ve been working on, in fits and starts, over the last couple of years is documenting vintage signage around Silicon Valley, and particularly around San Jose. West San Carlos Street in San Jose has a wealth of signage, but if you look all around you at the horizon, you can see new development everywhere, creeping in to replace the old.
You’ve got to love a pun as bad as this one: “Oh See!” exclaims the sign for O.C McDonald Plumbing. Founded in 1906, they claim to have installed the city’s first air conditioning system.
Just a block away is Westside Billiards. That sign is probably from the 1950s, but the 8-ball may have been added later.
You can see all my signage sketches so far here in this flickr album. Or, search ‘vintage signs’ on my blog and see all my posts of them. If you know of signs in the area I should sketch, let me know!
Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook 
Amazing work, I am instantly a big fan and very inspired…i just created my account and havent even started to write my first blog, maybe just waiting for the right moment, i am also an artist doing caricatures and portraits for friends around the globe…your work is awesome, thank you for sharing.
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Love this series. Having lived in the Burbank area for many years, I get nostalgic seeing your sketches. I really missed some interesting sketching opportunities when I was there!
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lovely work indeed!
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