For years the ghost ad was hidden by billboards; now it sees the sun again. The condition isn’t dandy, and  the ghost seems to have weathered poorly. You can still make out “Sensible Hotel Rates,” and of course we’ll have to take their word for it. I hope no one restores the sign. Downtowns need the ghosts as well as the living.

Before it was rescued and turned into residential, the front was hidden under a Hee-Haw era crapulescent shingled façade. Shingles! That’s all you need to know about the 70s, right there: shingles were generally regarded as an aesthetic improvement over shiny black Vitrolite.