my walls, part 1

The 'reading room' that is... ;-) or in other words easiest (smallest) one to start with if we're all gonna really do this "show us your walls" thing...? :-) <giggle> Hanging over the ca. 1954 wall tile, these are just a precious few of my favorite road signs which have earned themselves "inside display". ;-)

The "NO PARKING" over the showerhead (which I need to show here on its own too one of these days, that thing's an amazing old relic of plumbing history in its own right) is aluminum and has a wonderful sorta 'crazed' patina to its surface. (which sadly doesn't show in the pic here) Next to it are an old steel "ONE WAY" arrow (which formerly served somewhere in PA IIRC, note the two small bullet holes right under the 'WA') and an orange "DETOUR" arrow. (it is aluminum and served in OH I think?) Continuing around is a City of LR "CRIME WATCH", this one (randomly spotted then quickly acquired at somebody's garage sale locally a few yrs ago) is also aluminum but is not the 'current generation' of such signs, which no longer carry the 'LR Police Department' line at their bottoms like this one does.

[maybe I'm just way weird, but I somehow am still continually amused by the fact that, instead of spotting 'neighborhood crime', those creepy eyes on this sign now just watch me in my shower instead...apparently the neighborhood wherever it really came from *wasn't* in fact so thoroughly protected by nosy neighbors spying on each other...??] <LOLOLOL>

Next to it over the window (with its Crown Royal bags curtain, otherwise shown here somewhere already) is a plastic sign panel which came from service on SEPTA commuter trains. (I believe, that's the story it came with which I've never had reason to disbelieve, anyway?) It is actually two sided with a different legend and number on its other side.

The "NO PARKING AT ANY TIME" over the commode tank is actually a cardboard sign in a cheap plastic 'frameless frame'. It is perhaps the most unique (if not quite the oldest) amongst my bathroom signs, in that I acquired it as a teenager and have had it ever since -- way back then my hometown city (Galesburg, IL) utilized cardboard signs like this stapled to thin wooden stakes/posts to mark temporary NO PARKING areas during things like parades/etc.

To its right, the "HAND DRYER PUSH BUTTON" is indeed an authentic aluminum sign made just like any other road sign. These were (briefly) used in interstate rest areas here when apparently somebody was experimenting with hand dryers which weren't just a white box hanging on the wall, instead the machine itself was somewhere behind the wall and only the button (thus these signs) and an air nozzle were exposed to public view/abuse. <rolleyes> (AFAIK that experiment failed BTW...?)

The actual big chrome button with it is also authentic from one of the still more typical wall-mount hand dryers, which I picked up off the floor of a random gas station restroom somewhere many yrs ago after (I stress!) *somebody else* beat the h*ll outta the thing for reasons unknown to me. After I then got the sign much later, I eventually also got the inspiration to make up the little panel to hold them both (from wood scraps @ the shop, spray painted white) such that there actually is a spring behind the button such that it can really be 'pushed' and will then return, though it doesn't do a d*mn thing but just move...?? <LOL>