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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

signs: Pat's Renewing (historical)

Key Route

The other week at the Temescal Street Fair, one booth that caught my eye was selling historical photos. The guy said he buys old negatives off eBay and prints them to sell. Of course my attention went straight to the Oakland ones.

Being a fan of the Key Route, I ended up choosing a picture showing a Key Route train running along Piedmont Avenue. It wasn't until after I'd purchased it that K pointed out that in the background was a familiar sign, the Shoe Renewing sign. In the picture it's Pat's Renewing, with "Pat's" in neon, and the same distinctive shoe shape. The date on the photo is 1940, which fits with the Key Route being active. In any event, nice to see an old sign still around!

Pat's Renewing


Shoe Renewing

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3 comments:

  1. Oakland Daily PhotoJuly 19, 2011 at 10:55 AM

    What a great find. Explains the holes for neon pipes in the current sign. I was at the fair but missed this booth . Drat.

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  2. UnknownJuly 19, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    Yeah, I was pleased enough with the picture, but doubly so when K pointed out the sign. You can also see the tower on top of Fenton's peeking up behind the second car.

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  3. -Greg StemlerSeptember 19, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    Another really old sign that is still up is a highway sign at the intersection of Ashby and San Pablo (Hwy 13 @ Hwy 123).
    heading north on Ashby, before you get to ashby is the old sign pointing the way to various cities. I noticed this a couple years ago and sadly it has recently been tagged.
    look for it.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=oakland&hl=en&ll=37.851999,-122.287422&spn=0.000346,0.000627&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.736609,57.480469&vpsrc=6&t=h&deg=90&z=21&layer=c&cbll=37.851999,-122.287422&panoid=6wioracQP0GmHa7HcDJ_PQ&cbp=12,116.77,,2,8.02

    ReplyDelete