Really neat to see an actual sign painter at work here! Guessing he painted the sign on the truck as well. Recently here in Cleveland, Ohio and elsewhere, I have been seeing a resurgence of this once-dying art form by new young practitioners who appreciate the old hand lettering like this!

The truck is cool … &, hopefully the owner didn't roll backwards off the roof and into its bed.

Unlike Askew-Trippe Co. Furniture, the sign painter's business appears to simply be called: "Signs of All Kinds." With no personal identifier it kind of makes it challenging for anyone to refer business to him.

I grew up in an old school sign shop. Ice Gang is right. A man and a brush was replace by vinyl letters right after I got out of high school, and in to the craft.

Here in Kansas City, there seems to a Renaissance of hand lettering in the old part of town, and I certainly hope it gains momentum.

This guy reminds me of all the old journeymen that mentored me in my youth. A truck, a ladder, a brush, and a piece of Grumbacher No. 7 charcoal to layout with.

No safety belts, no hand rails. OSHA be damned!

Furniture that is askew does not sell very well. But, what's in a name

The building at 170 Davis Street is still recognizable, though it doesn't have much to do with furniture anymore. It's now a Mexican restaurant. The enclosed rear dining patio overlooks the Chattahoochee River.

A good friend with the last name Pintar told me a story about sign painters. His family had been painters before there was paint. They changed their name from Painter to Pintar in the 1900s.

The type of paint they used required the bricks to be hot so the paint would cure correctly. This meant the sign painter had to do his work with the sun blasting down on the bricks and his back. Lots of sign painters developed carcinoma.

Judging by the shadow under the truck and the painter, it is either a little before high noon or a little after.

I am amazed there is no stencil or trace for the painter to follow. Of course, the two Ps are not exactly the same, but only someone with OCP would notice that.

"Ask about our big Fall sale!"

Really bad, Dave. I nearly fell for it!

I see faint marks that can't really be deciphered. Either vestiges of a previous store name, a Shorpy watermark or the painter doesn't know how to spell 'Furniture'.

I see no hint that he has marked off guide lines for his work and is thus doing it all freehand.

As someone who can't even write his name legibly, I am in awe.

I wanted to be a sign painter, was talked out of it by a retiring painter, he said computers are taking over, and to think I could have owned a classic truck like that if I had not listened to him.

We just don't know at this point.