You can spot them all over the worn brick facades of downtown Spokane — relics of a bygone era that disappear a little more each year from the weather and sun. There’s a retro Coca-Cola sign on the west side of the Community Building, and on the next block a two-story advertisement for the long-defunct Globe Hotel boasts “75¢ and up” rooms with “steam heat and private baths.” Now called “ghost signs,” these pre-neon billboards of yore offer a tangible look into Spokane’s past, and are the subject of an upcoming walking tour hosted by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. Spend a Saturday morning strolling the streets and spotting these signs with MAC archivist Anna Harbine, who’s been working with other local researchers to catalog and document more than 80 legible ghost signs across the city, most painted in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Sat, July 21 from 10-11:30 am • $18/members; $20/non-members • Starts at the Historic Davenport Hotel • 10 S. Post • northwestmuseum.org • 456-3931