Tag: lettering

I don’t know which I like more: the gold lettering (particularly how the ascender of the lower case h morphs into the ornate swirl of the upper case r); or the reflection of the apartment building opposite, distorted by the imperfections in the glass. Both are shown to advantage by the well-matched rich burgundy of the window frame and brickwork. But I wonder what the Roosevelts would think of their antipodean presence! Not far from this apartment block is the infamous Roosevelt Bar and Diner, opened in 1947, where Frank Sinatra performed, and the problem of prohibition of the sale of alcohol after 6pm was solved by having the patrons order their drinks before the deadline.

Swiss hotelier César Ritz started it all in the early twentieth century with his luxury hotels. To live in elegance and luxury, especially in an ostentatious manner, or to dress fashionably, is to put on the ritz. Irving Berlin wrote a song about it: Fred Astaire danced it, Ella Fitzgerald swinged it, Mel Brooks parodied it, Bertie Wooster made a hash of it (until Jeeves set him right), the Leningrad Cowboys speed-metalled it. The swanky Ritz Hotel in London serves a very nice traditional afternoon tea — more, I think, than you could hope for at the Ritz Holiday Flats, despite the quite lovely script lettering of its name and the evocative palm tree.

From a distance I was not particularly taken with this lettering, perhaps because it is a vertical word, which never seems to read right – a bit like those awful logos that use the same initial cap for both words as an attempt at a design feature but invariably end up ugly and illegible instead. However, the ‘T’ was at eye level, where closer inspection and a different view was unavoidable. What I like is that there has obviously been an attempt to make it stand out from the crowd and that care has been taken in the attention to detail. The overkill of keyline, shadow and outline miraculously works to convey pride of ownership and a bold and welcoming jauntiness.

I didn’t partake of these delicacies at the time because it was a sunny and unseasonably mild day, and the warm red, round-cornered lettering was not enough to tempt me. This cold morning, however, as I sit here with the heater on and half a mind to get back under the warm blankets, it’s another matter. I wish that donut van was here now, because I would most certainly be lured by the jammy colour and evocative letter forms.

The Geelong and District Poultry Club Annual Super Show was held on the weekend, and I had the good fortune to be in the vicinity! There were all sorts: chooks that looked so much like raptors it was a relief they were so small; huge fluffballs that didn’t look like chickens at all; chooks with beautiful multicoloured plumage that changed colour and shimmered in the light; bad-hair-day chooks; black chooks; white chooks; mottled chooks; even Foghorn Leghorn was there. The magnificent Rhode Island Red was almost declared champion of the day, his only shortcoming being his not-quite-big-enough size, but (no surprises here) my vote went to the noticeboard of certificates from the 1920s and 30s.

This K was a surprise find, especially because I have driven past it many times without realising it was there. I like its bold graphic nature and its hand-cut appearance, and that despite its large size it is well camouflaged under its protective awning. As I travelled a little further down the road to my destination I caught a whiff of something in the air, and, being in no particular hurry, I started exploring, in search of this mysterious but oh-so-familiar smell. And suddenly there it was, another large but completely unrelated red K on a factory chimney: inside they were cooking up a storm of cornflakes.

I’ve been seeing quite a few shop awnings lately which feature this cursive writing style. The Rio looks like it has seen better days, but the writing is pleasingly elegant and surprisingly well preserved compared to its companions. And I like the mix of colour and texture of the building above it – the falling-off shingles and the painted brick and the splash of terracotta on the windowsill.