Painted Advert for Omaha Coffee

This is an old painted advertising "poster" for Advo Coffee found in the basement of the old store. It is pretty much the only "history detective" kind of thing found in the building after I purchased it. It was nailed face up to the ceiling 2x12s along with other cardboard which "saved it" from being thrown out. However, it was almost lost to history when one evening I decided to rip down all the old cardboard. As I ripped away, the years of coal dust, which had been sitting on top of the cardboard, clouded the air in the basement. However, after the dust started to settle I notice a deep red under some of the remaining dust. Getting down from my ladder I brushed away more dust to discover writing. That lead to a mad dash out into the night and into the dumpster. I rescued all the pieces I could find. However, there was one piece I just couldn't find anywhere and given its' size of about an 1'x1' I gave up. This was back in Nov/Dec of 2006.

Here is a close up of the missing R after it was miraculously found in the basement in November 2007. I moved the R out of place so it would be easier to see. I was really shocked to find the remaining letter because I had looked for it many times and had given up hope. Over that past couple of year I have cleaned the basement several times. My sister helped out one day last fall by vacuuming up the entire basement with a shot vac after we had torn down a plaster wall upstairs. Some of the plaster made its way through the wall into the basement so a clean up was really needed. Just one month after the last basement clean up I was kneeling on the floor and smoothing out fresh cement I had just fixed around the basement floor drain. I reached back with the trowel, to set in down out of my way, and out of the corner of my eye I saw something red. On the floor, right next to me was the piece of wood with the gold R on it. Where had come from I had no idea but I was very glad to have it find me on many levels.

The next step is a visit to the Ford Conservation Center in Hanscom Park neighborhood to talk with the conservators their and find out when I can bring it in to be put back together and properly restored.

Mural From the Old Grocery Store

Photo of the mural that used to be in the store. It was not destroyed but has moved on. If you have any history of the mural please let me know.

Commercial Space from Interior

Here is the newly refinished store space at the end of Nov 2007, ready for a tenant to move in. The old carpet was removed and replaced. The hvac was replaced and the old overhead ductwork was taken down and replaced by ductwork in the basement. The overhead florescent tub lighting had some repairs and the "milk house" pan down lights were still in working order.

Here is the store space up until the fall of 2007. The last remaining shelf from the Mike's grocery store was still in the space. About 85% of the commercial tile floor had been covered over will duel color carpet squares and in the back of the space 15% was covered by a large carpet remnent. You can still see the square ductwork hanging from the center of the ceiling.

These are about all the photos I can show of the progression/transfromation of the store space. Unfortunately my camera was stole that I had been using to digitally document the transformation of the store space :(