Vernacular Type Stockton, California

Vernacular Type East Main Street Stockton, California

Contents History

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Electric

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Commerce

Painted Script

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31

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4

27

7

Sans Serif

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Metal

Raised

Serif

Recessed Inlay

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Legend 18

Sans Serif

Stone

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13

Public Utility

Wood

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Serif

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1. Fair Hotel 2. Bob Hope Theater 3. Bank of Stockton Electric 4. Fox Theater 5. Louie’s Market 6. Hunter 7. The Golden Rose 8. Abraham Lincoln Quote 9. MLK Jr. Quote 10. Kress Building Painted

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East Main Street 14

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11. Bank of Stockton Painted 12. Hotel St. Leo 13. Bank of Stockton Painted 14. GFAF Bakery 15. Berger’s Manufacturing 16. Cort Tower 17. California Building 18. Stockton Savings 19. Kress Metal 20. Phil & Harry

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21. Stockton Monarch 22. Mays Manufacturing 23. Levy Building 24. Velvacon Paints 25. Commercial Building 26. Solario’s 27. Ticket Office 28. California Building Stone 29. Firefighter Concrete

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30. Gardeners Building 31. David Levinson 32. Safe Deposit

History Stockton, California, formerly known as Tuleburg or Mudville, began as “tent town” and officially was erected on July 23, 1850. When Stockton was first founded in 1850, they used to create signs and posters by hand, painting letters and designs. These early signs were like little works of art, with fancy, hand-drawn letters that reflected the times. As the town grew in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the signs on Main Street had letters that looked quite fancy and artistic.

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Hotel Fair: An abandoned hotel on the corner of San Joaquin St and E Main St.

They used intricate, flowery fonts with lots of decorations. This showed off the city’s prosperity and how

Bob Hope Theater: Still in use today, this theater serves the public with live entertainment

much people cared about making their signs look beautiful. Around this time the Bank of Stockton and Bob Hope theater were established and became cornerstones of electronic signs in downtown Stockton.

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Fox Theater: This theater is one in the same with Bob Hope, the sign is still lit to this day

Electric Electric signs in Downtown Stockton are a more recent reflection of the city’s signage.

Since most of the signs are from businesses that no longer exist, they truly act as art from a different decade that leaves the viewer wondering what it would have looked like lit up in its heyday.

Louie’s Market: Now closed, this business served Stockton for 75 years

Bank of Stockton: The well known electric sign 6

Commerce The Bank of Stockton electric sign is one that can be recognized by any Stockton native. Each letter is about one and a half feet tall in a serif all-caps font.

The Bob Hope Theater, still in business today, is a featured location. The text in the sign is similar to that of Bank of Stockton, a blocky all-caps serif font that contains neon tubes.

The Fox Theater sign above the theater is a more elaborate sign that draws in the eye. The typography is bold and similar the electric Bank of Stockton sign that stands kitty corner to the theater. The Hotel Fair, adjacent to the Bob Hope Theater, contains a similar white block letter font. The building now sits abandoned and boarded up. Louie’s Market, which has been temporarily closed since 2020, was in business for 75 years. The family owned establishment prided themselves on old school service, the sign reflects this as well. The common theme of all-caps sans-serif is seen repeated here again.

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Painted

The Golden Rose: This barber shop is the oldest in the county according to the owner

A commonplace occurrence all throughout the downtown area of Stockton is text painted directly onto buildings.

While there are many cases of ghost type, new businesses have joined in and added their own flare.

Script

Hunter: This sign sits on an unmarked abandoned building 8

The two signs on the corner of N California and East Main are hand painted script fonts that depict quotes from two prominent American figures in history. Each sign is meant to cover a broken window

in an abandoned building that stands at least ten stories tall.

Hotel St. Leo opened in 1913. It housed the traveling salesman as well as the out of town elite.

The text is entirely decorative and gives the feeling of opulence that the hotel imbibed.

Street Quotes: These quotes cover shattered windows in attempt to beautify the street

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Hotel St. Leo: An opulent place in it’s day that featured forced air ventilation 10

Serif There are a few different iterations of a painted Bank of Stockton sign at their first flagship location on East Main.

The building features a hand painted sign of their logo directly on the glass above the front door filled with gilding inside of a blocky all-

caps serif font. Another lies on the back side of the building in more of a large scale billboard style, also using an all-caps block font. The sign was painted in the early 1900’s yet is still maintained by the bank that still operates about one block away.

The Golden Rose barber shop that was established in 1917 utilizes a similar serif font with gold lettering. While their sign has recently been revamped by a local artist the style remains Bank of Stockton: These old signs sit on an abandoned building but are still cared for

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in fashion with the early 1900’s when the shop was established.

Another advertisement for the Kress building on the backside of their establishment can be seen from East Main Street. The text is identical to the metal version on the front of the building, all that differs is a red background.

Sans Serif The GFAF Bakery is a modern day example of painting branding directly on the building. The sign utilizes a modern sans-serif font in all-caps that features a tagline in script.

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GFAF Bakery: This bakery took a note from it’s older neighbors and painted their branding directly on the wall

Metal

The Berger’s System: Still in business today, they create “sidewalk lights” embedded in concrete

Metal is often used in items that are intended to have longevity or possibly an industrial function. Since Stockton was founded in the 1800’s many metal items along the street are from as far back as the early 1900’s. In similarity with painted signs downtown, early settlers of Stockton intended these items to last forever.

Raised The Berger’s System Manufacturing Company was originally opened 13

in 1886 in Ohio. The badge marks “sidewalk lights”. These lights were simply thick glass circles implanted into the sidewalk to allow light to pass through to basements. The California Building adjacent to the Bob Hope Theater, was established in 1917. This sign commemorates the addition of Stockton’s very own skyscraper.

The text protrudes from a metal sign that is about a .5 inches thick.

The Stockton Savings Bank sign is similar to the California Building sign. Cort Tower was built in 1915 in the style of Beaux-arts renaissance revival style. Owned by the Cort Companies, Bank of America, and the Grupe Company throughout the years, this building served as an opulent bank in its time. The typography of the sign reflects the time of Beaux-arts movement with its 14

Cort Tower: Owned by the richest families in Stockton, this was the first bank branch in town

Federal Burglar Alarm: Positioned on the Bank of Stockton building to thwart criminals in its heyday

Historical Signs: These signs are official historical building markers indicated in the National Register

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Kress Department Store: An art-deco movement that is attributed to being similar to todays Rite-Aid.

heavy ornate qualities. The Federal Burglar alarm is a remnant of an advanced system from the time the system was established at Bank of Stockton. It is presumed there is a bell inside the box that would alarm local law enforcement of trouble.

The Kress building was erected in 1930 in the Art Deco style. The owner, Samuel H. Kress wanted the building to be seen purely as a work 16

of art. It is said that this store is the modern day equivalent of a Rite-Aid Store. The serif typography that appears many times around the building is made to be clean and visible from afar yet given a flare with its bottom curve.

Public Utility Utility Covers: These covers are left from early Stockton’s establishment but can still be found on the sidewalk today

It is very common that utility covers be made of metal for longevity sake as mentioned before. These covers are all found embedded in the sidewalk and represent the early typography style that Stockton utilized. It was typical to mark utilities in all-caps sansserif fonts that were raised or stamped into the metal with their private company names.

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Wood Wood is a less permanent substrate to make signs out of, there are few left around Main Street that have interesting typography.

Serif The ticket counter at the Bob Hope Theater is very simple by making use of title case letter forms and displaying it justified to the right. To the left of the text you can see a Bud Light logo has been covered up with tape.

Velvacon Paints on the corner of N Stanislaus Street displays its sign written in serif wooden letters. In true 18

The Levy Building: Sits empty today, but was once a fully rented apartment building

commercial fashion, the type is in all-caps.

Velvacon Paints: This shop is now Benjamin Moore, however the old sign still stands.

Sans Serif The Commercial Building and the Levy Building towards N California Street are almost identical in their style. The type sits at the top of the building just under the roof line and protrudes away from the structure. Both fonts are geometric and do not use any curved lines while representing letter forms in all-caps.

Commerical Building: Adjacent to the Levy Building, this was also apartments previously.

Solorio’s: Closed in the early 2000’s and sits just as it was left, closing sale banner and all.

Bob Hope Theater: This sign hangs over the ticket window 19

Stone Considering the median age of buildings downtown, stone text is in abundance from classic art deco buildings to informational signage at landmarks.

Firefighter Dedication: This plaque sits a the Bob Hope Theater under a shady tre

The California Building: This concrete imprint is positioned on the corner stone of the California Building

The Gardener Building: This building w downtown Stockton

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e sits at the bottom of a tree across from ady tree

Recessed On the corner of Grant and San Joaquin Street an unmarked building sits with an embedded street sign.

The letters appear to have been made with a form or a stamp that pushes into the concrete form. Similarly the Gardener Building and California Building contain recessed type that appears to be pressed into the surface.

The firefighter commemorative plaque across the street from the Bob Hope Theater is set in a concrete block that has been stamped inwards or possibly made with a form from initial pouring. The letter forms are in an all-caps sans-serif thin style.

ding was once used as a social hub in

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Inlay The David Levinson Women’s Department Store was on the first floor of the California Building. The typography is made of modular squares that form the well known all-caps sansserif combination found so often downtown.

Other David Levinson Department Store: The bottom floor of the California Building once showcased this department store.

Safe Deposit: This sign is seen above a secondary entrance at the Bank of Stockton

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The Safe Deposit sign can be found on the Bank of Stockton building.

The letter forms are three dimensional and consist of a serif font in all-caps that mimics thick and thin strokes.

Index B

G

Bank of Stockton 5, 7, 11, 16, 22 Beaux-arts 14 Berger’s System Manufacturing Company 13 Bob Hope Theater 7, 14, 18, 21

Gardener Building 21 GFAF Bakery 12 Grupe 14

C

H Hotel Fair 7 Hotel St. Leo 9

California Building 14, 21, 22 Commercial Building 19 Cort Tower 14

K

D

Levy Building 19 Louie’s Market 7

David Levinson Women’s Department Store 22

E East Main 11

Kress 12, 16

L S Stockton Savings Bank 14

T The Golden Rose 11

F

V

Fox Theater 7

Velvacon Paints 18 23

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