Coke & Baby Furniture Signs in Birmingham

Recently Dianne and I were tooling along 22nd Street downtown. I managed to get a few interesting photos along the way and below is one of them. When the matter involves ghost signs in Birmingham, I always consult Charles Buchanan's  Fading Ads of Birmingham [2012] and there on pages 69-71 are  these two signs and their history.

The building is on 22nd Street and First Avenue North Corner. The top sign is obviously one for Coca-Cola, but the bottom one is difficult to read in my shot unless you blow up the photograph. That sign turns out to say "Storkland Baby Furniture." 

Storkland opened a store at the site around 1976, when Buchanan speculates the signs were painted. The building, constructed in the early 1910's, housed the Alabama Engraving Company on the second floor for many years. Before Storkland moved there from its original Vestavia location, many tenants had occupied the first floor. These included a Greek restaurant, a barber, a bakery, a jeweler and a dictating machine company. 

Storkland has moved more than once; you can read the details at BhamWiki. The ads have faded even more since Buchanan took the photo for his book.