Save the “Smith’s Shoes” Sign
Decatur Metro | August 22, 2009
Scott’s panoramic pic of Smith’s.
A couple days ago, Dave posted a pic at InDecatur that showed an old “Smith’s Shoes” sign had reappeared over Sage’s old location on the Square. On seeing it, I hoped this meant the new owners of the Iberian Pig were bringing a piece of history back to the Square. Today I received word that this isn’t part of the plan. According to a source, The Pig has plans to paint over the old sign.
I’m hoping we can change their mind.
The owner and tenants of this building ultimately can do what they want, but Decatur has already lost far too much of its history. We cannot rebuild any of the old distinctive buildings and neighborhoods or rebuild the intricate web of city streets lost during invasion of massive buildings and parking lots.
But we can individually try to save pieces of what remains.
And though I can understand the hesitation to retain a sign that could be seen as confusing to new Pig patrons, I’d argue that the old sign would more than make up for any momentary confusion by providing this rather ordinary 1920s commercial building with distinctive character that would separate it from every other business on the Square. “The Iberian Pig. Under the Smith’s Shoe’s Sign on Decatur Square” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Comment below to show your support and perhaps together we can help save this piece of Decatur history.
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Or can the Iberian Pig at least figure out a way to put a sign over it without destroying the original. The old and new together–you see that look a lot in lower Manhattan.
I just biked over to Decatur and made sure I saw the Smith’s Shoes sign. I love old retail signs like this. I hope the owners can keep the sign visible, it adds to the ambiance of the square.
Keep the sign !
The original tipster now reports that Frederick at the Iberian Pig has decided to keep the sign!
A gracious and much-appreciated contribution to our community. An extra hardy welcome to the Pig!
Smart move. In grown up cities, the iconic, ironic and authentic have appreciated and have value. Thanks for preserving the signage. I will frequent your The I. Pig more often and tip generously.
Me too, BRAD STEELE.
And that graciousness will be rewarded with at least one visit by Mr. Libre & me– many more, if the Pig ends up being as good as it looks like it’ll be!
Wahoo!
That sign is too cool to be painted over. Thanks, inDecatur and DM.
Great news! I was fortunate to get to work with Mr. Smith the last years of his life. I have a piture of him somewhere standing in front of the sign when Sage uncovered it after the Grog Shop closed. Will try and find it.
That would be great Rodney! Send it along if you’re successful in finding it!
For the first time, I disagree 100% with Decatur Metro, which never happens….love this blog & always look forward to updates. Here goes my rant…
I understand the sentiment, but c’mon…… Pressuring a business in THIS economy into keeping an old sign from a previous business on their storefront is just not fair, and if the sign was not already under protection from some historical society then why put the owners through this????
I am sure the city will benefit MORE from the revenue stream of this business being a success than from some old sign. This sign would be very confusing to people who do not live here but want to visit & spend their money here. Decatur is getting greater buzz as a place to visit for food and nightlife. Why should this business suffer because potential customers pass them by, thinking their location is some out-of-date shoe store?
If it were so important to keep the sign, why haven’t steps already been taken to protect it before some unknowing soul set up shop there? SOUnds like there has been plenty of time. I am sure if any of us were in the owners position, we would not be happy. Basically, if the owners paint over the sign, they are seen as bad, greedy souless capitalists. I’ve lived here 31 years and appreciate keeping some of the elements of the past, but this is a little much.
Also, I imagine the if the sign is kept, the owners will then have to compensate with a larger, more attention-grabbing (ie: garish) sign in addition to make sure they are visible.
I’m all for preservation, but forcing a business to retain a former businesses painted sign seems a little over the top. Commission a photographer to take pictures – or , pay the business to have the sign covered non-permanently, but it is wrong to put them in this position, in my humble opinion.
It isn’t an undiscovered cave drawing. There, I’m done. Love ya Metro!
There’s a flaw in your argument, CR, and that’s that keeping the Smith’s painted facade creates some sort of burden or obstacle to being a successful business. In a place like Decatur, I think quite the opposite is true.
The best evidence of this is that Sage discovered the Smith’s lettering when they renovated the space originally, and they kept it by choice. It’s been right there, under their awning, all the years they were open. Did this cause their customers confusion? I don’t think so.
Moreso, though, is something Brad said that reinforces my main point: Decatur has become a destination (i.e. has provided increasing commercial opportunity) by providing a strong antidote to the everyday. Our biggest draws are unique in their own ways and everything that stems from the nuances of their space is part of that draw. If people want blank slate, maximized-for-conventional-retail sensibilities, they can go anywhere. A restaurant with some lingering nod to the toil and joy that’s existed in the space for years seems much more in line with why people come here when they could just as easily go many other places.
Just my thoughts, anyways. I know Austin’s got a lock on the phrase, but a perpetually weird Decatur is AOK with me. It’s served us well so far.
“forcing a business to retain a former businesses painted sign seems a little over the top”
Nobody’s forcing anyone to do anything.
If every new business/store were required to keep all previous business/store signs displayed, it would be difficult to determine which business you are looking for or entering! I think there is a practical limit to this idea, so I agree with CoventryResident.
” . . .why haven’t steps already been taken to protect it before some unknowing soul set up shop there” . . .
Is it OK to insert punning into actual debates?
Perhaps it was Mr. Smith’s sole that stepped into the place first.
. . . eh-hem
Hahaha! I really did laugh out loud at that one.
I’ve lived in Decatur over 31 years, and I have the right to express my opinions also. I thought the purpose of this site was to express opinions about our community. even though they may not be exactly the same as everyone else. I usually keep my own counsel, but asking a business to keep a sign of an previous business just because you want them to seems a little crazy to me.
Steve: it would be naive to propose that soliciting the community in which this establishment resides to “Save the Smith Shoe Sign” (as this entry is titled, I believe) would not have an effect on the owner’s ultimate decision….Perhaps I should have used the word “bully” instead…. It is still my opinion that the sign has relevance to only some in the community.
Scott: my entry was not an “argument”, just my opinion on the matter. If I wanted to argue, I’d call my mother.
Hey CoventryResident, I understand your concern.
First off let me clarify that it wasn’t this post that convinced the Pig to keep the sign. After I wrote back to the “tipster” they said that after they had written me the previous day, the owner had decided to keep the sign. So really this post had nothing to do with the decision.
But that doesn’t have anything to do with your underlying point…essentially that should this site be used to influence (or “bully”) the decisions of business owners or residents or political officials? It’s an interesting position to be in and I would be lying to say that I don’t struggle with it on occasion (especially as the site has become more popular and morphed into a more news-driven site).
But this sign is a piece of our city’s history and who else will speak up for it other than its residents? As I said in the original post, the business owner ultimately can do what they want, but painting over it would have been a loss in my eyes. I don’t think that leaving it is detrimental to the joint…in fact I would argue that keeping it is a better move…generating more community support. But that is a debatable point that neither of us can ever prove.
And even if it didn’t help, it’s no secret that the interests of businesses and residents, even in a symbiotic community like Decatur, aren’t always in perfect harmony. Should residents keep silent when the actions of businesses wipe out the city’s history?
By the by, even if downtown was a historic district, paint isn’t protected. So community voices are the only real option.
Thanks for reading! Long-time residents rock!
In many cases businesses (and their owners) are coming into OUR community, and we are going to be the ones to keep them in business. We should feel free to tell them what we think. Residents should (to a degree) use sites like DecaturMetro to uh…bully (or influence) businesses.
Isn’t the purpose of this site (and others like it) to provide news for Decatur residents — filling a void that was created by the demise (near or actual) of daily newspapers? I, too, like this site and feel it provides invaluable info into the city which I’m proud I live in.
But it bugs me when I see DM and some loyal (if not verbose) blowhards take on Wal-Mart (how bold!) …and this move — gotta agree with Coventry– seems a little like using this platform to throw your two cents into someone else’s business.
Report the news. Man. Just the facts
Isn’t the purpose of this site (and others like it) to provide news for Decatur residents — filling a void that was created by the demise (near or actual) of daily newspapers?
Uh… NO!!!
Dumb question. Inane observation. You may want to try Fox News, AM talk radio, or just whatever Google spits up for your facts. You will like it. I’m sure.
Um, MAK, at the risk of being obvious, the “purpose” of this blog is whatever the owner/author decides it is, on whatever given day, and about whatever given topic takes his fancy. He’s not getting paid by the City to perform a public service, he just does it of his own volition and good grace. You’re more than entitled to feel put off by some of the topics & others’ take on them, but it’s kinda presumptuous for you or anyone else (and you’re not the first poster who’s done it) to tell DM to “report the news” and/or “Just the facts”. Any other blogfather than DM would’ve likely told you that you could always avoid being “bugged” by simply taking your comments elsewhere, you know?
Not hatin’, just sayin’.
Throwing my two cents in – Brand and cuba: you are so right. Couldn’t agree more. We have come to rely on DM for reporting facts that no one else does, but that’s not necessarily the point. I don’t think DM signed up for objectivity when he signed up with WordPress. Thankfully, it turns out that DM is brillant and somehow remains relatively objective and keeps the dialog civil (this ain’t no health care town hall).
Scott – once again, no one could have said it better. Coventry, you can get painted over eyesores of buildings all over DeKalb Co and metro ATL. Seems like people come here for something special – a unique blend of old and new. And if the I.P. folks can make that work for them – that is fantastic and will be embraced by my pig-loving appetite many times over for their attention to their surroundings in addition to the tasty swine (I hope). Viva Iberian Pig!
Any update on when IP is opening?
Need some pig on the square!
As the owner of the Iberian Pig, I think I should give some insight into my decision. When we first discovered the sign underneath the awning we thought it was really fantastic, and had all intentions of putting up a new awning over it. After we had a few awning contractors out here to take a look at putting up a new awning, I was told that the brick was so fragile that we would have major safety issues attaching a new awning to something that was not stable. There was even a possibility of destroying the sign to create the awning.
So I had the awning taken down, and was debating what to do. Meanwhile, I was talking to Dave, an owner of Brick Store, and he told me how much he loved the sign and thought we should keep it.
After thinking about it, we have figured out that simply by putting a nice hand carved wooden sign (more art than signage) on the roof line, we could preserve the Smith’s sign and still tell people who we are. All I’m hoping for is that the city of Decatur will allow me to put up this new sign on the roof line.
In all seriousness, our restaurant’s success will be determined by the quality of the food and the hospitality that we give our patrons, not by the nature of our sign.
You can all help us out by trying out the restaurant for the first time and advising your friends to do so as well. After that it is our perogative to give you a reason to return.
Thanks!
Federico
Thanks so much for the reply Federico.
Sounds like a good solution and you certainly have my support in keeping the sign intact. Hopefully you won’t get much pushback from the city. If so, it sounds like you’ve got a pretty good contingent of folks behind you already!
Can’t wait for the Pig to open!
I’m not sure why this item resonated so deeply with me (of all the issues/stories I could have responded to), but I apologize if I offended anyone. That said, I haven’t changed my mind, but agree that we need to preserve certain aspects of out heritage, and the majority should always rule. In most cases anyway!
I guess my many encounters in years gone by with another city’s extremist historical society (“you can’t move that rock….even though it is hazardous”…it was like Mayberry in that city) may have been the catalyst : )
“I guess my many encounters in years gone by with another city’s extremist historical society (”you can’t move that rock….even though it is hazardous”…it was like Mayberry in that city) may have been the catalyst : )”
You’re certainly not alone in that regard CR.
I love preservationists, but like any activist group there are always some extremists unwilling to listen to or consider any opposition. I’m not sure where this issue falls along the spectrum, but I’m beginning to think that if I had written it as a more objective third party, it wouldn’t have received as much blowback.
And no need to apologize. I appreciate you taking the time to voice your concern with constructive criticism.
I agree with you — these preservationist things can get totally out of hand. Moderation and common sense are needed in these matters, and I don’t think any new store owner/business should be vilified if they choose NOT to leave signage in place that is not their own.
Carolyn, you call for moderation and common sense and then you label this post as vilifying the owner? That doesn’t sound like moderation to me.
Also, no one is asking anyone to save a dozen signs. I’m also not calling for some sort of local ordinance that all historic signs be saved. When I write that post feel free to respond in kind.