In that one, the Schenley ad obscures what I think is the Rieger (correct me if I'm wrong!)
I've can't help but continue to think someone at some point must have taken a shot of Union Station pre-repeal that would include the ad, but it's possible that never happened.
I think you are correct that the Schenley ad in that picture is obscuring the Rieger, I can tell by the windows on the Rieger. It appears that Schenley billboard is on top of a building that's to the south of 20th street, and not actually attached to the Rieger.
I agree that it seems that the best possibility of seeing the ad would be in the background of a Union Station picture from 1915 to 1920 or even up to 1933.
moderne wrote:
Why is vintage advertising so desirable(both painted on buildings and billboards) and modern billboards are just garish and tacky?
i don't think any billboard is desirable... vintage or not. something about the side of a building, however, doesn't seem to detract from the surroundings as much (IMO).
Yeah, I hate billboards (vintage or not), but painting the side of a building (vintage or not) is fine in my book. Love the Boulevard / Roasterie ad, for example.
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
Yeah, the billboard in the second picture is located on top of one of the buildings south of 20th, but completely obscures The Rieger.
I'm not a big fan of billboards in general either, but the most fascinating thing for me regarding this old ad on the building is not only that it dates back so far, but also that A) it was a whiskey producer in Kansas City going back as far as the late 1800's, and B) that it was lost to Prohibition.
Prohibition had a huge impact on our country for such a long time, it's fascinating to see a relic of a company that at it's time was one of the largest in the country. I just love the idea of trying to restore that ad on the building and hope that it will be there for another hundred years.
Last edited by KC Sporting Life on Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Oh, totally. The whole reason I spent all afternoon yesterday hunting through historic photos was to see if I can find a picture of the Rieger ad to help make it as historically accurate as possible, because I think it's going to be awesome.
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
Chris Wilborn says he thinks he has an older panoramic photo that shows the south side of the building--he has many of Anderson's old negs (Anderson used to be at 1924 Main). He's at 531-9000.
towncow wrote:
Chris Wilborn says he thinks he has an older panoramic photo that shows the south side of the building--he has many of Anderson's old negs (Anderson used to be at 1924 Main). He's at 531-9000.
I saw his company mentioned in a thread on the Kansas City Photos page and wondered if it would be a good resource. Here's a link to their website: http://www.wilbornfoto.com/
I don't know why, but I'm surprisingly interested in seeing that old ad!
NY Jayhawk wrote:I don't know why, but I'm surprisingly interested in seeing that old ad!
I know, right!? I can't believe how much effort I invested in the photo archives trying to find the damn thing!
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
KC Sporting Life wrote:
Good thing everyone on here likes to remain anonymous, otherwise I'd be buying quite a few drinks for those of you helping out! 8)
Ha, how about line jumping privileges when Manifesto is open again!
KC Sporting Life wrote:
Good thing everyone on here likes to remain anonymous, otherwise I'd be buying quite a few drinks for those of you helping out!
That gives me an idea...
"Locate your cool business in urban Kansas City, and the KCRag Volunteer Squad--consisting of professionals across a broad spectrum of fields, including but not limited to: law, information technology, real estate, hospitality, management, and finance--will help you get up and running! Applications being accepted now! We'll do anything from moving boxes around to helping you build out your network infrastructure!"
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
- The Hotel Midwest in its prime AND the building that used to be the Hereford House. Anyone know what it was when this picture was taken?
- The Country Club Beer sign on the liquor store on the SW corner of 20th and Main
- I don't even know what the building is on the right, with the Valumilk sign. It's gone now.
- And cable cars!
There's also a better look at the billboard that was on the roof of the liquor store next to The Rieger, but still no good look at the side of the building.
Thanks for sharing! We may have to get copies of some of these good shots and frame them in the bar area!
Someone is still producing Valomilk(never had one myself). I think Cracker Barrel sells them. The building still stood until the new Main St Viaduct was built and they put in the ramp to northbound Walnlut.
So, Howard and I met with a gentleman named Paul Gronquist yesterday. He's a high school teacher in Topeka who is an avid collector of Kansas City pre-prohibition era whiskey memorabilia. He had a TON of J. Rieger stuff. He brought about a dozen old bottles, shot glasses, corkscrews, and a notebook full of the old J. Rieger Whiskey ads. It was really fascinating. He even had an (almost) full bottle of J. Rieger Rye Whiskey that must have been at least 100 years old. He let us drink some of it. Very cool dude. Unfortunately he didn't have an image of the old ad from the building, but what he did have was really cool. As soon as I figure out how to upload images on this site, I'll post some of them.
As far as uploading images, I'd suggest using flickr or something similar.
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
