First-Name Basis Signage Project

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About First-Name Basis Signage Project

For photos related to businesses (of every type) that at least ostensibly are (or were) owned and principally run and managed by one person, this smallness and independence being reflected by their displaying to us just their first name, an apostrophe, and in most cases an s.
>>> Have a look at the Pool Index and you'll see the collection sorted by name.

The style of business naming we are after: Joe's Pub, Yvette's Nail Salon, Jerry's Trucking, Maria's Pizza, Gus' Grill, Enrico's Contracting, Big Betty's Noodle-Haus, Zany Zeke's Fresh 2U Vegetable Stand, Vikram's Mini-Cab, .....


-- Last names are not to be included: the point of the group is largely their absence.
-- Nick-names such as Shorty's are acceptable (if not too obscure) and if they seem to refer to an actual person.
-- Adjectives and other modifying forms before the first name are fine: Little, Big, Crazy, Demented, etc.
-- Not photos where the name is unclear.
-- No really large chain businesses (e.g. Wendy's) with exceptions made for interpretive merit.
-- Unattractive (however you define that) is fine. Abandoned, run-down, strip-mall, burned-out, back-road, as well as "High Street pretty," flower-boxed, fresh mall of Bel-Air.
-- Where a name could easily be both first or last (e.g. Allen, Beverly, Kelly, Lee, ...), use your neighbourhood knowledge to verify 'first-ness'. Failing that, the tone of the business will often tell you.
-- The administrators will remove obvious errors and will also remove signs the non-first-name-ness of which has been confirmed by some quick web research.
One very useful source for American owner information, pointed out by group member Old.Curmudgeon, is www.manta.com/.

Other non-apostrophe examples in the non-English style are welcome. e.g. Café Mimi, Chez Oskar or the ultra-chic name- and-nothing-else.

Also other variant forms such as Hub Cap Annie and names with a trailing initial such as Billy B's Bar (which would be filed with Billy).

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(A lot of you vigorous photographers of city, town and roadside already have quite a few of these First Names shots).

For signage proper (shopfront, roadside, sportsfield fences, billboards, hoardings, utility poles, etc) but also wording on the sides of trucks, lorries, delivery vans, etc., in advertizing, and anything else you think suitable. A coffee cup and a hockey sweater are here already.


Please post your photos here in the normal way.
The administrators will add the appropriate name tag to your photo so that they appear in the name collections below. Of course, you can do that too, by simply putting in the name.

We hope this is a workable interface for this long-term and potentially interesting project, documenting one facet of the simpler forms of society and exchange. Some of these businesses doubtless have no real connection to a person, but that ersatz-ness only underscores the attraction we feel for this sort of neighbourliness and familiarity, however commercialized.