995 Market Street as seen from Sixth.
I love old soda signs and San Francisco has two exceptional midcentury Shasta Soda signs. Founded in 1931, Shasta Soda originally focused on alcoholic mixers, branching out into sodas in the mid 1950′s.The above picture is perhaps the most famous of all Shasta Soda signs and is featured prominently on their website, this early 50′s sign was covered by aluminum siding from 1963 to 2001. Re-revealed when a windstorm ripped the siding off in 2001, it was covered in 2002 by a removable acrylic coating and a Nike sign. Due to degrading of the aforementioned coating, the original sign is now peaking through.
A SFGate article on the sign can be seen here.
425 Potrero
Is this old or fake old? An incredibly beautiful Shasta sign as shot from the adjacent gas station. Sure, the sign is north facing and gets no direct sunshine but it’s AMAZING and so well preserved. I love the detailing on this sign – the condensation on the can, the open helmet on the little space cowboy, the tread on his boot bottoms – it’s really quite superb. Also, for some reason I really love the shout out to their can manufacturer MiraCan.
Just look at that detail.
I re=painted that shasta sign about maybe 12 (?) years ago… it may have been previously re-painted even more than once…the lettering was all over the place & I did a lot of cleanup with the graphic…I’ll dig up the “before” photo & send it to you. Thanks for this site!
I kinda figured the sign had been restored at some point – it’s a little too beautifully immaculate to be original. That being said, you did a great job! That sign shows a lot of artistry and subtlety. Definitely one of the better repainted/restored signs in SF.