Can an element of the urban environment be considered endangered? If so, are there categories, or heirarchies, of importance to be taken into account with this assessment? Is a neighborhood more important than a street than a building than an architectural element? And what about old signs and ads? Can an advertisement be considered of historic or sentimental significance? Can we detach the business/brand from the aesthetic of the ad from the context it’s shown in? Does that even matter?

View Ads of San Francisco in a larger map

About my methodology: I walked up and down the streets of San Francisco, skipping the residential sections, and generally walking north/south streets some days and east/west streets on others. The signs I’ve included are either A) recognizable brands/companies or B) ads/billboards for businesses whom are NOT tenants in the buildings in question C) Any ad including an address or phone number. This is a work in progress and I’m sure I’ve missed many signs. Please let me know in the comments if you can think of any omissions I’ve made.