Quote from the designer who provided my own personal ampersand: "Sabon Next Italic ampersand. The swash Palatino Italic ampersand from the original metal is probably my favorite, but I've never had a chance to use it. The Fry Baskerville Italic ampersand is famous, too."
[Boston No. 5]
[Madison No. 1]
[New York No. 1a]
[New York No. 1b] Paper & Twine
[Northampton No. 5] This ampersand-morphing-into-a-plus-sign is rarely seen in commercial applications.
[Lawrence No. 8] Fabulous!
[Holyoke No. 8] Another example of leaving off the a and the d, and therefore creating an ampersand by intention, if not design. (Besides, who needs an ampersand when there's a treble clef, which looks a lot more like the punctuation than the musical notation?) Mr. Wendell's, a "domino salon" (i.e., dodgy bar), is, alas, no longer in business.
[Boston No. 2b] Actually, from the collection of Sid Berger.
[Boston No. 2a] Actually, from the collection of Sid Berger.
[Boston No. 2c] Also from the collection of Sid Berger.
[Lenox No. 1]
[Studio No. 1] A pamphlet from the 1600's -- each new subsection switched fonts, as demonstrated by the &c.'s in the side column.
[Studio No. 2] Note the two variations in the top two lines.
[Easthampton No. 1] absolutely top favorite of the in-town options; every time I pass this hand-drawn sign, my heart flutters
[Lenox No. 2]
[New Canaan, CT No. 1] Left aligned, letter-spaced, italic. Adorable.
[Dallas No. 2] The East Dallas / Oak Cliff area has lots of neat ampersands, but my companions weren't in the mood for the hobby to take over the day-trip
[Dallas No. 1]
[Whately No. 2] Only someone really, really bookish would actually use a proper italic old-style ampersand. Well done! Also the secondary sign has cute punctuation, too.
[Holyoke No. 1a] This sign actually made the collection finally exist -- one, the presence of such a swashbuckling italic; two, the first reversed ampersand in my experience; and three ...
[Holyoke No. 1b] cute, eh?
[Holyoke No. 1c] three, the fact that it is so proudly proclaimed 'now open', and is instead an abandoned building. I don't need to own a coin op laundry, but if I were going to become a commercial real estate tycoon, this is where I would start.
[Easthampton No. 14] They're actually based in Whately, but this was a more amusing photo.
[Whately No. 3]
[Holyoke No. 3] It would have been a better photo if I had been willing to get out of the car. But this is such a great painted sign, and leads to my next question: will I successfully find an ampersand used in a Spanish (or French or Polish or whatever) notice? One doesn't tend to, even though the Latin et is universal.
[Home No. 1] Score one for Italian design. The cookies are pretty good, too.
[Jamaica Plain No. 2] First use of an ampersand in a foreign language (other than Italian)!
[Jamaica Plain No. 3] Second use of an ampersand in a foreign language (other than Italian)! Note: if the word 'and' is a single letter -- 'y' -- how does an ampersand save space? Really, it's a design issue. Yippee!
[Indian Orchard No. 2] Things I love about this: an old movie theater. An old movie theater turned church. An old movie theater turned church with bilingual marquee. An old movie theater turned church with bilingual marquee that still manages to get the ampersand backwards. An old movie theater turned church with bilingual marquee that still manages to get the ampersand backwards on both sides of the sign. Also, commendable use of the upside down F.
[Lowell No. 1] Third use of an ampersand in a foreign language.
[Chicopee No. 2] One of my top three favorites, but the font itself confuses me: the thicks and thins are all backwards, and words like "authorized" are in a completely straight depiction. But 1960s-70s ampersands are adorable.
[Lawrence No. 9]
[Westfield No. 2]
[Northampton No. 8] Mediocre coffee, indifferent service, but convenient while waiting for snow tires to be switched out.
[Dummerston No. 1] This comment should be about the ampersand (this is the perfect sign), but it's more about the Vermont State Police. They're really nice. There's a stop sign at the intersection near this orchard. It's a good idea to stop.
[Hadley No. 3] Is that not the cutest tail, ever?
[Ludlow No. 1e]
[Ludlow No. 1b] Two-tone!
[Ludlow No. 1a]
[Ludlow No. 1c]
[Ludlow No. 1d] So the ampersand isn't visible in this photo, and I wasn't dressed in my cross-the-highway-and-take-a-photo clothing, but it is an adorable mural.
[Northampton No. 11] It's worth zooming in to have a closer look at that tail!
[Lawrence No. 10] Taken above the roof of the car in the next lane over.
[Lee No. 4]
[Lee No. 1a]
[Lee No. 1b]
[Lee No. 1c]
[Reading No. 3]
[Ottawa No. 1] Aviation museum.
[Ottawa 2] Aviation museum
[Ottawa No. 3a] Aviation museum
[Ottawa 3b] Aviation museum
[Chester No. 1a]
[Chester No. 1b]
[Chester No. 2] I'd really love to find an ampersand chiseled into stone.
[Westfield No. 2] Remember Chester No. 2? Carved in stone! Noticed by the companion in the passenger seat.
[Deerfield No. 1] Edging closer and closer to the treble clef.
[Deerfield No. 2] Pointing the way to Deerfield No.1, using a style of ampersand that I've never seen used on highway signs. Now to take a photo of the more common highway font!
[Easthampton No. 17] This is the first old-style parking sign in Easthampton that I've seen in 1,640 days in residence here. And this particular sign I've passed by at least that many times (probably closer to 5,000) without noticing the ampersand. The new signs all spell out "and", which is much less stylish. And what does the Friday exception mean? No need to only limit one's visit to an hour, or get that there car moved by 4 am?
[Cambridge No. 3] So this is really hard to read, from an ampersand-identification perspective. But what an amazing sign! I wish all my travels were signposted as safe and direct routes.
[Boston No. 4]
[Boston No. 3]
[Greenfield No. 6] Earliest yet recorded here!
[Holyoke No. 10] A final wall painting to round out this particular drive through Holyoke.
[Holyoke No. 9] One hardware store, a palimpsest of wall paintings, three ampersands. A few more across the street at the actual storefront (not pictured).
[Easthampton No. 15] Truth be told, I love neon signs almost as much as I love hardware stores. The two together? Fabulous.
[Florence No. 7] Would love to get a photo of this when the florescent is lit up!
[Greenfield No. 2a] Favorite restaurant. Always. Yum. Meat loaf. Martinis. Apple crisp.
[Greenfield No. 2b]
[Hadley No. 2] Odd. Just odd.
[Lawrence No. 1] I have never, ever seen an ampersand like this one.
[Madison No. 2]
[Wisconsin No. 1] Not two movies it would occur to me would belong on a double bill.
[Northampton No. 9] Backwards 3, with a magic-marker line drawn through it. Classy, guys, classy.
[Lanesborough No. 2]
[Sunderland No. 1] In the odd punctuation variations corner...
[Sunderland No. 1b] Actually, just a lot of things that should never ever be combined.
[Easthampton No. 16a] Sigh. Other way, guys: it's an e and a t. E T et.
[Easthampton No. 16b] I don't know whether this merits strong coffee or a strong drink. There's just so much wrong in the world, and I don't know that I can single-handedly fix all of it.
[Easthampton No. 18] You missed the fliers for the pot and plant sale.
[Lanesborough No. 1] The Berkshires and their backwards writing!
[Lenox No. 4] Ah, the backwards effect.
[Sunderland No. 2] Backwards, backwards, backwards.
[Easthampton No. 13] This is the first time that I've seen this style of ampersand on illuminated letter boards.
[West Springfield No. 1] The sign above the door was very clear : pizza and grinders -- not subs!
[MassPike No. 1] It never would have occurred to me to mix pizza and hoagies, but there it is.
[Cambridge No. 1] It never would have occurred to me to mix pizza and hoagies, but there it is : again! Even (especially) being of Italian descent, it doesn't seem a natural combination.
[Lowell No. 3] See: pizza and subs. Why?
[Lawrence No. 14] Really, more pizza and subs.
[Andover No. 2a]
[Andover No. 2b]
[Florence No. 1] Tiniest ampersand in use! And the same sign is in Williamsburg, for "Hilltown Pizza & Family Restaurant." Perhaps they're related.
[Lowell No. 7]
[Lawrence No. 15a] Pizza, "grill", and :
[Lawrence No. 15b] fish!
[Northampton No. 10] The same as Farmers Branch No. 1 (a garage). Oddly enough, fish & chips shops don't tend to have ampersands anywhere near as interesting as those on garages. Or maybe it's just me.
[Pittsfield No. 2]
[Easthampton No. 12] Once upon a time there was a pizza place at this location. It is now closed -- and is there anything less appetizing than pizza from behind a dumpster and between two air conditioners? And why did they leave up the awning after they closed?
[Lee No. 3] Stenciled onto a dumpster!
[Pittsburgh No. 1] On the road, contributed by our traveling reporter. Photo credit E. J. Guldi.
[Hadley No. 4] This is why I keep a camera in the glove box. But the better decision would be to keep a camera with image stabilization in the glove box.
[Route 10 No. 1] Advice to readers: autofocus works best in tandem with cruise control, under the speed of 30 mph.
[Farmers Branch No. 3] The other car occupants wasted no time in denigrating my hobby.
[Whately No. 1a] This might actually be in Hatfield.
[Whately No. 1b] How often do commercial painters have enough respect for the customer to continue a message across the canvas?
[Whately No. 1c] Really, this is such a great building -- I have an obsession with garages of this era, and this one is a delight.
[Westfield No. 1]
[Jamaica Plain No. 1] There's something about automotive destinations -- they adore ampersands.
[Easthampton No. 4a] my fear is that this building can only exist for so much longer before a developer sends the open topped ets onto a new life in a dump somewhere; and then the sadness will descend.
[Easthampton No. 4b] But D&D also illustrates a fairly common occurrence: the use of two different ampersands for the same commercial enterprise. Sometimes this is two different signs in two different fonts -- and sometimes two completely different designs used for the same building.
[Carrollton No. 4a] They're both D&D Auto Parts and Machine Shop, but the Carrollton, TX location lost the machine shop to a fire in 2009. I haven't found anything indicating that MA+TX are linked businesses; but I haven't looked, either.
[Carrollton No. 4b]
[Easthampton No. 5a] This is another of the two-logos-one-company situations : the earlier image (this one) seems much more balanced and integrated than the more recent (next image).
[Easthampton No. 5b] The M's are so heavy, the ampersand so effusive -- sure, it is a tow truck, they are perhaps showing that they lift massive things with a delicate touch, but, still, I like the earlier quiet balance much better. Also the earlier & is quite fun. Note: two ampersands, one door!
[Carrollton No. 1]
[Hadley No. 1] As Route 9 through Hadley, MA becomes more and more strip-mall-ized, the charming hand-painted signs are replaced by the standard back-lit florescent numbers that represent chain stores across the States. But a few, like this one and one from Stan's Vegetable Stand that would have impaired my driving too drastically for me to catch on this trip, remain.
[Holyoke No. 6] So far, this reversed '3' style of ampersand seems most prevalent at car sale and repair shops; cf., the photo for used cars from Hadley, and the following leasing agent.
[Holyoke No. 7] The next building over (across the street) from the auto maintenance shop -- presumably the same sign painter?
[Indian Orchard No. 1a] So cute! Especially the way the tails of both the ampersand and the arrow are streamlined.
[Indian Orchard No. 1b] This really does go with the New & Used Tires Sale.
[Greenfield No. 1a] How many do you see?
[Greenfield No. 1b] Add one more. A sign I only noticed because traffic was heavy and I glanced to the right.
[Greenfield No. 3]
[Lowell No. 2]
[Lowell No. 5] And another automotive destination. Look! Two ampersands! One sign!
[Lowell No. 4a] Another automotive destination -- it is hard to read :
[Lowell No. 4b] : but there it is.
[No. Reading No. 1] Another automotive spot.
[Farmers Branch No. 1]
[Farmers Branch No. 2]
[Northampton No. 1a] This (and the following) : once again, painted and designed at the same time . . .
[Northampton No. 1b] . . . by someone who took sign painting very seriously as a profession, but still don't quite match. How many pseudo-Victorian gothic font variations can be incorporated into one commercial application?
[Florence No. 4] Another flourished-roman ampersand.
[Boston No. 1]
[Williamsburg No. 1]
[Florence No. 5&6] The changes in style from a year ago (top) and old-Florence (lower), in one sign-post.
[Williamsburg No. 2] The Masons and their secrets -- linked together.
[Williamsburg No. 3] Crisply defined.
[Lawrence No. 2] Love the hand-drawn width of the base.
[Hatfield No. 4] Would you trust an engineer with a sign at that angle? Neither would I.
[Lawrence No. 3]
[Hatfield No. 2] Pepsi : always endures.
[Lawrence No. 5]
[Lawrence No. 6b] Several ampersands from which to choose.
[Lawrence No. 6b] The bridge from which the S&M and the Fruit signs are displayed.
[Lee No. 5a]
[Lee No. 5b] Not a typographical endorsement -- but the amaretti biscotti with lemon curd? Amazing.
[Turners Falls No. 1] Coffee and wifi? So last year. An adorable dog on the porch in front.
[Northampton No. 4b]
[Northampton No. 4a]
[Chicago No. 1]
[Greenfield No. 5a]
[Greenfield No. 4]
[Lee No. 2]
[Lee No. 8]
[Lee No. 6]
[Lenox No. 3]
[Northampton No. 3] There is a little open loop at the top of the ampersand, visible just beyond the tree branches.
[No. Reading No. 2] The ampersand is open with an extra flourish at the base.
[Ft. Worth No. 1] Loved watching the guys get the smoker into the truck!
[Carrollton No. 2]
[Cambridge No. 2]
[Huntington No. 1] Animals not to scale.
[Carrollton No. 3]
[Northampton No. 7] An ellipsis and an ampersand? So much punctuation seems a bit superfluous.
[Lee No. 9] How many fonts? How many ampersands? Why use an ellipsis when one actually wants a comma?
[Holyoke No. 11] The letters over the brick remind me of the lined paper we used in grade school to practice handwriting. And the heart aches knowing that cursive is no longer taught. What's next? Cessation of classes in copperplate?
[Chicopee No. 3] Two different ampersands, one sign. Soon I'll remember to pull the car into a parking space rather than shooting while driving.
[Holyoke No. 4] Here we have the major problem of inappropriate scale (cf Shop and Stop), so it just looks like a belly button. And belly buttons are icky.
[Holyoke No. 5] A traditional Helvetica (maybe) ampersand, tilted. I like the tilting; it's like kerning, only more so.
[Easthampton No. 2] this sign always makes me cringe in horror; as a result, I've never tried the food. But someone, somewhere, at least earns bonus points for including a Western font ampersand, just because they could.
[Lawrence No. 4]
[Andover No. 1]
[Florence No. 2] Between an italic and a roman ampersand -- bits of both.
[Florence No. 3] Again in Florence (as the frame shop), a roman ampersand with italic aspects.
[Lee No. 7]
[Lawrence No. 7]
[Easthampton No. 6] The 'historic downtown' of Easthampton is about five buildings long, on either side of town. The Main Street section (pictured, although better images of the architecture can be found elsewhere) is rich in a variety of ampersands (extracted and shown in upper corner).
[Easthampton No. 7] The first of the row: anchored by an insurance agency, which is next to ...
[Easthampton No. 8] ... a pizza parlor ... [yum] ... which is next to ...
[Easthampton No. 9] ... a diner ... [thumbs up on the eggs Benedict] ... which is next to ...
[Easthampton No. 10] ... not an ampersand, but the scissors have the same function in the design ... which is next to ...
[Easthampton No. 11] ... splendid food, but not inspired typography, so they only made the list due to their presence on Ampersand Row.
[Lawrence No. 11] Across the street from the ...
[Lawrence No. 12a] ... tool company ...
[Lawrence No. 12b] ... across the street from the ...
[Lawrence No. 13] ... bike shop!
[Springfield No. 1a] Not a great photo (cold weather, on phone, hungry), but an example both of two different ampersands used in signage (see second photo) as well as of the rather unnecessary use of scale in a corporate logo (see B & B image). Also, Stop & Shop is phasing out this ampersand, for a rather more boring number that I'll photograph at some point.
[Springfield No. 1b] Also from Stop and Shop. Perhaps they should have consulted with the designer of the original company logo?
[Northampton No. 6] Both variations of the logo, at the same site.
[Northampton No. 5] A palimpsest of sorts.
[Pittsfield No. 1] Stop & Shop's third variation.
[Holyoke No. 2a] Another example -- this and the following sign were installed in January 2010, so just a month ago -- of a corporate logo existing in two completely different versions at the same location.
[Holyoke No. 2b] Really, is it necessary?
[Northampton No. 4] Very similar to Holyoke No. 2a, but a much more convincing application.
[No. Reading No. 3]
[Lowell No. 6] Contemporary beauty.
[Easthampton No. 3] No longer in business, & undoubtedly awaiting the developer's destruction.
[Chicopee No. 1] A flourish.
[Florence No. 8] Not technically an ampersand -- but the 'n' or -n- on signs to marked that a and d have been left out serve the same function. It is an abbreviation that I tend to associate with the 80s, although this shop has only been there a few years.
[Northampton No. 2] It took a long time for me to see the ampersands in Northampton -- many of the business signs don't incorporate them, and when one is focused on running errands in a short period of time, one doesn't look up. Today traffic was slow enough that look up I did -- and there were 3. Driving under the influence of ampersands is dangerous; while traffic was slow, it was only slow enough for one photo. The other two will follow in good time.
[Hatfield No. 3]
[Hatfield No. 1]
[Reading No. 1a]
[Reading No. 1b]
[Reading No. 2]
[Home No. 3] In daily use.
[Home No. 4] This was, of course, going to be a "commercial applications" project, but then, after looking at my handwritten commercial application [previous], I realized how different writers form different ampersands. Sister. "& his family ... other boss &"
[Home No. 5] I am, in fact, the only person I know who filed a police report for stolen girl scout cookies. Somehow, they were found and returned. Mother. "Indulge & Enjoy!"
[Home No. 6] British pen-pal. "& the Lady &"
[Publication No. 2] How could I not include this one?
[Publication No. 1] Advertisement from the back of the book.
[Home No. 7a] I didn't notice the blind stamping on the cups until they were floated above the counter.
[Home No. 7b] At which point I looked at the rest of the service, and realized that J. & G. Meakin had several variations on their stamp,
[Home No. 7c], depending upon when it was made. Differences are also apparent in the type of glazing etc., but it is the ampersand variations that are noted here.
[Home No. 2] loved ones tend to ply me with ampersands : this from a delightful Canadian
