Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Dublin Dereliction Duty: Caroline Records


Rathmines, Dublin

Few things bring out the warm & fuzzy side of me like urban dereliction. Add "artfully rotting type" into the mix, set me down somewhere in Dublin, and I feel so good I practically need a list of harmful side effects.

There is a long stretch of seedy shop fronts that leads down to Rathmines, where I ratholed myself in a tiny flat one long-ago autumn. While a supporter of public transport in general, I have a severe allergy to Dublin Bus, so I generally walked the forty-five minutes or so from my flat into the city centre, where I'd pass this sign nearly every day. Funeral homes, charity shops, depressing internet cafés. Not much to feel inspired by. But this one, the Caroline Records sign, never failed to catch my eye.

6 comments:

Radge said...

You'd like it today, Dublin. Every season, dreary and sun drenched at alternate 15 minute intervals.

Jackie said...

"Few things bring out the warm & fuzzy side of me like urban dereliction."

AHAHAHAAHAHA! LOVE.

Therese Cox said...

Radge - Ahhh. If only that could be bottled.

Jackie - Funny 'cause it's true.

Unknown said...

I'm still wondering about the different colouring of the EC in that sign. It's going to haunt me.

Therese Cox said...

I'm not happy till you're all haunted.

That sign really is a beautiful mess - if you look at it in person, most of the red "CAROLINE" letters have fallen off, the last "E" doesn't match, and the "S" at the end of "RECORDS" practically runs into the adjacent building. I have a soft spot for hand-applied lettering that's clearly well-planned but shows signs of human error.

Along those lines, there was a great article in last Sunday's Observer about a 1922 war memorial in Italy made more poignant b/c of the stonemason's backward "N"s.

e said...

oh my, does this bring back memories! i used to live on Leinster Rd back in '88/'89. ;)
Liz