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This sign marked the post of the Civil Defense Air Raid Warden for a sector of Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhood during World War Ii. Of course, aside from some Japanese balloon bombs in the Pacific Northwest, no air raids struck the mainland U.S. -- but we were ready, thanks in part to the dedication of the air raid wardens.
I've included some photos of newspaper clippings related to Pittsburgh's air raid wardens.
This is a very rare sign. I have seen just a handful of U.S. air raid warden aigns online, but none either the stark beauty of these hand-painted letters. Even someone with no interest in history could appreciate how aesthetically pleasing this sign is, with so much care and skill practiced over many years that went into creating it.
Because of this, I don't feel $500 is an entirely unreasonable price. But also ...
I don't want to sell this. I am very happily newly remarried after divorce that nearly killed my soul. I finally have a reason to live again, but I am woefully behind on my mortgage, and I couldn't bear to see my new wife and I lose my home just months after I moved her into it. So everything that can be liquidated is being liquidated.
Still, I'm deliberately setting the price on what I consider the high end. If it doesn't sell, at least I can say I tried everything; if it does sell, it will bring in enough cash to justify the sentimental hit of losing one of my favorite possessions.
My dad got this for me in 2005 at Wildwood Peddler's Fair Flea Market in Pittsburgh, where i grew up and where my parents and siblings still live. Pittsburgh is my favorite city in the world, and I love having this part of it with me in my new city 1,500 miles away.
And from the time I was a small, weird little child, I have been borderline obsessed with everything pertaining to World War II air raids: the eerie droning of hundreds of planes, the awf fear of civilians knowing that men flying miles above them were trying to kill them, the use of the best humankind's collective mental brilliance to inflict the worst cruelty -- air raids just seem to be the worst and most fantastical thing that could ever happen, and it struck me from an early age to somehow symbolize something about human civilization.
When I was the singer in a band, I wrote several songs about air raids. As a solo performer, I've made music videos using footage from air raids. I even have a hand-crank air raid siren installed in my kitchen as a wake-up alarm for my kids. So ... this sign is very special to me. I hope it's very special to whomever maybe buy it. Godspeed.
