Fine artist Alison Zapata will spend the next two weeks on a scizzor lift in a special white protective suit removing lead-based paint chips and restoring a sign from an earlier era of time.
An old sign painted on the side of a Ford City building in the early 1900’s is in the process of being restored.
The sign was uncovered when a building at the corner of 9th Street and 4th Avenue in Ford City was demolished. It was originally commissioned by the Columbia Advertising Company and advertises Mail Pouch tobacco and the “Ike” Lefkofsky Clothing store.
Part of the signage advertises “Ike Lefkofsky Clothing”. The store sold quality clothing for discriminate buyers of the early-mid 1900’s.
Isaac “Ike” Lefkofsky and Lillian Feldman Lefkofsky, founded the Lefkofsky Clothing Store in Ford City in the late 19th century following Ike’s emigration from what was then Russian-ruled Poland. Their son, Charles, graduated from Ford City High School and from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. He thereafter served in the Army during World War II, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and subsequent engagements, and remaining in Europe after the war as part of the occupation forces. Following his return to Ford City in 1946, he took over management of his father’s store, which remained in business until his retirement in the summer of 2004. Charles died on January 15, 2010 – a few years prior to the uncovering of the sign.
The sign advertises clothing for “Ladies and Gents Furnishings” and “Walk-Over Shoes”. The Walk-Over Shoes Company has been manufacturing handcrafting fine footwear in the United States since 1758 and was considered an elite line to be carried by any clothier in the area.
Alison Zapata, 44, from Aspinwall was chosen by the Armstrong County Historical and Genealogical Society to restore this sign at a cost of $4,800.
Zapata works as a fine artist and has painted murals in many areas of Pittsburgh since 1998. She has a degree in Art Education and Fine Art at Carlow University.
“This type of work is one of my favorite things to do,” she said as she was coming off a motorized lift from wire-brushing the old painting on the wall. “I normally do murals, but I love sign painting. I love the tradition, the straight-forwardness and accuracy that come with creating something to look identical to the original. I strive to be as accurate as possible, down to matching the original color of the paint that was used.”
Zapata said it is like working in a different time era as she works with the faded advertisement that was done by sign painters of previous generations.
“I’m actually repainting this Mail Pouch Tobacco advertisement. It’s actually a ghost sign which means it was painted from previous generations of sign painters and I’m bringing it back to its form that it was originally painted as.”
The last few days, she has been removing the loose paint that has been weathering of the years.
Dressed in a special white protective suit with mask and respirator, Alison Zapata uses old-fashioned “elbow grease” to wire-brush the old flakes from the sign.
“I take a wire brush, loosen up that paint, get rid of big chunks of paint. Ideally, I like to give it a rinse just to get some of that old dust off the wall. And I’m pretty sure it’s lead-based paint so I’ve been really careful to have a respirator and taken all precautions as much as possible not to get any contaminants on me or in me. After wire-brushing, I will then go back over it with primer. I have Nova Color Paints from California that’s shipped in, which is specifically made for outdoor murals with an eggshell sheen. I color match so it’s as accurate as possible.”
She said the project is “pretty straight forward. The design is already mapped out, so all we have to do is use the lines that are already there to fill it in with newer paint, thicker paint and get it to have its original luster and vibrancy.”
The goal (for completion) is September 6, she said. “That’s ‘knock-on-wood’ as long as the weather holds up. Rain always creates delays. So if the weather is good and cooperative, we’ll love to get it done by two Fridays from now.”
The building is owned by Kathi Baer, who operates her shop, “Baer Beauty” in one part of the storefront.