/ Modified jul 23, 2019 5:08 p.m.

'Ghost sign' revealed as Flycatcher is demolished

The decades-old sign advertises a photography studio.

Ghost sign A sign for a long forgotten photography studio on Fourth Avenue was revealed when the building housing the Flycatcher bar was torn down. The Historic Fourth Avenue Coalition wants the decades-old "ghost sign" preserved as the Union on Sixth project is built next door.
Steve Jess/AZPM

One piece of Tucson history has been removed, but another piece has been revealed in the process. When the building housing the Flycatcher bar on Fourth Avenue was torn down last week, a sign for a long-forgotten photography studio was revealed on the wall of the building next door.

The chair of the Historic Fourth Avenue Coalition, Shannon Riggs, says the group has asked the architect for the new construction if the "ghost sign" can be preserved.

"We'll see how that pans out, but we'd sure love it. It's going to be a little walkway there between the buildings, so it wouldn't be super visible, but it would still be a cool addition to the design," Riggs said.

The sign painted on the side of the current Del Sol gift shop advertises "photos" and "enlargements," but the name of the shop is illegible.

The Flycatcher was bulldozed as part of the Union on Sixth project, which will bring retail shops and apartments to Fourth Avenue at Sixth street. Construction is expected to take two years.

Flycatcher then now VIEW LARGER Above, The Flycatcher bar at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Sixth Street in 2018. Below, the same corner in July 2019.
AZPM
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