Ghost signs are old, faded advertisements on the sides of houses or buildings. Some of these businesses may still be around, while others may have gone out of business. I will still refer to all of them as “ghost signs” though.
An ad for Whisbih 維士比. This is an energy drink marketed towards blue-collar workers. Next to it is an ad for a tea company 古道綠茶.
An ad for Hey Song Juice 黑松果汁.
Hey Song Sarsaprilla ad 黑松沙士. Sarsaprilla is a drink I never had before I came to Taiwan, but I have drunk it a lot since. It’s similar to root beer.
An ad for a car loan company. The business is still operating.
I’m not 100% sure, but I think this is an ad for a wedding food business.
I’m not sure what this ad is for. It has a nice Sun Wukong logo, though.
Sustagen is a nutritional supplement beverage brand. I enjoy the company mascots.
This is an old sign that I really like. In Chinese, it says 肯塔基 Kěntǎjī Kentucky, but KFC in Chinese is 肯德基 Kěndéjī. So, it’s just one different character. Old Taiwan style.
These are signs of a long, closed-down hotel and, I believe, a home appliance store.
I’ll end with one of my favorite ghost ads I’ve seen: Wendy’s. I was surprised to see this one because I had no idea that Wendy’s was in Taiwan until I saw the ghost sign. It had left the Taiwan market a few years before I moved here.
I’ll update this blog post periodically because there are many of these ghost signs throughout Taiwan. Many of them are not as old as signs found in the United States, the United Kingdom, or other countries, but I still like them.
Formosa>Ex 
It is likely long gone now, but I recall having seen a ghost sign in Tainan City sometime after I took up residence there in 2008. It was near the intersection of Youth and Victory roads. I knew it was a ghost sign, because the telephone number on it had only 5 digits (as such numbers had during my first residence in Tainan in 1976). Unless you live near there, a special trip to search it out is likely unnecessary. I merely recall having seen it about 15 years ago.
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I’m in Tainan often. I’ll take a look and see if it’s still there. Old telephone numbers is another interest of mine. Areas around old markets and old shops have many old phones numbers.
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