City streets,  Lens-Artists,  Themed galleries

Gallery: street signs, or rather, signs on the streets

October 27, 2025 / 66 Comments

Life is one big road with lots of signs,

So when you riding through the ruts,

Don’t you complicate your mind …

Bob Marley

Walk down any street in any city and you will be confronted by a myriad of signs. There are the obvious ones telling you the name of the street, and those giving instructions or advice to drivers. ‘Junction ahead’. ‘One way street’. ‘Watch out for pedestrians’. And so on.

Much more interesting though are the random unofficial signs. Maybe there’s a quirky shop name. Or a poster put up in a window. A sign incorporated into some graffiti. Or when abroad, an amusingly translated direction.

When I saw Ritva’s theme for this week’s Lens Artists challenge, street details, I immediately started a search through my archives, knowing that I would have plenty of these. There were so many I began to sort them into themes such as signs, street furniture etc. But there were too many, so I took the easy way out when it came to reducing the pile and simply chose one of those categories, signs. I hope Ritva will forgive this rather narrow interpretation of her chosen subject!

All these signs caught my eye for one reason or another. They made me smile, they made me think or they simply said something to me about the place I was visiting. Most were taken on my travels but a few are from closer to home in London, and one in Newcastle. My feature photo is from Ferndale in California. Click on any photo in the galleries to open a slideshow with captions if you want to know where I found the other signs.

Amusing signs

Signs to make you think

Historic signs

Shop signs etc

66 Comments

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