Vintage Coca Cola Ghost Ad - Riverside, NJ - Coca Cola Memorabilia on Waymarking.com

I am told this ad is from approximately 1959 or thereabouts. The Coca Cola part of the ad cab stil be made out with a little squinting. The advertisement is located at the Golden River Restaurant, right or west side of the building, on the brick wall, elevated 15 feet from the alley. There is a small, asphalt alleyway dividing two buildings at the southeast corner of the intersection of South Pavilion Avenue and East Scott Street (on the Scott Street side).

All I could make out on the old ad was Drink Coca Cola. I could tell there was white lettering under the old advertisement but it is so faded only parts can be made out. I also could not tell if it was by design that the Coke ad was put over the store name or if one came well after the other.

I did some serious digging, visiting the Riverside, NJ historical page. I was rewarded with a narrative about this property: In the late 1800s, August Zurbrugg, brother of Theophilus Zurbrugg, built the large brick building at 8-10 Scott Street. He rented offices above his feed and coal store and ran a fine stable of horses in the back.

His building later became a drug store under several owners, at one point SEHL'S DRUGS occupied 8, and its neighbor, the Riverside Army Navy Store, occupied 10. The building eventually became Kessler's Department Store.

SOURCE

After careful scrutiny I am 90% sure I figured it out. The word FEED is at the top of the ad and underneath it. I also believe the word COAL is under that word with another unintelligible word after it. This corroborates with the original business which was a feed and coal store which makes that add over 100 years old. Then it became a drug store which is when, years later in the 50s (probably earlier) the Coca Cola sign was painted over it, a fact I later confirmed after finding an old picture with the Coca Cola Ad looking brand new. That picture can be found HERE. MYSTERY SOLVED!