There are hokey antiquated signs one buys at in-name-only nickel/dime (ye olde) shoppes in historic districts, and there are, you know, actual old things that are defined as old because they linger well past their own era and deep into the alien present. The rust on the wiring here marks the sign as something that may have been hokey once upon a time but that has at least begun to earn the right to be thought of as, itself, old. (Those doorbells, yellow like the teeth of a life-long if not long-lived smoker, further testify to the passing of time.) That is to say, it carries some prohibitive weight. The admonition against not only “peddlers” but the more ambiguous “agents” and the now fairly obscure “solicitors” is enough to make all but the most self-confident of visitors second guess themselves before daring to push one of those buzzers.
An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt.