Vegetarian restaurants are becoming more mainstream and, inadvertently or not, distinctive branding and signage helps them stand out from the herd.

It Ain’t Meat, Babe

You can take their word for it, this meat-free eatery in Tokyo’s Kinshicho district is, er, as meat-free as they come. Mind you, they’re not stating It’s Delicious, only that It’s Vegetable. At least it’s not Mineral. Flickr member non-euclidean photography captured the above Taiwanese restaurant’s front facade and sign in June of 2008.

Pot Pies?

Best thing about the Herbal (not “Horrible”) Pizzeria? When calling in an order, you never have to specify “no anchovies, please”. That said, what the heck is an herbal pizza? Try the Scarborough Fair, topped with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Looking ahead, this shop’s already got a running start on the budding CBD-infused pizza sector. What’s more: they work with Gold Bee to ensure that they only use the finest CBD oil to infuse into their slices of pizza goodness! Goodbye ham & pineapple, hello hemp & pineapple express! Flickr member Jeff snapped the venerable vegetarian pizza parlor in early 2011.

Oh Yah

Chicago-area foodies oughta check out this place, recommended by Flickr member Eric Allix Rogers as “still the best vegan soul food joint in South Shore.” While such glowing reviews are a good sign for any restaurant, this one has some bad issues with its sign. Not the tilted and/or missing letters… they evoke a certain sense of charm. Nope, we’re referring to the font used on the sign just below. Pro tip: a restaurant that offers meals sans meat should present signage sans Comic Sans.

Goulash Vegas

What happens in Budapest stays in Budapest, whether one’s Hungary or not. Welcome to Las Vegan’s, a rather inconspicuous dining kiosk that probably won’t make anyone’s to-do Liszt. Flickr member Sharon Hahn Darlin took a gamble on this cutely-named diner on the Danube in June of 2018.

Milkshaken, not Stirred

Vegetarian sushi is one of those uncomfortable conjunctions like jumbo shrimp, plastic glass and military intelligence. Still, you’ve gotta give Emeryville, CA’s Sushi Village props for advertising “vegetarian drinks”, whatever that means. We can guess what it doesn’t mean: no Bloody Marys, Moscow Mules, or anything made with Wild Turkey bourbon. Flickr member David Cohen felt intrigued enough by the concept to snap the store sign back in October of 2006.

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Gerrymandered districts are perhaps the most visible forms of political corruption, dramatically redrawn into implausible shapes to benefit one political part or another. The idea for this font dubbed “Gerry” by Ben Doessel and James Lee explores just how many forms these places are bent into — as it turns out, one can make an entire alphabet out of them.

“To ensure the eroding of democracy isn’t an issue that is lost in the news cycle, our design team from Chicago concocted a creative way to keep our warped voting districts top-of-mind,” says the font’s makers. “What looks like a ‘G’ is really the 4th Congressional district of Ohio, the ‘E’ is actually Missouri’s 6th district, and so on.”

The font, downloadable for free, started with Chicago’s 4th District, which the designers noticed had a distinctive “U” shape. Searching around, they found more and more letters, and realized they could create a full typeface from their discoveries. Since then, gerrymandering has stayed in the spotlight, and Gerry has been used on things like the US constitution. Its hard-to-read letters make it less than ideal for legibility, but that isn’t the point — the message is in the shapes themselves.

Unfortunately named women‘s wear retailer DressBarn is slamming the door on 650 retail stores in 45 states as sales decline and branding loses focus.

Barn Storm

DressBarn made its debut in 1962 – a time when American women were flooding into the workforce and unlike the era’s Mad Men, had a limited choice of workwear options from which to chose from. Founder Roslyn Jaffe’s bright idea was a hit then… but a Misses now. Kudos to Flickr member Mike Mozart for the two images above taken in early April of 2014.

Agri Culture Wars

In 1982 the company was listed on NASDAQ (symbol DBRN) and in 2011 the reorganized firm was renamed Ascena Retail Group, Inc. DressBarn was flying high… or was it? By almost any measure, the American economy has been on a roll for the better part of the past decade. Yet on May 21st of 2019, Ascena announced the imminent closing of all 650 DressBarn stores. By the way, Flickr member stevetursi‘s image above illustrates what must be the cheesiest “corporate headquarters” we’ve ever seen. Just sayin’.

Not Makin’ Hay

The announcement deals a haymaker (pun intended) to roughly 6,800 employees with the pain spread nationwide as DressBarn has stores in 45 states. “This decision was difficult, but necessary,” explained Steven Taylor, chief financial officer of Dressbarn, “as the DressBarn chain has not been operating at an acceptable level of profitability in today’s retail environment.” One might say management is closing the (Dress)Barn door after the horse has escaped but that would be too obvious, so we won’t. The store above, located in Torrington, CT and snapped by Flickr member JJBers in mid-2018, appears to be getting the jump on the mass-closing.

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Bizarrely-named churches tend to stand out but someone must’ve got into the sacramental wine before tagging titles on these 10 hilarious houses of worship.

Foursquare Deal

Go ahead and snicker, Millennials, but the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (aka The Foursquare Church) was founded in 1923 by Aimee Semple McPherson. Using “Blazing Saddles Logic”, the church can sue the Foursquare City Guide app which dates back to only 2008. Oh, and hopefully they’ll use a font other than Comic Sans when filing their legal briefs. Seriously guys, Comic Sans?? Flickr members Manne and Nick Richards snapped the Peckham, London, UK location of the evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination in 2010 and 2015, respectively.

Wilsonburned

Have you seen this God? Because he is freakin’ AWESOME! He also looks alarmingly – five-alarmingly, even – like “Wilson” from the movie Cast Away. Now we know what happened to Tom Hanks’ voiceless volleyball pal after drifting away from that flimsy raft: he washed up in Buffalo, NY and became revered by the dumbfounded natives for his supernatural snow-melting power. Flickr member Jamie (jbcurio) snapped the Praise Tabernacle church’s admittedly awesome signboard in March of 2008.

Immaculate Perfection

A Perfect Church for an imperfect world… and a thumb in the eye to all those other churches that obviously must be flawed in one way or another. Flickr member genebrooks snapped the red brick “religious center” located on McDaniel St SW in Atlanta, GA on March 7 of 2016.

Be Fruitful

Give genebrooks credit, he’s got a knack for spotting weird churches – or in this case their van, parked somewhere in South Korea. We can’t imagine what a typical service at the “Church of Fruits” must be like but we assume their communion wafers offer parishioners sweet salvation with added Vitamin JC.

Fake Pews

We’ve got a reality show president so why not a church where the only thing scripted is… the scripture. Welcome to the 1st Keep It Real Fellowship Church, located in Little Rock, AR. We imagine Sunday sermons exhort penitents to keep the faith first, and ask questions like “If God is all-powerful, can He make a rock so heavy He Himself can’t lift it?” later. Flickr member LRD615 snapped the very real, as in “you can’t make this stuff up” real, church in March of 2007.

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Back in the grim days of The Great Recession, companies large and small laid off workers while discouraging new hires with a wealth of “no hiring” signs.

Train In Vain

Historic Pullman, a former company town dating from the 1880s, is today one of Chicago’s 77 defined community areas. Though the South Side district has been a National Historic Landmark Site since 1969, renovation and rehabilitation of its buildings – including the former Pullman Clock Tower and Administration Building (now the Pullman National Monument Visitor Center) above – is an ongoing process, one that requires laborers… sometimes.

Construction work is typically one of the go-to manual labor options when times are tough. We’re assuming such jobs in the Pullman Historic District were snapped up quickly during late-2007 to mid-2009, when the above photos by Flickr members Bart Heird, crowbert, and Lynn Josse were taken.

Just Say No-No

They thought “no hiring” was so nice, they had to say it twice! Well, not really, but you can’t blame English-speakers for just seeing the “NOT HIRING – NO” part and tuning out “Se contrata a nadie” (“Nobody is hired”). Flickr member Indiana Public Media/WFIU captured the above sign posted in front of a construction project in April of 2009.

Peak Helplessness

“NO HELP WANTED”, reads the sign posted at Summit Industries in September of 2007, to which Flickr member and photographer bluefishtuesday replied, “especially not yours” and “recession, much?” Times were tough all over back in The Great Recession but Chicago seems to have been hit especially hard – this photo was snapped on W Lawrence Ave in the Far North Side.

Take Your Talents Elsewhere

More construction, this time in Miami, FL where workers hopeful of employment were greeted by “NOT HIRING” and “No nececitamos trabatatores” (“We do not need workers”). Times must have been tough indeed: the company couldn’t even afford a pre-printed no-hiring sign… and you can bet somebody was charged for the orange spray paint. Flickr member R. Maas captured the above labor-unfriendly scene in March of 2009.

Pay-Away Plan

How to save money when hiring staff, Exhibit #42… brought to you by The Brick, a chain of Canadian furniture and home appliance stores. In 2007, Flickr member Alex Indigo snapped this sign that appears to tell prospective hires they won’t receive any financial compensation ’til 2009. We don’t know how many workers this store ended up hiring but we wouldn’t be surprised if at least one was fired.

Garage Banned

“Too many people looking for work. Don’t bother asking here,” stated Flickr member Kyle Harr about Ron’s Garage in Pewamo, MI. The eponymous “Ron” must have had unemployed workers pestering him day and night for a job, any job, even the thankless task of hanging “NOT HIRING” signs on multiple windows to deter job-seekers approaching from any direction.

Speaking of signs of negativity, note that Ron’s also posts “NO PARKING”, “NO SOLICITING”, “Authorized STUDEBAKER Service” and “Approved PACKARD Service” signs. That might help to explain why the garage apparently conducts NO BUSINESS and thus, needs no staff.

OW My Bank Balance

Flickr member Pak Gwei snapped this trio of fence-mounted signs in Washington D.C.’s Franklin McPherson Square back in March of 2007, mere weeks before the Subprime Mortgage Crisis sparked what would turn out to be the worst global economic contraction since the 1930s. Hope may always spring eternal but in the spring of ’07, the stage was being set for an epic fall. Note to the anonymous wiseguy who made an “adjustment” to the handmade “No Hiring” sign: much pain is about to ensue; you should have erased the “N” after adding the “W”.