Chenoa, Illinois

Chenoa's a town about 25 miles north-northeast of Bloomington and sits at the junction of U.S. 24, which runs east-west, and Interstate 55 (and old U.S. 66). We drove through town in mid-April, headed west on 24 to pick up 55 on our way from Chicago to Berkeley. We detoured through the old downtown business district, a handful of handsome and under-used old brick buildings surrounded by low frame and pre-fab buildings. The sign was no doubt touched up or repainted altogether, since the Chicago-based Selz shoe concern apparently went out of business about 60 years ago. (Here's a post from a blog on faded signs that talks about the company and has a few examples of old Selz signs.)

Comments

[Rob]

Good on the person or persons responsible for the restoration. I've never seen a barber shop that "selz" any kind of shoes. $3.50 and $4.00 sounds like a deal. What a great sign.

[Dan]

Yeah, five bucks used to buy something. Most of the other Selz signs I saw on that other site also advertise shoes for $3.50 and $4. Wonder how much a haircut was?

[Rob]

I remember when a haircut was $1.50. That's as far back as I go. A guy a bit older than me, but still a teenager, only had $1.25 one day but the barber said he would take it.