Should a downtown Coca-Cola ghost sign be "revitalized" or left alone?

Ghost sign geeks debate

"It's a natural gathering place, and essentially a gateway to the downtown mall if you park in the Water Street garage," said Michael Caplin, an attorney who serves as board co-chair for Friends of Cville Downtown, talking to the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review recently about 2nd Street SE on the downtown mall and a plan to restore an old Coca-Cola "ghost sign" advertisement on the side of the Oyster House Antiques building.

Indeed, 2nd Street SE is one of the most prominent pedestrian gateways to the mall, and while Caplin was pointing that out in an effort to gain support for the sign restoration idea, you couldn't help thinking about how that creepy-looking abandoned hotel project couldn't be in a worse place. No one mentioned the "Dewberry/Landmark" building during the BAR discussion about the older advertisements on the wall that faces it, but it was not lost on those who heard the news about the sign restoration plan.