The Typography of the Corner Tavern

When considering local flavor typography, my mind immediately turned to that Baltimore fixture, the corner tavern. I took a walk around the block to see what I could see, typography-wise.




At the north end of my block is Salt. Salt is a contemporary take on the corner tavern, featuring new American cuisine. This contemporary outlook is reflected in the design of the whole tavern, including the signage. The lowercase sans-serif letters are mounted slightly off the face of the wall, using light and shadow to created added dimensionality; A horizontal line in the brickwork provides a convenient baseline.




At the south end of my block is Butts & Betty's Tavern. This sign hangs over the corner entrance to the tavern. The typography seems haphazard, pairing a slab-serif with an italic sans-serif. It's a straightforward sign without a lot of thought given to aesthetics.




Across the street from Butts & Betty's is Brewster's Tavern. This tavern changed hands not too long ago, and this is a fairly new sign. The swash on the B echoes the curved form of the rooster's tail. The coloring-in of some of the counters adds a whimsical quality to the letterforms.





Finally, one block west of Butt's & Betty's and Brewster's is Mary's Tavern. This is a very small neighborhood tavern, run out of the front parlor of a private home. The sign appears to be homemade using plastic letters from a hardware store. It's purpose would seem to be purely functional, perhaps to meet legal requirements for signage for a place of business.