Sunday, March 22, 2009


Mother Fool's Coffee House
Willy Street, Madison WI


In times when few people knew how to read, business owners would hang a sign over their doors painted with a picture that depicted their trade, or a totem such as a horseshoe or barber pole, or both.

I don't know whether the good people at Mother Fool's hung this enameled coffee pot outside their door as a nod to that tradition, or because they left a pot on the hob and boiled it dry but were loathe to throw it in the trash. But I like it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the photo! That coffee pot was there when we bought the business in 1995. I don't know if the former Mother Fool's owner had put it there or if it was from Coffee Lab. Either way, we've always liked it.

Unknown said...

Thanks for leaving it up! And thanks for stopping by.