History not forgotten in assessor’s office
BRIDGEPORT — Elaine Carvalho’s grandmother stored old city postcards in a scrapbook, which Carvalho — the city’s acting assessor — mistakenly threw away six years ago.
In her quest to reclaim some of her grandmother’s personal mail, Carvalho became fascinated with the wealth of city memorabilia and collectibles up for sale on the Internet.
Zoning Inspector Neil Bonney began traveling the city four years ago as part of his zoning enforcement work. During that time, he became enthralled with the city’s architecture. Last year, he took to walking the city streets during his lunch hour and taking photos of new and old business signs, as well as "ghost signs" — old fading murals drawn onto the sides of buildings advertising a business or product.
Since they began compiling city history, Carvalho and Bonney have assembled collections worthy of a shelf in the city’s historical collections department at the Burroughs and Saden Library. Instead, though, both city employees use their city offices to display their proud pieces.
Bonney, who doesn’t consider himself a photographer, has a collection of about a dozen images of signs — like the one touting the now-defunct Conty’s restaurant — and ghost signs, like the one displayed downtown advertising the old Corbit’s Studio.
"Ever since I started working here, at lunch I took walks downtown so I started noticing the architecture. When you’re on foot and you’re a visual person like myself, you
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