When Kasey Smith would walk to the advertising agency where she used to work, she would pass "no fewer than ten" old painted signs on the sides of buildings. Known as ghost signs, they're often faded or covered in graffiti in a sort of urban palimpsest.

Ghost signs are well-named: They're holdovers from a different time in city life, usually advertising products or places that no longer exist.

Smith says she developed an attachment to a couple of ghost signs she passed habitually. Here's one of them, located near the intersection of Larkin and Post Streets. It's an advertisement for a meatpacking company, the Patek-Ecklon Division of Durham Meat Co.

Another, for Zubelda Cigarettes, "The Double Package," can be found near the intersection of Larkin and Geary Streets on the side of a 1909 building. Zubelda, Smith notes, debuted in October 1912, giving us a clue as to when the sign was first painted.

Photo: Kasey Smith via Flickr

To share her work, which began in 2011, "Eventually I decided to provide a navigable map to these ghost signs and the San Francisco Ghost Sign Mapping Project" Smith writes.

"San Francisco’s post-earthquake reconstruction took well into the 1920’s to complete," Smith explains, "creating the perfect scenario for ghost signs to become obscured between and behind successive waves of new development. While most signs wedged between buildings will be lost in time... those hedged into the newly formed (at the time) backyards of adjacent buildings are often accessible using modern internet tools — namely Google Satellite View and Google Earth."

Smith keeps a log of some of her interesting discovers at Perception Filter, and below you can see her in-progress but already very thorough Google Map.

Google, Smith writes, is "both a mapping platform and a research tool" since many ghost signs lie hidden in unexpected places. One example, writes Smith: "572 O’ Farrell Street - which contains an MJB Coffee sign on it’s Geary-facing side — was constructed immediately post-quake in 1907... [T]he sight lines to Geary weren’t blocked until the construction of 669 Geary in 1922." Every once in a while, she tells SFist, friends will send her a new one — often when buildings are torn down to reveal what was once visible. Currently, her goal is to redo some of the photography and put together "a very visually intensive website and small print book."

Related: The Seven Most Haunted Places In The Bay Area

Unless you've been living under a (rent-controlled) rock, you know that rental wars are in full swing, and another rent map shows just how expensive the city has become. According to the map, the average rent for a one bedroom in the city is now about $2,800, a two bedroom is $3,875, and a three bedroom is $4,750.

The map is put together by online price guide Priceonomics, whose genesis story ("We hate getting ripped off or over-paying for stuff so we built Priceonomics") stands in contrast to their geography ("We're based in San Francisco, CA").

According to the map, average rents for a one bedroom top out in SOMA ($3,475), the Financial District ($3,395) and Russian Hill ($3,200). The city's most centralized neighborhoods all seem to hover in the $2,700-$2,500 range, but keep in mind that that's an average, so for every rent-controlled apartment there's another, way pricier spot on the books. The Richmond, Sunset and Tenderloin remain on the cheaper end (that's $1,800-$1,650 for a 1 BR).

The makers of the map note that over the past two years, the price of a one bedroom has increased 27%, and the price of a two bedroom apartment has risen 33%, almost 10 times the rate of inflation. The neighborhoods that are getting pricier the fastest are Civic Center, Bernal Heights, and the Mission.

Previously: Map: Average Rent For 1BR In San Francisco By Neighborhood

[Priceonomics]

Cell phone theft is reaching epidemic proportions in San Francisco, accounting for 50% of all crime reported in the city. Police data show that about 1,470 instances were reported last year alone.

Where's all the action taking place? We've heard too many stories about phone getting nabbed in the chaos of rowdy Muni buses and snatched from clueless folks waving their phones around on the street, but a new interactive map using police data from the last five months shows that phone and tablet robbery can happen in wide swathes of the city and in all sorts of circumstances.

The most heavily thieved areas flow up San Jose Avenue and Mission Street and form a heavy concentration up Market and in the Tenderloin. The Western Addition, Bayview, Chinatown and North Beach areas also make solid appearance.

According to the map, which is colorcoded by incident type (robbery with firearm of knife, robbery with gun, other), incidents included victims being pepper-sprayed, carjacked, assaulted, and threatened with handguns. Home invasions, pot deals gone bad, and phones left out on bars and in cars also figure into the data.

The majority of the victims are in their 20's, and if there's any discernible pattern to the thefts, it's that bus stops are bad news.

The map makes for fascinating, if scary reading. Zoom in on your neighborhood to see what's happening near you, but don't be surprised if it makes you extra paranoid.

[Marketplace]
[Examiner]

Were you having a good week? Too bad. We're here to shed some light on the housing situation in San Francisco. And it's brutal. For us, anyway. You too, we can only assume. This map (via Zumper) shows the average rent in February 2013 for a 1BR in varying San Francisco neighborhoods.

Some key factoids:

• The most expensive neighborhood to rent a 1BR is in terminally dull (save for AT&T Park) South Beach! (followed closely by the FiDi.)
• Hayes Valley is slightly more expensive than the city's second most obnoxious neighborhood, The Mission.
• The cheapest neighborhood on the map is the Outer Mission/Excelsior.
• The average price of a 1BR in SF is $2,700 (this according to Zumper, "is based on averaging all of the data points from each neighborhood, not the average prices of the neighborhoods.")

Remember when you could rent a studio on Dolores and 18th just across from Dolores Park for only $550? We do because we did. And we gave it up in order to live with boys in the Castro and party at the Detour every night. Granted, this was in the late '90s, but still. Hindsight is 20/20, folks. Alas.

This map is brought to you by Zumper, a new search site for apartment rentals "focused on bringing renters the most accurate listing inventory, which is updated real-time." So, it's like a heat map of sorts and a free rental listing service. Read about them on TechCrunch.

Click map to enlarge

View San Francisco Dine About Town 2013 - Restaurants in a larger map

The fine folks at Google sent us this map that, from January 15 - 31, you can use to peruse this year's Dine About Town joints. The map shows each restaurants' Zagat reviews and photos on Google+. You can even check out the menus and/r make reservations.

What is Dine About Town, you ask? Well, it started in 2001 as a response to 9/11 when restaurants saw a huge drop in diners, so the program was developed to lure diners to try new restaurants and to eat out during sluggish restaurant periods (lunch, off days, etc.). The program has been continuing for 11 years. Here's how it works:

Restaurants sign up to offer a fixed price 2-or 3-course lunch option for $18.95 and/or a 3-course dinner option for $36.95. Since we’re all about deals, Dine About Town menus will offer a 10-25% discount off regularly priced menu items. During January 15-31 and June 1-15, participating restaurants will offer their Dine About Town menu, sometimes alongside their regular menus, and other time as the only menu. Be sure to request the Dine About Town menu when you dine.

If you want to attend the Dine About Town kickoff party, happening tomorrow night at the Metreon's City Views, details and ticket info can be found here.

Artist Nate Padavick drew this precious map showcasing 12 of the Castro's most popular bars. And he drew it on a cartoon man's abdominal six-pack. It was unleashed last year around Gay Pride season, but, in classic San Francisco fashion, we just discovered it now. Anyway, it's fun. Even if it is a bit dated, information-wise. (Daddy's is called 440 and The Bar has been Q Bar for four years.)

Speaking of these 12 bars in the Castro, we'd like to point out that Last Call is the best watering hole in San Francisco's gayville. In fact, it's one of our favorite bars in the city. Really. It's small—pretty much just one long bar with minimal walking room. Also, they've got an excellent jukebox selection, fresh sprays of flowers on the bar, a cabin-like ceiling, and tiny private bathrooms with sliding doors. The perfect place. But, for God's sake, don't tell your friends about it. We don't want it getting too crowded.

[They Draw And Travel]

San Francisco loves maps. San Francisco also loves typography. So, the San Francisco Typography Map almost makes too much sense. Names of roads, streets and highways are all meticulously drawn in an impossibly hip typeface (don't mention the word "font", unless you want to be exposed as an impostor) to create this detailed gem from Axis Maps. Real nerds will want to wait for the Limited Edition letterpress prints to be released, but regular-old posters are available now and are probably suitable for framing and hanging in your rented apartment would could collapse in an earthquake at any moment. Seriously though, click through for a close-up. Our lo-res preview doesn't do the work justice.

Hat tip to serafinak on twitter for pointing us to it.
[Axis Maps LLC]

Remember I Can Haz Cheeseburger? They created this map that denotes each state with a signifying food. California gets grapes. Because of Napa. That, and because a Welch's Concord Grape Juice craze is poised to takeover Bay Area menus any day now. Other notable state foods: Utah's green Jello (burn!), Connecticut hamburger (birthplace of the hamburger sandwich!), Missouri's toasted ravioli (good heavens!), and Nevada's buffets (rad).

Click on map to watch it grow.

[via Inside Scoop]

Jen and Omar from These Are Things, a mapmaking design team in Columbus, Ohio, just finished working on a map of San Francisco. Lovely, yes?

According to Jen and Omar, "Our latest maps showcase our favorite American cities - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, and our hometown, Columbus."

Each map is silkscreened by hand and comes in two sizes - 9x12 ($25) and 18x24 ($50).

PREVIOUSLY: Burrito Justice made this map.

Although we disagree with California's TV denotation -- we are, if anything, a state brimming with Bad Girls Club hopefuls -- Andrew Shears' whimsical map of the US, featuring TV hits that best represent each state, is in response to this map showing movies that best represent each state.

[Hat tip: Laughing Squid, via The Daily What]

Generic conceptualized and conceived this shockingly accurate map. Brilliant work.

Click on map to enlarge.

[via Curbed]

Eric Fischer created this map (click to enlarge!) based on race and ethnicity. He explains, "I was astounded by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago's racial and ethnic divides and wanted to see what other cities looked like mapped the same way. To match his map, Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, Orange is Hispanic, Gray is Other, and each dot is 25 people. Data from Census 2000."

Check out other cities.

SFist has a rich history of helping Bay to Breakers runners get nice and ripped. (You're welcome.) After publishing this 2008 map indicating liquor stores along the race route -- which resulted in a more aggressive and tipsier B2B than years prior -- we felt bad. Well, almost. (It did manage to score us loads of delicious press. Which: fantastic.)

So, we feel it's our sovereign duty to once again show joggers where they can purchase spiked refreshments while prancing throughout the city half naked on Sunday.

Former SFist contributor and current NBC Bay Area scribe Joe Kukura helped out again with this year's map. "There is greatly expanded coverage this year! As far south as Judah and as far north as Balboa," he explained to SFist.

Remember to print out the map or bookmark it on your phone to keep it on-hand when you start to get the shakes.

Index after the jump.