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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Visual Art Currently Hanging

Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 8:37 AM

For three years, the artist Sharon L. Butler has made it her project (among others; she's also a painter and a blogger) to track down and photograph businesses named Moby Dick in North America and Europe.

She even made a Google Map of Moby Dicks, most of which are on the East Coast, where Butler is based.

Help a girl out: Surely there are more Moby Dicks here out west?

^{Moby Dick in Sewaren, NJ, 2006}

Butler's blog Two Coats of Paint is here.

Comments (13) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Hey, there's a moby dick in my pants (but I'm currently on a course of antibiotics for it). Sorry, I've been waiting years to re-tell that "joke".

Posted by ...and anyway, you wouldn't want to eat there... on June 3, 2009 at 8:59 AM

Yes, there is a gay bar in San Francisco by that name...

Posted by carrma on June 3, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Check out the Moby Dick B&B in Nahcotta, on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington:

http://www.bbonline.com/wa/mobydick/inde…

Posted by bouncehouse on June 3, 2009 at 9:01 AM

There's a Moby Dick's in Newport, OR on the coast. It's a bar/seafood sort of place.

Seems like Google would be of more help than a bunch of Sloggers, though...

Posted by Julie in Eugene on June 3, 2009 at 9:27 AM

Gee, sounds like nothing a good Google search couldn't take care of...

Posted by disintegrator

on June 3, 2009 at 9:27 AM

@5: Exactly. Let me Google that for you

Posted by bigyaz on June 3, 2009 at 9:35 AM

Hey, there's a mopy dick that lives right next door to me! ...Oh. Damn dyslexia.

Posted by rob!

on June 3, 2009 at 9:50 AM

It's actually really easy with Google maps: just bring up a map of, say, the western half of the US, type "Moby Dick" and click the Search button, and you'll get markers for all the establishments with that name.

Posted by DaveInCalif on June 3, 2009 at 9:51 AM

Now you're talking. Nice photo. Makes me want to pick it, maybe get a package.

Google gives me a restaurant in White Rock, BC; a motel in Nanaimo, BC; a fish'n'chips joint in Medicine Hat, AB; a hostel in Seward, AK; the Moby Dick Inn (which sounds dirty) in Prince Rupert, BC; a bar in the Castro in SF and one in San Diego; a street name in Oxnard, CA; restaurants in Santa Barbara and Ventura, CA; a pool supply place in Glendale, AZ; and a Moby Dick Supplies in Tucson (which I think is actually a dick supply store run by pop starlet Moby).

On the other side of the water, she missed Moby Dick in Shaarbeek, Belgium; and a whole list of places in England and Wales: Wansbeck, Hull, Louth, Stoke, Derby, Birmingham, Coventry, King's Lynn, Weymouth, Southampton, Brighton, Chatham, Hemel Hempstead, and even far-off Fishguard.

Posted by Fnarf

on June 3, 2009 at 10:09 AM

That's pretty funny – the Bernd and Hilla Becher of Moby Dick signs. Driving across the country recently I was thinking someone should do that with all the businesses called "Git 'er Done" (Git 'er Done Plumbing, Gitter Dun Taxidermy, Get er Done Demolition... the specimens are endless throughout Missouri, Kentucky, and points south).

Posted by Strath

on June 3, 2009 at 12:38 PM

Yeah -- Moby Dick in the Castro is one of San Francisco's two best gay bars (the other being Truck, IMO). "Best" meaning "great for anybody into fit, handsome 32-year-olds, possibly with beards."

Posted by rasselas on June 3, 2009 at 12:39 PM

i dont want to be a jerk - but i cant imagine anything to be more of a colossal waste of time.

Posted by cc on June 3, 2009 at 3:45 PM

if you're an inclusive North American (the Costa Ricans down here aren't, they're 'Central Americans' thank yew very much), there's a Moby Dick asian food spot on the main street in San Pedro of San Jose. Take a vacation down here, why doncha?

Posted by nickincr on June 5, 2009 at 10:12 AM