Why does this Greenville music venue have over 100 famous local signs? It’s an ode to the past.

Stone Sr. liked to collect signs. Lots of them. Starting in the 1980s, he hung them in his private warehouses next to old files, shovels and lawnmowers. They were the remnants of the businesses he loved, his son remembered.

“The majority of them were, ‘hey, this was my favorite place,’” Stone said of his father. “So it was a way to preserve the memories.”

The walls were like “eye candy” for the young Stone. As early as he could, he started to create his own collection. He snatched a lifeguard sign from the beach. A Mardi Gras sign from New Orleans. He hung them in his bedroom during high school and at Clemson University.

After college, he traveled the world. He lived in Park City, Utah, as a snowboard instructor.

Then his life flipped upside down.

His father passed away abruptly in 2009.

Stone, then 23, suddenly had to manage the family real estate business. 

He felt a void “that was impossible to fill.” But the signs provided a “time capsule,” reminding him of the life his father lived.

After returning to Greenville, he started a side hobby in 2010: Hosting parties in the basement of his house on Swanson Court.

What began as small hangouts ballooned into hundreds of people. Stone hosted two or three per year, donating funds to charity. They became a thing of lore. So much lore that they outgrew the space and he moved the parties to his father’s old warehouse on Irvine Street. 

After getting busted by the city for not having a permit, he made it an official business in 2018. He met all of the city requirements and created a speakeasy-like music venue in downtown Greenville that highlights up-and-coming local artists. It is called Swanson’s Warehouse.

How the signs rose

As Stone developed the concert hall, he began flooding the walls with signs from local businesses. He had so many. Some from his father. Some from himself. And a whole lot of new stuff. 

Over the years, he has continued to add more. He has attended auctions, grabbed them from dumpsters and traded beer for them. He bought the Handlebar sign for $150, his favorite of the collection. He went bid for bid for Birds Fly South. He’s kicking himself for missing Blind Horse Saloon. He’s eyeing the hotdog outside of Tanner’s Big Orange.