Pioneer Press / Hellenic Wide

Pioneer Press is located downtown Vancouver, WA. I drive by it almost every day. And every day I catch myself staring at the sign, but not knowing why. It's sort of ugly and the shop itself went out of business ages ago.

All-in-all it's depressing, but I finally realized why I couldn't help but stare. It was the 'R'. Yes, the 'R' in "Pioneer". The way the tail swoops out and makes such a signature statement....the slab serifs....the strong angles...I'm captivated. It's like a strapping lumberjack or maybe a handsome cowboy. Given the font has such identifiable characteristics, you'd think I'd know what it was off-the-bat, or at least be able to find it easily. Not so. The need to own the font, or at least one like it, floated around in my head until one day I saw this on Mattson Creative's site. There it was again! The 'R'. The slabs. That was it. I needed it. Ty Mattson tipped me off to what font it was and said he himself had a heck of a time finding it (Thanks, Ty. Now I don't feel so bad for not finding it myself.) It's Hellenic Wide.

Hellenic Wide is a "digital revival" of metal type originally distributed by American Type Founders in the late 1800s. Even if (as those of you type-addicts surely already noticed) it's not exactly the same as what's used on the Pioneer Press sign, it's darn close and I love it.

Sources: identifont.com, veer.com