Hello! I'm pretty new to the world of fonts, and don't know much of the jargon yet. So it's great to have a place to ask questions; thanks in advance!

I'm a cultural studies major, and am working on a 'linguistic landscape' for a neighborhood in a city in The Netherlands. I've noticed that a number of shops, bars, restaurants try to appear 'older' or 'more authentic' than they really are. I think fonts play a big part in this. 

In particular, a couple of establishments use fonts with a sort of stripe or shadow on the side of the individual letters, or within the letters. Maybe this is meant to give a certain depth to the font, but I (also) instinctively connect it to some bygone era. See the pictures for the signs of these restaurants.

My questions:
- does anyone know the name of this type of stripe, and maybe the group of fonts that have this feature, or even the specific fonts?
- am I correct in my feeling that these are 'historical fonts'? And if so, in what period where these fonts created / in vogue?
- was this 'sidestripe' just an aesthetic, or perhaps meant to convey depth, or something else?

I'd be very grateful for the answer on any of these questions! Many thanks!

Your first sample (Bruine Boon) is an example of an Art Deco typeface, specifically Broadway (1927) / Broadway Engraved (1928).

The “side stripe” is an artifact of how these signs were actually created before the advent of phototypesetting—by sign painters working directly on window or door glass or directly on walls. Adding either a shadow or highlight, especially on clear glass, helped make the lettering more readable to passersby.

Note also the use of the term “engraved“ on that version of Broadway—the practice of ornamenting type like this also has its roots in an era (19th century) when type was engraved directly onto metal plates, a practice used for creating social stationery and other short-run printing projects.

Ralf, who runs this site, has a good essay explaining early forms of hand-drawn type and how they were created.

Many thanks for your reply Kevin! Very interesting and very illuminating! And how wonderful that you were able to pinpoint one of the fonts. Also, I'm going to read that essay straightaway. 

Kind regards, Lucas