After slogging thru all those website updates, it was high time to get out and about. I had planned to take this Presidents’ three-day weekend for a San Diego & L.A. area trip but the weather forecast was crummy (and correct). So, I went last weekend and had glorious sun. I managed to get all the photos up at my website this week.

I have been to the Salton Sea a few times but never explored Bombay Beach — pretty fun. Lots of little art installations include this TV display:

Here’s a sign from the “main drag” (in this tiny town):

I missed the Drive-in but here’s a snip from Google StreetView:

I got a “fruit burrito” at Mary’s Donuts in Lakeside (a fried flour tortilla with fruit inside – I went with lemon). It was a bit overly sweet for me since I rarely eat sugary things these days:

In addition to a giant donut (posted to my Instagram account, with other photos from this mini-trip), Mary’s has a few signs:

The rooftop cow at the Country Market in Morongo Valley has been repainted. That wreath hat must still be there from Christmas:

The former Huish Family Fun Center (now Bullwinkle’s Family Fun Center) in Upland is remodeling and expanding. They plan to have bowling, axe-throwing, a bigger arcade, etc. However, I’m very sad to report that the cute little indoor storybook-themed course from 1972 will be demolished soon for those things:

It was the wrong time of day to shoot this one in San Diego — maybe next time:

The Willcockson House in Indio has been on my to-shoot list for a long time. But it was late in the day and there’s a huge church being built around it with everything fenced off on the gigantic lot. This photo was taken from about a mile away and is best I could do. Maybe when the church is done, I can get closer. Note the concrete parabolic roof:

I posted a shot of the Parkway Bowl in El Cajon over at Instagram but here are a couple of detail shots – the entrance:

And the original lockers inside:

The Mission Bay Visitors Center in San Diego has been restored since the last time I shot it:

This former Dog House restaurant sign is also in San Diego — now advertising for a pet salon and a tattoo/piercing studio. I don’t know if there was a location at this spot or if the sign was brought here from somewhere else.

The chain originated in Youngstown, OH and by the mid-1960s, there were over 220 locations in 33 states. The company went bankrupt in 1968 but there are still a handful of these signs out there. Here are a few vintage photos:

Here’s a cigar store Indian in Monrovia:

I posted a photo of the Dragon Slayer sculpture in Lake Elsinore at Instagram. Here’s a closeup of the guy standing on top of the dragon:

This building in San Diego originally housed the City Dye Works and the arrow sign had text with that name in neon. It originally rotated — I’m not sure if it still does. It has housed a Mexican restaurant since around 2011 and the plastic letters were added then. It now houses the Camino Riviera Mexican restaurant. This paint job was added around 2022:

That’s it for now. I’ll be back with another post in early April after a Central CA & Bay Area trip. Then, there will be a post after another L.A. area & Orange County trip in May. These mini trips are warm-ups for the biggie (five weeks in June/July when I’ll be in the Midwest).

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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This post is surprisingly short after combing the entire section (more than 500 pages) and finding most of these buildings unscathed this year.

The Crossbridge Church in Pinecrest, FL has been demolished. A much larger church is being built to replace it:

This roof at the Elks Lodge in San Jose, CA…:

… has been remodeled into boring flat roofline. It looks like the sign tower and a little canopy on the side will be preserved. From June StreetView:

and the planned finished product illustration:

The former Bahia Motel in Anaheim, CA is gone now — a big empty lot at StreetView:

This former Fotomat in Anaheim, CA is gone now:

And with that: it’s a wrap! I will be quiet for a while here. There will be some little 3 or 4-day weekend trips in a few months and I’ll post photos then. Those posts will definitely be more positive than these website updates have been! I’ll also be preparing for the big June/July trip to the Midwest (Missouri, Illinois, etc.). Once I get home from that five-week trip as I start adding each day to the website, I’ll be posting here.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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Seton Keough High School in Baltimore, MD has been demolished:

This building in Connellsville, PA is gone now:

This whimsical building in Moses Lake, WA has been remodeled into a boring box:

The Clark County Title Company building in Vancouver, WA with its sculpted concrete panels is gone now. The city saved 32 of the panels and put them in storage with plans to display them as public art someday. Some nice vintage photos of the building and panels here:

https://jamesleehansen.com/sample-news-post/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20IQ%20Credit%20Union,for%20use%20as%20public%20art. https://jamesleehansen.com/sample-news-post/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20IQ%20Credit%20Union,for%20use%20as%20public%20art.

Some of the panels have been installed here at the Esther St. underpass:

Damn. I was really looking forward to shooting this guy in Oak Park, IL this summer and now it’s gone:

This pair of buildings at the Dual Manor Health Care Center in Cincinnati, OH is gone now:

This former “rotunda branch” bank in Canton, OH will likely be demolished soon for a new development known as O’Jay’s Plaza:

I never got to see the interior but check out the ceiling, the vault, and the terrazzo from the real estate listing before the building was sold. I betcha the teller counter was originally round:

The former Oceanview Motel in Wildwood Crest, NJ:

… will soon be transformed into the monster Madison Resort. It could be worse. At least they are keeping some of the midcentury look:

This Econolodge (former Village Inn) in Battle Creek, MI has been demolished:

These sign poles in Aurora, CO are gone now:

This former Fotomat in Guthrie, OK is gone now:

The mid-century metal slipcover on the Coleman County State Bank in Coleman, TX..:

… has been removed:

The mushroom canopies on this bank in Miami, FL...:

… have been removed:

The facade on this bank in Orlando, FL has been remodeled:

… the rocks on the facade are gone but they built a little planter with rocks for the new sign:

This post is getting mighty long and I’m just getting started with Florida. I’ve been really pounding away here and just have Florida and California in this section to go and then I’ll be DONE with this winter project. Back soon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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This former Imperial 400 Motel in Cedar City, UT is gone now:

So has this one in Richland, WA:

This one in Walla Walla, WA may be next. It is surrounded by chain link fencing:

The former Hyatt Lodge in Thousand Oaks, CA is now — you guessed it — surrounded by chain link. It is being redeveloped as homeless housing:

What I believe were the last two Robo-Wash signs are gone now. I believe their robots that went around the oval tracks and washed your car are also gone. But their buildings with the red and white diamond plastic panels remain. Del Rio, TX:

and Laramie, WY:

The Crown Car Wash on Pico in Los Angeles, CA:

… is closed now and surrounded by fencing:

This funky sign in Costa Mesa, CA (and the carwash with concrete pillars and lanterns):

has been replaced with this:

The University Lodge in Albuquerque, NM:

was built as a Travelodge in 1960:

In 2022, it was renovated as the Hotel Zazz:

The Food Fair in Vacaville, CA:

now houses a Maya Supermarket but still has the mid-century look:

This former Trustmark National Bank in Meridian, MS had been vacant since 2018…:

…in November, it was being renovated as the Cater’s at the Museum restaurant next to the new Children’s Museum buildings.

The nice letters on this building in Asheboro, NC…:

now a golf cart place with a peaked roof:

This motel in Fairfax, VA has been demolished:

It will be replaced soon with something like this:

This post is getting long. Many more midcentury buildings to come.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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Here are the remaining two states for this winter project: Illinois and Texas. This beautiful sign in Carmi, IL is gone now:

This one in Danville, IL is gone now:

This store in Glenview, IL closed in 2018. The building and sign are gone now.

This sign in Granville, IL is gone now:

This sign in Nauvoo, IL is gone now:

This sign in Chicago, IL is gone now:

Moving on to Texas. This place in Rosenberg, TX has closed and the sign was covered with red paint:

This sign in Rosenberg, TX has been through a lot. Back when I shot it in 2006, it was pretty much original:

By 2018, the name had changed and more neon was added to tacked-on panels:

In 2020, the name was changed again but the horse and rider’s neon was restored. Fast forward to last year. A new name and all the neon removed. All plastic letters and the horse and rider poorly painted:

This sign in Tyler, TX might be gone now. StreetView shows it missing in late 2022 and early 2023. I tried calling but can’t get through. The poles are still there which gives me hope.

This sign in San Antonio, TX is gone now:

This former Glo Cleaners sign in Dallas, TX is gone now:

This sign is gone now. The building has been remodeled for a veterinary office:

And finally, this muffler-shaped sign in Dallas, TX is gone now. The business is now a Brakes Plus:

With that, I’ll be moving on to the final and biggest section of this project for the next post: mid-century modern buildings. There are more than 500 pages in that one so there will be multiple posts here and it might take me a couple of months to finish.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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The Aloha Motel sign in Bellingham, WA...:

…has been adapted for the Samish Commons low-cost housing:

Here’s what the sign looked like originally:

This funky sign in Spokane, WA…:

has been replaced with this plastic sign:

This sign in Bolivar, MO is gone now:

This motel in Osage Beach, MO was demolished in 2017. This sign with the revolving door is gone now:

This sign in Poplar Bluff, MO…:

… has — you guessed it — plastic letters now:

This sign in McAlester, OK is blank on one side now and the other side is missing the word “Sales”:

This sign in Nowata, OK is gone now:

This sign is what replaced it and the building has been painted a complementary dark grey – ick:

This sign and all of the buildings in Grants, NM are gone – just the three sign poles left:

This long-abandoned sign in Roswell, NM is gone now:

The downtown Albuquerque, NM Peoples Flowers location closed and this sign is gone now:

The remains of the Flag Pole Liquor sign in Akron, OH are gone now. Here’s my photo from 2011. I suspect that it was a Norge Village Cleaners “Norge Ball” originally and then painted to look like a burger.

These signs in Bryan, OH are gone now:

That’s enough for now. Just 3 states to go for the signs section but they are biggies. Back soon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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The Reeves Drugs signs in Pulaski, TN were missing at StreetView — but I was able to poke around to discover they were restored in August. From Reeves FB page:

This sign in Whiteville, TN is gone now:

This sign in Nashville, TN is gone now. I doubt it was saved. The property is being developed for housing:

Oh no… this restaurant in Deland, FL closed last year and the sign had slipped about 2/3 the way down on the poles (storm damage?). It also looked bent where the arrow and the Restaurant panel met. I just found a real estate listing from 6 days ago that said the sign had been removed:

The sign originally advertised for Jack’s Boulevard Restaurant:

This sign was at Harvey’s Groves in Rockledge, FL. The citrus store closed in 2017 but this sign remained until last year when the entire building was demolished:

I did find this photo and info at the Florida Today newspaper saying that the sign is now in city storage and might be used in the future at the StorSafe self-storage business that is being built on the property:

Skycraft Surplus made the move from Winter Park, FL to Orlando, FL in 2021. The UFO that was over the entrance at the original location was restored and installed on top of the shopping center sign in Orlando. StreetView hasn’t been there yet but this photo from Skycraft’s website shows it right after it was installed in June:

This skeleton window sign in Allen Park, MI is gone now. A chain pharmacy is there now:

This sign in Ferndale, MI…:

… has been stripped and repainted for the Lotus Inn:

This sign in Kalamazoo, MI originally advertised for a restaurant:

… has been repainted for a brewery:

Well crap. I never got around to shooting this one in Pontiac, MI:

and now it’s been crapped up with plastic:

This beautiful sign in Saginaw, MI appears to be gone now. I don’t believe it’s at the Saginaw Old Town neon sign park, although they do have another nice Aubry Cleaners sign:

This parking sign in Saginaw was attached to a parking garage:

They leveled the parking garage for a parking lot but put the sign on a pole:

Top Cleaners in Utica, MI is gone now:

Here’s what the storefront looks like now:

This sign and building in Wayne, MI are gone now:

That’s it for Michigan. Eight more states to go in the Signs section. I’ll be back probably tomorrow with more.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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Let’s wrap up Oregon with some Portland news. This sign’s charming corrugated plastic panels…:

… have been replaced with new panels for a boxing gym:

The Waddle’s Coffee Shop sign has been through countless iterations. From the 1950s, before I-5 was built:

From after I-5 was built is when the clock first appears:

And into present day history – my photo from 2015:

And now, StreetView from June:

It’s been a tough year for signs in Wisconsin. This Standard Oil sign at a bar in Ashland, WI had been updated at some point with neon reading “GAS”:

Recently, a plastic letter panel was placed on the sign:

This sign in Friendship, WI is gone now:

This sign in Hayward, WI…:

… has been replaced with this:

This cutie in Iron Belt, WI…:

… has been replaced with this boring thing:

I love it when the Google StreetCar actually catches something good happening — in September, the Cozy Inn sign in Janesville, WI was being restored:

This sign and the building where the bar was in Madison, WI are gone now:

This sign and the store in Stevens Point, WI are gone now:

I believe this was originally a Chevrolet OK Used Cars sign like this one:

This sign in Superior, WI…:

… is gone now:

This restaurant closed in 2016 and this sign in Washburn, WI is gone now:

The Lookout Mountain Tourist Lodge in Chattanooga, TN was demolished in June. I don’t know if this sign was saved:

Here’s what the sign looked like in 1980 when John Margolies shot it:

This store in East Ridge, TN had been closed since at least 2009. The plastic panel was gone for years but now the neon piece with the shirts is also gone. There are new plastic panels for a vape shop there now:

The cool mid-century modern building behind this sign in Knoxville, TN has been demolished. This sign will likely be adapted for the new apartments that are being built at the site:

This post is getting pretty long. I’ll pick back up with more Tennessee in the next one.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

This sign in Garden City, ID is gone now. The property was remodeled for the Arcadia Hotel and there’s no pole sign there are all now.

This sign and the Bellingham Auto Sales building in Bellingham, MA are gone now. The property is being developed for an office complex:

The Care Cleaners letters in Chelmsford, MA…:

… are now laying flat on the roof. I don’t know if they will be stood back up again. I found a recent real estate listing posted in December. So, it looks like this may be permanent and not the result of a storm or some such:

A little bit of good news – this store in Springfield, MA moved to Chicopee, MA in 2020:

and the sign was moved to the side of the building there. The letters still have neon!

The Owl Shop in Worcester, MA closed in 2022. This sign is gone now. It was supposed to be installed at a new location in New Hampshire in 2023 but that hasn’t happened and there has been no announcement of even what city the store will be in:

Sun Furniture in Shreveport, LA closed in 2018. In 2022, the sign was removed to be adapted for SporTran City. Note the neon tubing of a sun on top of the “SUN” letters:

Sure enough, last spring, the sign was reinstalled with backlit plastic letters and LED borders. Sigh…:

This sign at a long-closed business in New Orleans, LA is gone now:

This sign in Fort Wayne, IN is gone now. There was a fire in 2020 and the building was demolished in 2022:

This Masonic Lodge sign in Shoals, IN appears to be gone now:

This sign in Great Falls, MT is gone now. The motel was demolished in 2022 and there’s now a Chipotle on the property.

This sign in Shelby, MT is gone now – empty storefront:

This sign in Shelby, MT…

… has been turned into a Welcome sign for the city. All the neon is now plastic. Ugh, not a fan.

The Recreation Center building and remaining letters in The Dalles, OR are gone now:

New boring storefronts going in there now – StreetView from August:

More news from The Dalles: the Oregon Motor Motel is being developed as The Annex as a shelter and for transitional housing. These two signs are gone now in the August StreetView:

I’m hoping the National Neon Sign Museum in The Dalles got the signs:

I did find a photo from a news article in October which shows the adapted plastic “MOTEL” sign with the other two signs below gone:

I’m assuming these two signs around the corners of this building are also gone – the Google car hasn’t gone there yet:

That’s enough for one post. With a 3-day weekend ahead, I’m going to try to wrap up this section but there are 13 states to go (132 pages). So, we shall see.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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Update from the last post: I just heard back from the WHOC station about the sign in Philadelphia, MS. The sign is now standing outside at the downtown location and is lit at night.

Mom’s Diner (originally Mom’s Peppermill Restaurant) in Hightstown, NJ closed in 2007 and was demolished last year. The rickety sign is still there. The “Diner” panel was once an animated peppermill and the top panel reading “Exit” and “8” revolved. I don’t know if whatever gets built here will adapt the sign. This is the best I can find for the original look:

Please tell me that this sign in Ocean City, NJ is not gone! I tried calling but it is the off season. I even called the Forum Motor Inn across the street but no answer there either. The motel was put up for sale in 2022 so I’m fearing the worst:

StreetView from 2018 — note the rooftop sign on the left, the Seahorse Grill canopy, the Pavilion painted on the facade, and the neon sign on the right:

But as of August:

There’s still a skeleton sign in the office reading “Pavilion Motor Lodge” that gives me hope:

This sign in Pine Brook, NJ is definitely gone and so is the motel property — a huge vacant lot now:

Bummer! I had always wanted to shoot the neon lobster in Somers Point, NJ that was originally installed for Mac’s Seafood. It was still there in 2019:

It went through several business names after Mac’s but the lobster was still there. Until now…. all plastic crap:

This sign in Boone, IA…:

has been repainted – yay!

Well, I’m glad they brought the sign back in Chariton, IA when the building restoration was done. But they went the cheap route and used LED tubing instead of neon:

This sign in Fremont, NE is gone now:

This location in Omaha, NE has been closed for a few years…:

and now the neon has been stripped and the signs painted over with black paint:

This adapted motel sign in Omaha, NE seems to be gone now. The tattoo studio moved to a new location and this sign is not on display there:

This sign in Omaha was removed in 2022, soon after the store closed. The new property owners said they would restore the sign and display it somewhere on the property but there was nothing at StreetView:

After some digging, I found the top part of the sign installed inside the event venue, The Hitch, at Wolf’s original location. I don’t know if they kept the legs. The neon does not appear to have been restored:

Gosh, you would never know that this sign in Keeseville, NY is still there. Can you see that little bit of blue?

There it is earlier in 2011:

This one is perplexing. I never got to shoot this sign in Cedar City, UT which looked like this in 2008 in a blurry StreetView:

It apparently sat in sign shop storage in Cedar City for a while (StreetView 2015):

And now it would appear it’s been adapted and stands next to VARR in Heber City, UT (July 2022):

However, what I don’t understand is why the sign in Cedar City seems to still be there (StreetView 2022) and seems to have have the original Sullivan sign’s panels with Arcade painted over the Sullivan panel. Were there two of these signs?

This restaurant in Culpeper, VA was destroyed in a fire in 2023 and demolished. I’m told that the sign was moved to the Rock Hill Farm wedding venue in town which is owned by the same person. I couldn’t find any photos of it there yet:

This Chevrolet OK Used Cars sign in Winchester, VA is gone now:

This sign in Bradford, PA is gone. There’s a puny, plastic Econolodge sign there now:

This sign in Jermyn, PA is gone now:

That’s enough bad news for one sitting. Be back soon with more. Hopefully, there’ll be some positive stuff in the next post. 20 states to go and about 174 pages to go thru.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

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