Hot.  Hot. Hot.  Besides the stunning scenery, that was the theme of the day.  At 9am in Vegas, it was already 90 degrees.  I think I saw 105 later on someplace in SW Utah.   I saw plenty of locals out running and playing football in this heat.

I’ve been debating about whether to blog or not to blog during trips.  But for tonight anyway, I have the stamina.  So, let’s have at it and start the photo marathon in Baker with this photo from Baker, CA.  The building on the right has a Stuckey’s-like roof — matched in the sign itself.  Closed since forever:

 

On to New York City, er, I mean Las Vegas.  I was just here a couple of weeks ago but had a few things on my list that I wasn’t able to get to.

 

I stumbled upon a stash of signs just south of Cashman Center.  The Neon Museum has lots of stuff in storage in “undisclosed locations” — so this must be one of them:

 

I don’t know when this was built — but it looks 1970s to me.  It’s hard to believe it hasn’t been demo-ed & replaced by now.  Vegas is all about that.  The steakhouse inside it was evidently used for the movie “Casino” starring DeNiro, Pacino, etc.

 

A few more photos from Nevada — this one is in Overton:

 

From Mesquite — I love the radiator part.  That’s a faded Ford sign at the top:

 

This one is right next door.   The teddy bear or fat mouse holding the ice cream must indicate this was a restaurant or ice cream stand — but the place is all storage-y now.

 

One more from Mesquite:

 

On to Utah now!  This one is in St. George:

 

This photo is from Ivins.  I was there to shoot the horse statues for my website’s “Giant Animals” section.  But I left some landscape in this shot for ya.  It looks totally fake, doesn’t it?  Like a mini diorama.  It might be a good time to mention that all the photos in my blog are “clickable” (clicking on them opens them to a larger photo):

 

This is just across the Utah border in Fredonia, AZ:

 

There are lots of sign “treasures” in Kanab — including this one with the neat light bulb thing.  Scary clouds in the distance but they didn’t come our way:

 

Another one from Kanab:  a well-protected (plastic over the neon) sign:

 

From Mount Carmel:

 

From Hatch.  I’d love to find a vintage postcard to see what the original colors were:

 

A strangely adapted Best Western sign in Hatch.  Is that a mountain and a bridge?

 

Two unusual scaffold type signs from the Purple Sage Motel in Panguitch.  The main sign (not shown) was a boring plastic sign — so maybe it’s not even the original name.  Here’s a nice sign on the office roof:

And on the roof of the motel building itself:

 

Tucked away in an alley in Panguitch so the sun hasn’t faded it all that much — or they did a very nice understated job of restoring it.  Usually these painted wall signs are garishly overpainted and then… what’s the point?  No history or character left (in my opinion).

 

Two more from Panguitch:

 

Did they really have to tacky-fy this sign with those plastic “crusing” and “Rte 66” add-ons?  Gawd…

 

Last two for this post from Bicknell where I ran out of daylight.  Way up on top of the otherwise boring Aquarius Motel sign.  I’ve never seen one of these light thingies in action.  I believe they didn’t spin but the lights were lit sequentially.  Sure to catch the attention of passing motorists and low flying planes!

 

These plastic stick-on-letters signs are really growing on me.  Does anyone remember Colorforms?  They were stick-on vinyl people or parts of people that you could stick on a board, move the pieces around.  I had a bunch of those sets as a kid — including alphabets — which is what these signs are reminding me of now.  I’m thinking probably same era of development.  I also love the random, remaining bulbs on this sign:

 

I can’t promise a post tomorrow night — but I’ll try!

dj