OK, I’m back with the conclusion to last weekend.  I forgot to include this night shot of the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA to the Saturday post:

I tried to shoot the sputnik on top of the tower but the neon was flashing so quickly that I only got blurry or partially lit photos.  So, I’ll just drop in this photo which I took during the day in 2012:

 

I’ve got a thing for “Happy Bear” signs.  If you’d like to see loads of them & info about the bears, have a look at this page which I created a few months ago:
http://www.roadarch.com/signs/bear.html

This is just a small one in Corona.  I was a bit disappointed that the palm trees were shading it — will have to reshoot in the afternoon sometime:

This location certainly takes pride in their Bear mascot with these sweet painted window signs:

Time to throw a couple of mid-century modern buildings into the mix, no?  These great canopy marks the entrance to the Continental Arcadia Apartments (in Arcadia):

The Sepulveda Medical Building in Los Angeles is visually overshadowed by the still fairly glorious, former Loyola Theatre next door.  But it has noteworthy mcm details — including a nice mosaic caduceus which covers a door:

 

The El Coyote in Los Angeles has been around since 1931.  The restaurant moved to this location in 1951 and these well-maintained signs are from then:

The Del Rio Lanes in Downey opened in the late 1950s.   Sure, the sign has been crapped up with backlit plastic and that LED message board.  But you can still imagine the neon that was there originally.  Glass half full.

 

I believe this intact beauty in Azusa dates to 1967:

One of the highlights of the day was getting to see the restored interior of Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown L.A.  Part of Clifford Clinton’s chain of theme restaurants, this one was built in 1935 and is the sole survivor.  If you search on-line, you’ll find loads of articles about this place’s history and vintage postcards of the incredible interior and exterior.  So, I’ll just throw in a few photos here to entice you:

Lots of taxidermied animals, a waterfall, a giant meteorite… I could go on:

and incredible terrazzo in front of the restaurant:

I’ll end this little “sampler” blog post here and get back to adding some of these and lots of other photos to my website.  I’ll be doing a little Long Beach area trip soon.  I’m not sure where I’ll be heading for this summer’s vacation yet.  Stay tuned!

dj & the dogs