Here’s the wrap-up post from this weekend’s trip.  You can assume all the photos in this post are from San Diego unless I mention otherwise.  I haven’t seen one of these gas station islands with overhead lights in a very long time.  I assume the thicker pole to the left supported a sign:

The last time I was by this site, maybe a year ago, it was a vacant lot.  The property is being developed as a hotel.  Now, finally, the recreation of the former Top’s Supper Club entrance structure which was built in 1939 is going up.  After 1964, the building housed other restaurants until it was demolished in 2014.  This photo shows what the place looked like originally:

And here’s what’s there now.  I already see some subtle discrepancies.  The tower’s base doesn’t match, nor does it have those nice concave contours, the windows on the front don’t look right, and some of those streamline-y edges on the right now looks like sharp-edged blocks.  Better a recreation than nothing at all I guess.  That hotel part built behind it is pretty hideous:

The former Casino Theatre in San Diego was built in 1913.  It was remodeled in the 1930s to this Art Deco look:

The building now houses a Ghiradelli Chocolate store.  The marquee was adapted:

The sign is lit at night but I didn’t backtrack for it.  Here’s a photo from Joe Wolf:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/joebehr/5504879456/

The Star Motel is boarded up but this sign is still hanging on:

This circa 1940 building was given a new paint job last year.  Here’s my photo from 2014:

And yesterday:

I believe this building previously housed a credit union.  That round thing on the left was a deposit vault of some type I believe.  The building now houses an Islamic Center:

I hung around at dusk to check on the lit/not lit status of a few signs.  I was disappointed that the former Loma Theatre sign was only half lit:

Here’s what the sign looks like on a good day:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30894058@N03/12148596073/

 

On the other hand, the Golden West Hotel sign is looking grand:

If you would like to see more photos from this trip, head on over to my Flickr stream where I’ve uploaded another small batch:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/
The next set of posts will be in August following a two-week trip to Oregon and Washington.  The trip starts at the end of July and, yes, of COURSE the dogs are going.  Maybe I’ll finally throw in some long overdue photos of them in one of those posts.

Happy 4th of July!

Debra Jane & the dogs