Picking up on the tragedies starting with…

KANSAS

The Townsman Motel in Independence, KS lost its neon:

By 2016, the letters had been replaced with backlit plastic:

MASSACHUSETTS

Here’s a real heartbreaker.  These signs in Greenfield, MA are gone now:

This one, too, in Lowell, MA — gone:

This restaurant in Newton, MA closed around 2012.  The sign is gone now:

 

MARYLAND

This milk bottle sign at the dairy building in Frederick, MD — gone:

 

This sign in Beltsville, MD has been messed with.  In 2010, it looked like this:

Then, sometime between 2015 and 2017, the neon was replaced with backlit plastic.  At least the guy’s lightbulb eyes are still there:

MAINE

The Starlite Motor Inn in Old Orchard Beach, ME originally had a diving woman on the left as evidence in this 1984 photo by John Margolies:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/mrg.08543/

It looked like this until 2016 when it was removed and replaced with an incredibly boring sign that doesn’t even deserve posting:

Another sign in Old Orchard Beach, ME that I didn’t get a chance to shoot:  The Marcotte Motor Court — gone now:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vintageroadtrip/15737913646/

MICHIGAN

A double-whammy — both of these signs in Grand Rapids, MI were removed around 2017:

 

The Alpine Motel in Inkster, MI is still there but this sign was replaced with a backlit plastic box sign in 2017:

This sign in Plymouth, MI has to be fairly modern but I still loved it.  Functions as a mailbox holder:

By 2014, it had been repainted like this:

This sign in Pontiac, MI was gone by 2016 :

These signs in Royal Oak, MI were removed between 2015 and 2017:

 

This sign in Sandusky, MI was a rare example of embossed porcelain letters.  Stunning even with the neon removed.  It was removed around 2016:

I was worried about this one in Saugatuck, MI since Google Street View showed only the hanging pole.  I hadn’t got around to shooting it.  I gave the restaurant a call since it was still open.  It seems they remove the sign when they close for the off-season to protect it and then reinstall it when they reopen.  God bless ’em!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/94921703@N00/5121954605/
This incredible sign in Waterford, MI was removed and replaced with a plastic box sign around 2016:

 

This sign in Wyandotte, MI had already been updated with the Yurkovich name at some point but it still had integrity:

Then, around 2017, the Yurkovich text was replaced with awful “Victory Motors” backlit plastic letters:

 

This incredible sign in Detroit was removed around 2017:

This sign in Detroit:

By 2016, it had inexplicably been painted grey and white:

 

That’s enough for one sitting.  The next post will resume with more “M”s (Minnesota, Missouri, etc.)

dj