The bad news keeps coming.
MINNESOTA
This sign at Wild West Liquors in Duluth, MN was gone by 2017:
The Recreation Lanes in Rochester, MN became the Bowlocity Entertainment Center around 2014. The facade was updated, obscuring the mid-century modern look, and these signs are gone now:
Nye’s Bar & Polonaise Room in Minneapolis, MN closed in 2016. The signs were removed soon after that:
This beauty in Minneapolis has been basically trashed. Here it was in all its glory:
The bar closed in 2013 and quickly reopened as Cliff-n-Norm’s Bar. They added their name to the top but at least it was still neon:
But then by 2016, all the neon was gone and the sign was covered with crappy backlit plastic:
One more from Minneapolis: the Murray’s big steak panel on the right is gone now. It was damaged in a windstorm and then removed in 2017. As a vegan, I should be happy about that but I’m devastated:
MISSOURI
The Melody Lane Inn in Branson, MO had been closed since at least 2012. This sign was removed or demolished around 2016 or 2017:
This sign in Independence, MO was removed around 2017:
Finally, some good news! This sign in Raytown, MO:
was apparently restored or replicated in 2017! Back to the original red:
a much better photo of it here:
This sign in St. Joseph, MO was adapted for a Natural Grocers in 2016 — so painful:
This sign in Kansas City was gone by 2017:
This sign in St. Louis has been repaired and yet de-neoned at the same time. Here’s what it looked like until 2017. That horrific, rusty dent on the far left had been there for many years:
Evidently, that piece of the panel was repaired but the neon and bulbs were removed from the rest of the sign just after Google shot the photo below. Oddly enough, the new panel has fake bulb and neon tubing holes. So, it doesn’t appear that new neon or bulbs are going to be added:
You can see the details better in this photo that Greg Rhomberg took a few days ago for me (sloppy blue circle is mine):
MISSISSIPPI
Only one for this state — but it’s a doozie. This sign in Jackson, MS was gone by 2017. The whole block of buildings is being renovated. But I can’t find any mention in the articles about what became of this sign or if there are plans to bring it back: [EDIT! Note from the comment below that the sign has actually been reinstalled — WOO HOO!!!]
Enough! More bad news tomorrow night.
dj
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