Website Updating: More Sign Heartbreaks

Let’s pick back up with the SCA section (Society for Commercial Archeology article companion pages). I powered through all the remaining pages of this special signs section and have a jam-packed post below. Break out the Kleenex. By the way, you’ll find all of the SCA pages here: https://www.roadarch.com/sca/main.html

From the Pancakes Signs page. This restaurant in Toledo, OH moved around 2023 and the latest 2024 StreetView shows that these signs did not make the move. Here’s what the pole sign looked like in my 2011 photo:

It got a crappy repaint around 2021 and the bulbs in the channel letters were replaced with either neon or LED. The old-school top panel got ditched and painted instead:

The pole sign is still there, sans oval panel and channel letters, awaiting what will likely be some sort of adapting by the next biz. I’m not optimistic:

The rooftop sign was gone by 2022:

There are two kinda/sorta “tribute” signs at the new location… but meh:

From the Pizza Chef Signs page. This sign in Killeen, TX has been adapted for another business (and not in a good way). Here’s what it looked like previously. Note the animated pizza-tossing:

… and now it’s a Mexican restaurant. At least the bulb arrow and building are still there:

From the Mortar & Pestle Signs section — this sign in Willow Creek CA is gone now:

This store in Meeker, CO closed in 2022 and the sign and vitrolite facade are gone now. The cafe sign next door remains:

From the Shoe & Boot Signs pages. This business in Yankton, SD moved to a new location in 2023:

Before hanging up the sign at the new place, it was painted gray and “updated” with plastic letters (ugh!!):

This boot sign in Perryton, TX looks like it was destroyed in a tornado in 2023:

Moving on to Sputnik Signs. The Lucky Liquor store in Shreveport, LA has been demolished and this sign is gone:

The C-152 Lectra in Hardeeville, SC is gone now:

From the Shopping Center Signs section. I never got to shoot this one in Salem, AR but it disappeared last year:

The Color Corner sign in Lakewood, CA:

was “updated” by the latest 2024 StreetView Map with LED letters and tubing. The oval panel on top is also missing:

This sign in Memphis, TN is gone now:

From the Donut Signs section. The former Mister Donut sign in Winter Haven, FL…

… was apparently battered by Hurricane Ian. I doubt they’ll replace it with the W-shaped top panel which mimicked the original building’s sawtooth shape:

This sign for Gourdough’s Public House in Austin, TX was built around 2012. The business closed in 2022 and this sign is gone now. The restaurant featured burgers between sliced doughnuts rather than buns:

I haven’t shot this giant doughnut at Sunshine Doughnuts in Burlington, ON yet but I didn’t see it at my most recent map link after this shot at Google Street View:

Which led me to find this bit of news from 2023. Frosting side down! Kind of a miracle it didn’t hit anything or anybody. The good news is that it will be repaired and reinstalled. Photo from this article:
https://www.insidehalton.com/news/our-national-landmark-will-be-back-fallen-burlington-doughnut-won-t-stay-down-for-long/article_4ab50991-a41d-5c7a-8d49-32f4451a1aaf.html

Moving on to the Bowling Signs section. This sign in Texarkana, AR is gone now:

Replaced with this sad piece of… plastic:

This sign in Fort Wayne, IN is gone now:

This bowling alley in Columbus, OH closed in 2022 and this sign is gone now:

The Lincoln-Way Lanes in York, PA were demolished in 2023 and this sign is gone:

This sign in Bristol, TN is gone now. It was replaced with a boring sign for another bowling alley (Strikz @ Bristol) which has closed:

In 2023, this bowling alley in Donelson, TN was demolished and this sign was gone:

Around 2023, this bowling alley in Whitewater, WI was demolished and the sign is now gone:

The Classic Lanes in Powell, WY has closed and this sign is gone:

From the Scaffold Signs section. I haven’t gotten a photo of this one in Queens, NY yet but GSV shows it still there in 2022. By 2024, the rooftop sign for the Queens County Savings Bank was gone and the letters on the building were covered with signs for “Flagstar”: