A little trip across the border into Kentucky for about a day and a half. The photos in this post are all from Louisville unless I mention otherwise.

This Ceratosaurus is at the Penn Run Golf Course. I have no idea what it’s doing there:

The Concrete Lady in Clarksville, IN has thousands of statues on-site:

Lottie the Triceratops:

A giant bat at Caufield’s Novelty:

A relaxed Lincoln:

The former Rocket Cleaner rocket. It originally had animated neon rings on top:

A five-story tall upturned bottle pours bourbon into a glass below at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience:

The former Bernheim Distillery, a whiskey bottling plant, has been boarded up since at least 2015:

The former WHAS radio transmitter building:

A concrete hyperbolic paraboloid next to the WAVE TV station:

A former Frostop:

A former McCrory’s department store:

The two Dairy Del ice cream stands:

The Barrel of Fun ice cream stand:

The Lucky Tavern is closed but this sign remains:

Al’s Bait House is also closed but this sign remains:

This wooden sign was uncovered in 2012 and has been preserved:

The Iroquois Manor Shopping Center:

Hauck’s was originally a general store — now a bar & restaurant:

This camera store sign in the parking lot is intact…:

… while its storefront sign has been adapted at least a couple of times:

The Collier’s Court neon sign and its taller/later/former Superior Motel sign

And lastly, the restored Teamsters Union Hall sign at the back of the building in its protective cage:

Back to Indiana for the next post.

Happy Trails & Happy Thanksgiving!
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start with this giant cow at the Crossroad Farms Dairy in Indianapolis. Three pages of this “left-leg-forward” type at my website here: https://www.roadarch.com/critters/cowsleft.html

The Mr. Bendo in Indianapolis which used to hold a muffler:

This giant Converse sneaker is in Columbus:

This Tiffany lamp is inside the more than amazing Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor from 1900 in Columbus:

This Poco the Oil Drop car is in Edinburgh:

Expo Bowl in Indianapolis (now a Royal Pin) has two giant pins and a nifty plastic sign:

This former Stuckey’s gas station & convenience store is in Edinburgh:

The Barton Tower apartment building is in Indianapolis:

The Oasis Diner, a 1954 Mountain View, is in Plainfield:

The Artcraft Theatre is in Franklin:

The closed Reed Drapery Service is in Indianapolis:

The former Wonder Bread plant sign is in Indianapolis:

This former Dog n Suds sign is in Indianapolis:

The Land o Nod Motel is in Franklin. The candle’s flame had two-part animation:

The Columbus Bar is in Columbus:

This sign in Columbus is from 1981:

This sign in Indianapolis remains a mystery. It is installed on the former G.C. Murphy department store building but I believe it came from somewhere else and was adapted:

This sign in Indianapolis was built and installed at the White Rabbit Cabaret in 2010:

This sign in Plainfield originally had a Superior Motel affiliation and a mass-produced plastic top panel like this one in Indianapolis:

This sign is at Mike’s Speedway Lounge in Indianapolis. It was obviously adapted from a previous business but, after much searching, I don’t know what it was:

Lastly, one of a few surviving and adapted Roselyn’s Bakery signs in Indianapolis. The sign would have looked similar to this one originally (minus the readerboard, with the little girl in the plastic panel on top). Vintage photo snagged from this webpage with the defunct bakery’s history: https://historicindianapolis.com/roselyn-bakeries/

Back soon with even more Indiana – about five more days worth.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start with this bronze tribute to Larry Bird in Terre Haute:

This cougar statue in Roachdale at the North Putnam Middle School was one of about 14 made for Lincoln Mercury dealerships to advertise for their Mercury Cougar cars. I believe only 6 survive — at my website here: https://www.roadarch.com/critters/cats.html

These draft horses were produced with tractor inner tube tires over a frame — at Boot City in Terre Haute:

This giant bowling pin is at the Terre Haute Bowling Center in Terre Haute. Many more of these pins at my website here: https://www.roadarch.com/mim/sports2.html

A former Tastee-Freez in Brazil – identifiable by that curved roof in front of the take-out window:

This is one of two Dairy Queens in Terre Haute with neon rooftop letters:

This theatre is in Rockville:

The Musical Arts Center below is at Indiana University in Bloomington:

This former First Church of God in Bloomington was used by the University for a while but I believe it’s vacant now:

This sign in Redkey disappeared around 2013 when the station closed — my 2010 photo below:

I had been told that it was moved to the station in Putnamville. However, I don’t know think it ever was. This sign there appears to be new and has a different shape, letters, tubing holes, etc.:

The former Von Lee Cinema (now restaurant and shops) in Bloomington:

This sign is in Greencastle:

A Big Red Liquors (the only one of many that I know of that has a vintage sign – though it might be from the early 1970s) in Bloomington:

Let’s close with Mason’s Root Beer in Washington. Mason’s Root Beer was mass-produced and seems to be a defunct brand. This drive-in still uses the name and produces its own root beer now:

Back soon with even more Indiana – about six more days worth.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start with this banana split boat in Anderson at the Uranus Fudge Factory:

… and this astronaut at the same place:

These flying moose statues are the mascots for Manac trailers. This one is in Lebanon:

This Pirate Cat Memorial is a tribute to a departed, community cat in Indianapolis:

A giant trowel at a former Habig garden store in Indianapolis — repainted for an event venue :

I believe this building in Indianapolis was originally a Buick dealership and then later became an A&P grocery store:

This building is in Anderson. It may have been used as an employment agency originally:

A restored former Pure Oil gas station in Indianapolis:

This former Phillips 66 in Indianapolis was deemed historic — so it was remodeled by putting a giant canopy right over the existing “batwing” canopy:

This former White Castle #3 in Indianapolis from 1927. It’s been vacant since at least 2019:

The Vogue Theatre in Indianapolis:

The Lebanon Armory in Lebanon:

The still-operating Frisch’s Big Boy in Anderson:

Originally, the Anderson House of Stone in Anderson. It became the House of Reagin in 1959:

This sign in Indianapolis is from around 2009:

This scaffold sign in Whitestown was built in 1958. The auto salvage business closed around 2004. In 2018, a new development was scheduled to take place with a hotel, apartments, “Wrecks Park,” and restoration of this sign. But those plans fell through.

This scaffold sign in Indianapolis is one of a pair of rooftop signs (one facing north, one facing south). There were originally “Hotel” letters on the right of both signs which were probably removed around 1983 when the building became apartments:

This 50-foot-tall Nesquik bunny sign was installed in Anderson in 2008 next to the Nestle plant on I-69:

This Buster Brown Shoes sign in Yorktown is part of a private collection installed in front of a residence. I don’t know where this sign came originally. The top appears to read “Shu Stop.” The bottom paint was readable as “X-Ray Fitting” a few years ago but I don’t know if that was the original wording:

This sign in Lafayette was built around 1963. Around 2022, the dealership moved, restored this sign, and installed it at the new location:

Syd’s Bar in Noblesville opened in 1945. This sign was probably installed in the 1950s:

The Toast Cafe in Anderson opened in 1954. Around 2018, this sign was “updated” by removing the neon and installing LED tubing. Here’s a 2010 photo that I took before that happened:

… and now. Note the crappy, wiggly lines of the LED on top (bordering and filling the letters) and on the bottom:

These signs on the Franklin Square Theatre building in Indianapolis were installed around 1994 when the building was developed for multiple businesses. I don’t know where the “Restaurant” sign came from but the “Bowling” sign was supposedly installed originally in Springfield, OH:

More Indiana coming soon.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start with this tin man in Muncie:

There are only three Frisch’s Big Boy restaurants left in Indiana and only two of them have the statues. This one is in Richmond:

The Uranus Fudge Factory in Richmond has two of these Rex Uranus statues:

This Trojan statue is in New Castle:

This giant basketball shoe is also in New Castle:

This giant candle is at the Warm Glow Candle Company in Centerville:

The store has added a garden shop and this watering can is on the roof:

This giant chair is at a furniture store in Richmond:

This former Sinclair gas station is also in Richmond:

The downtown Richmond Power & Light office (in Richmond):

And the corporate headquarters on the outskirts of town:

Sad as this little building in Muncie is, it’s one just a handful left from the nationwide Picture Island photo developing company. Yes, similar to the slightly larger/different roof/base planters Fotomat kiosks, you dropped off your film to have it turned into printed photographs. The universe has sure changed since then! There are only about four of these kiosks in New York and I believe this is the only one in Indiana.

This sign in Cambridge City as it looked originally – my photo from 2009:

Well, the name has changed and the nice corrugated panel replaced but at least the bottle and neon bubbles are still there:

This sign is in Winchester:

Also in Winchester — this nice tile mosaic sign over the ground floor:

Let’s close with this bowling alley is in Connersville:

I’ll be back soon with even more Indiana. I still have about a week’s worth to go.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram