Let’s start with this woolly mammoth made from shredded tires at Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Branson, MO:

The new Buc-ee’s in Springfield, MO has one of the new beaver statues. These are more detailed with a t-shirt, bigger teeth, etc.:

This giant snake is at the Crystal Cave Dino Trail in Springfield, MO:

The “Storming the Beach” sculpture is in Branson, MO:

This Stan Musial sculpture is at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO:

The Olympic Runner sculpture is also in St. Louis, MO:

This giant fiddle is in Branson, MO. The neck protrudes through the window to the outside of the building:

This huge pencil, made from wood and graphite, is inside the City Museum in St. Louis, MO:

The former J&W Liquor store from 1969 is in Paducah, KY. The building originally had round plastic letters spelling out “LIQUOR” over the roof but only the supporting posts remain:

The Lemay Church of Christ is in St. Louis, MO:

This City Hall is in Trenton, IL. A glass block detail shot is below:

This ghost sign was uncovered in Clayton, MO when the John P. Field’s bar building was demolished last year:

A modern sign at the Westport Plaza in St. Louis, MO:

A vintage sign from who knows where – at the City Museum in St. Louis, MO:

The Loop Building in St. Louis, MO was demolished many years ago but this sign was moved inside the Market Pub House. That bar is gone now and the sign has been been installed outside and down the block:

This sign in West Frankfort, IL is just a few years old. There was previously a rectangular plastic box sign at the store. I don’t know if this design was inspired by an earlier sign:

This sign in St. Louis, MO is also just a few years old:

This sign was originally displayed in Carthage, MO:

It’s been replicated and is now displayed at the Route 66 Neon Park in St. Robert, MO. Too bad that the phone number panel is gone. Note that the top panel shown above originally had a tack-on panel which would indicate a name change at some point. And the left panel on the new sign below is taller now:

This sign in Trenton, IL was removed a few years ago – photo from the late & great John Margolies:

The new business had a sign built that went up earlier this year which pays tribute to the original sign:

That’s the end of the Missouri photos for this trip (tons more of them at my website, of course) and we’ll be in Illinois for quite a while now. Another post coming soon… possibly this weekend.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

The focus of this trip was Illinois and Indiana but I made time for a bunch of states and stops on the way there.

This rooftop giant chile pepper is located in Blue Springs, MO:

This giant macaroni is at the Kraft plant in Springfield, MO — unfortunately, protected behind chain link:

This is just one of several Pineapple Whips in Springfield, MO with the gyrating hula girls:

An Art Deco beauty in Kansas City, KS:

This former Coca-Cola bottling plant is in Columbia, MO:

The interior lobby at the Lodge of the Four Seasons from 1964 in Lake Ozark, MO:

Let’s move on to a batch of signs. This one in Springfield, MO:

A modern sign but in the vintage style — at The Legends Outlets in Kansas City, KS:

A former Safeway sign in Kansas City, KS:

This drive-in is in Columbia, MO:

A modern neon sign in Joplin, MO:

Impact Signs in Sedalia, MO has put together a mini park of local orphaned signs next to their sign shop:

There are several orphaned local signs at River Bluff Brewing in St. Joseph, MO including this one from Hatfield’s Sporting Goods:

There are a few lit signs inside the brewery:

The American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, MO has a handful of vintage and replica signs from local jazz clubs. I believe this one is vintage with new neon added:

The Western Motel in Vinita, OK was originally known as the Quarter Horse Ranch Motel. There are a couple of postcard images of the original sign but they aren’t great. Apparently, the horse had animated legs:

Earlier this year, the motel had this new tribute sign installed (previously a simple plastic box sign). Western Motel is spelled out in neon on the panel below this detail. The horse has stationary legs but the cowboy has an animated lasso:

And let’s not forget my travel companions (L-R: Grizzie/13, Dilly/8, Orbie/5, & Gremmie/19) for these trips — here with Old Drum in Warrensburg, MO:

For the next post, I’ll be finishing up Missouri and starting on the Illinois marathon.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

I’m back from the summer trip and adding lots of photos to the website (roadarch.com). The focus this year was on Illinois and Indiana but there will be lots of other stuff posted here at this blog from states on the way there and back. I also managed to squeeze in Louisville, Cincinnati, and some other cities on those state borders.

If you are new to my blog, here’s how this works. During my travels, I post about a dozen photos to Instagram that were taken that day. Once home and as I add photos to my website, I post about a dozen photos to Flickr (agilitynut). I also add some different photos here at this blog (often these photos are not “worthy” and never make it to my website) and duplicate them at my other Flickr account (roadsidenut) with searchable tags and captions with links to these blog posts. The Flickr and IG photos are just a sampling. I came home with about 5700 photos from this trip to add to the website. That process takes about six months or so.

Since most of the trip started with interstate driving, I’m lumping together the first three days for one really big post. Let’s start with this welcome sign in Reseda, CA:

The original fiberglass horse from the Farm House Motel in Riverside, CA was restored with a new carriage attached when the property was recently repurposed as the Farm House Collective with food, shops, entertainment, etc.

This raven and apple are in Oklahoma City, OK:

These rubber ducks are in Muskogee, OK:

These ice cream cones are at the 50s Diner in Cordes Lakes, AZ:

This cone is in Oklahoma City, OK:

This giant flip flop is in San Jon, NM was built recently:

This Ankylosaurus (named Hank) is in Vega, TX is also a fairly new arrival:

For years, I thought this Paul Bunyan at the NAU Skydome in Flagstaff, AZ was inside and I could never get in. I finally did on this trip and asked about him. It turns out, he’s been outside for years now. Jeez. So, there are TWO of these guys on opposite sides of the building.

This wood-carved cowboy bench is at the Big Texan RV Ranch in Amarillo, TX:

The Meteor City Trading Post in Winslow, AZ has been restored and reopened:

The First National Bank Building in Oklahoma City, OK is incredible both inside and out. This is just one tiny detail inside:

This unrestored Valentine diner sat behind the restored Phillips 66 gas station in Chandler, OK for many years. It’s now in Guthrie, OK:

The Muskogee Castle, an event center, is in Muskogee, OK:

This former Marland Oil/Conoco gas station is in Muskogee, OK:

This building nameplate/sign is on a Bruce Goff-designed building from 1929 in Tulsa, OK:

Another Bruce Goff designed building, the Riverside Studio, in Tulsa, OK:

This sign in Pomona, CA could use a little repaint. I’m just glad it’s still there:

The Post Neon Garden in Mesa, AZ with several rescued/restored local signs has opened. Unfortunately, you can only get inside the courtyard during special events. I did my best to shoot the six signs through the gate. Here are three of them:

This sign in Phoenix, AZ originally advertised for Beall’s Plumbing:

Most of you are probably familiar with this sign in Albuquerque, NM:

But there are also the lesser signs — on the rooftop facing the parking lot:

… and this pole sign covered up with crap mostly but at least the neon remains below.

This postcard from the mid-1960s shows that there was once a motel (with an Indian head sign) and that the bull was originally on the roof without his current sign. Note that the pcard shows what that sign above looked like originally with a cow panel on top! I wish I could find a clearer image:

The Downtowner Motor Inn in Albuquerque, NM…:

… has been restored as the Arrive Albuquerque hotel, maintaining many of its midcentury features. This newly created sign pays tribute to the long-gone original sign:

This sign in Oklahoma City, OK originally advertised for Amundsen Commercial Kitchens:

This sign in Tulsa, OK originally advertised for Dunwell Cleaners. It has read “Sushi” since at least 2007 — and still does even though that restaurant is gone:

The Daylight Donuts sign in Tulsa, OK has been through a lot. The sign was originally built for Shaw’s Drive-in:

Many years later…. here’s a photo I took in 2011 – check out that rust!

It got a new color scheme in 2018:

… and then last year it got another makeover:

The long-missing Saratoga Motor Hotel sign in Tulsa, OK…:

… was recreated last year — a modified version for the Wings of Freedom Saratoga Sober Center. The motel rooms were adapted for sober-living apartments:

It’s always a relief to see this sign in Holbrook, AZ still standing and looking good:

The Del Camino Motel and its sign in Woodward, OK were demolished around 2012…:

… However, that top panel on the left and the green vacancy panel below were saved and restored as part of the Reynolds Neon sign in Oklahoma City, OK:

This sign is in Muskogee, OK. I’m a sucker for any sign with a lantern:

This sign in Fort Gibson, OK looked like this in 2019:

It disappeared from Google Street View for a few years and I assumed that was that (gone). Miraculously, it was restored and reinstalled in 2023:

I’ll get back to work now photoshopping and adding some more Oklahoma and lots of Missouri photos to my website. I’ll be back with another blog post after that.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

I made it through this enormous last section! So, that’s a wrap for the year. The next blog posts after this one that you’ll be seeing will be much more positive (stuff that still exists). But that won’t be for a while since it’ll be sometime in late July or early August: after my big summer trip.

This building in Oklahoma City, OK…:

… now has a giant screen in front of it. It looks like some AI illustration but, no, it’s straight from GoogleMaps. I’m not a fan:

Another sad transformation in Houston, TX…:

… looks like this now:

This building and sign in Anson, TX...:

… has been remodeled. The neon sign replaced with a lame backlit plastic version. From their website:

The First National Bank in Killeen, TX has been demolished. It had this wonderful screen:

This former First Federal Savings & Loan in Lantana, FL has been demolished:

The Mar Vista Apartments in Fort Lauderdale, FL have been demolished:

The Regent Palace Apartments in Surfside, FL have also been demolished:

This motel in Hialeah, FL, built as the Casa Lu Motel,…:

… has been demolished and the sign is gone:

This church in Kendall, FL…:

… has been remodeled. The lovely curved structure in the front and the window details on the side are gone:

This City Hall in Clearwater, FL has been demolished:

This church in Los Angeles, CA has been demolished:

The former Fink & Skopp furnishings store in Fresno, CA has been demolished:

This former bank in Arcadia, CA…:

… was being remodeled in 2024 when the GoogleCar went by — canopy, stairs, glass…. all gone:

This church in Arcadia, CA is gone now:

This church in Napa, CA is gone now:

If you’d like to tag along virtually on my trip (which starts Thursday and runs thru July 11), I’ll be posting about a dozen photos every night, taken that day, at Instagram (link below).

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Before I depart on my annual five-week summer trip, I like to give my van, laptop, camera, etc. a 4-day workout to make sure everything is ready to go. I was all over the Central Valley, Sierra Mountains, Reno, Sacramento area, and the Bay Area… a few thousands miles without a hitch. Here’s a sampling of some of the more than 400 photos which have been added to my website.

This giant rubber duck was originally installed in Las Vegas. It’s now by the pool at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV:

This grizzly bear is one of two at the Grizzly Gas station in Mariposa:

The huge “Penny Bear” and her cubs in Tahoe City are covered with more than 200,000 pennies:

This giant honeybee sculpture in Orland is one of two different designs installed last year:

This tardigrade is installed in front of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis in Davis:

This wood-carved Statue of Liberty in Oakhurst is located at the Best Western:

This Chief Tawonka statue is inside the Shell station in Emigrant Gap. For more about these statues produced for Cigarettes R Cheaper chain stores, see my website here:

https://www.roadarch.com/giants/indians.html#Tawonka

The Prospector in Washoe Valley, NV was repainted in 2021:

This office building built to resemble a bulldozer is in Turlock:

The Woolworth building in Bakersfield is being adapted as a music venue. The sign, facade, and lunch counter inside will be preserved:

This restaurant is in South Lake Tahoe:

This sign pole detail is at the Waffle Shop in Oroville:

This neon clock is in San Francisco:

This sign is in Redwood City:

This one is in Tracy:

This sign in San Francisco was horribly adapted with LED recently. Note how the tubing doesn’t even line up with the painted letters:

The Stockton Poultry Market in Stockton was also adapted with plastic and LED. Here’s the “before”:

and the “after”:

This sign in Tracy was also adapted with LED. The “before”:

and now:

This sign in Albany with its new color scheme:

The El Dorado Motel sign in Twain Harte:

This restored sign is in San Jose:

The sign in Murphys in the 1940s:

… but it looked like this for decades later – just a painted flat panel sign w/out neon:

Then, this “tribute” sign was built around 2008:

This sign is in Truckee:

This sign in Coarsegold looked like a totem pole originally:

It’s now just the oval panel with a readerboard below:

And, lastly, this beauty is in Pollock Pines:

I might be able to get back to the mid-century section for one more blog post before I skedaddle off to the Midwest next Wednesday afternoon. By the way, if you want to tag along virtually at Instagram (see link below), I post about a dozen photos taken that day each night while I’m on these mega trips.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

The former Totem Pole Marina Building in Portland, OR has been demolished:

This cute little building in Rogers, AR is gone now:

This church in Vancouver, BC has been demolished:

This building in Taylorsville, UT…:

… has been remodeled into this boring look:

This building in Roswell, NM…:

… now houses a museum but the sawtooth canopy is still intact:

This shopping center in Roswell, NM has been remodeled and the artwork has been removed:

This long-vacant, cute little building in Gretna, LA is gone now:

The Dental Arts Building in Shreveport, LA…:

… looks like this now:

This bank in Parkland, WA is gone now:

This former Fotomat in Marlboro, NJ is gone now:

This sign in Wildwood Crest, NJ is gone now. The building was completely remodeled for the Mahalo Diamond Beach resort:

This building in North Wildwood, NJ has been demolished. Condo buildings will be built on the site:

This former Valley National Bank in Phoenix, AZ…:

…has been painted and now houses a cannabis store:

That’s it for the first batch of mid-century buildings. I took a 4-day trip a couple of weeks ago to do a roadtrip test before my big June trip. So, the next post will be some photos from that batch. After that, I’ll try to pound thru the rest of the mid-century section but I doubt I’ll finish before the big five-week trip which starts on June 5.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

One huge post to wrap up the signs section. Let’s start off with some Los Angeles, CA losses. These signs are gone now:

This sign in Los Angeles…

… that was mysteriously crunched in 2019:

… has now apparently collapsed onto the roof:

This YMCA sign in Los Angeles…

… and the two signs below have been repainted:

Moving on to San Francisco, CA — this sign is gone:

This sign in San Francisco…:

… was restored recently by Jim Rizzo — Google Street View shows what it looks like now:

This sign in Antioch, CA is gone now:

Keep an eye on this one in Arcata, CA:

The bar has been turned into a thrift store:

Oh no! This sign in Calexico, CA…:

… had the neon removed and was painted over. The Color TV and vacancy panels were also removed:

This sign in Commerce, CA is gone:

This sign in Hawthorne, CA…:

… has been changed a bit: the pole sign is black with new panels. The ball on top missing and the hexagonals are now blank:

This sign in Monrovia, CA…:

… now has crappy plastic letters on top:

This sign in North Hollywood, CA…:

… now has backlit plastic “MOTEL” letters:

This sign in North Hollywood, CA is gone now:

Finally, some good news! This sign in Pomona, CA has been repainted and the neon is still there. It’s hard to tell here but it’s very red and blue now:

This sign in Rio Vista, CA…:

… has new flat, untextured panels and the glass has been painted:

This sign in Santa Cruz, CA is gone now:

This sign in Stanton, CA is gone now:

And lastly — this sign in Tracy, CA…:

… has been painted black and the neon replaced with LED tubing:

That’s not a great Google Street View shot — so here’s a photo from the bar’s FB page:

For the next post, I’ll be moving on to the last and biggest section of all for this winter project: mid-century modern buildings.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

I’m afraid it’s all bad news in this post. Picking back up with Texas. This sign in Stanton, TX is gone now:

This sign in Sweetwater, TX is gone now:

The vintage Genie Car Wash sign in Hewitt, TX is gone now:

Moving on to California. This sign in Alameda, CA is gone now:

This one in Alameda, CA is also gone:

This sign in San Jose, CA is gone now:

This sign in Stockton, CA is gone:

This sign in Bakersfield, CA…:

… now has plastic panels attached to it:

The neon on this sign panel in Oakland, CA has been removed and the panels covered up:

This sign in Oakland, CA…:

… now has backlit plastic letters and crappy segmented LED borders:

This sign (and the letters) in Oakland, CA are gone now:

The former Dog House restaurant sign in San Diego, CA…:

… has been completely covered up with Church of Steel advertising:

Also in San Diego, CA, the neon has been removed from this sign:

… the current look:

This sign in Sacramento, CA is gone now:

Another one might be gone in Sacramento, CA. Construction on the property has begun and the sign was supposed to remain — maybe it will be back?:

This sign in Fresno, CA… :

… has been painted over but the neon remains:

This sign in Fresno, CA:

… had its neon removed and replaced with LED last year and it already looks like crap:

This is quite long enough for one post. I’ll be back soon with more California signs.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start this batch with an “Oh my God – WHY!?!?”. This wonderful sign in Carson City, NV…:

brace for it… the sign looks like this now. No neon, lousy repaint, and LED rope. Really, yes really:

Another devastating tragedy. This sign in Wells, NV is gone now. The motel rooms have been turned into businesses:

Here’s a close-up of its incredible acrylic panel:

This sign in Las Vegas, NV…:

… was adapted around 2016 to look like the Google Street View snippet below. However, in 2023, the building was destroyed in a fire and demolished. The sign had been removed two months prior and remains in storage somewhere:

This sign in North Las Vegas, NV…:

… has been crudely adapted with plastic letters:

This sign in La Belle, MO is gone now:

This sign in Centralia, IL is gone now:

This sign in Chicago, IL is gone now:

This restaurant in Chicago, IL closed in 2019 and the sign is gone now:

The huge Tommie Vaughn Ford sign in Houston, TX is gone now. I called them and was able to confirm with a news article that it was blown down in a windstorm last May. The sign originally revolved:

From the news article:

This Spec’s Liquor location on Stella Link in Houston, TX is gone now and so is this sign:

This sign in El Paso, TX…:

… looks like this now: neon removed, new name painted on the panels:

This sign in San Antonio, TX is gone now:

This sign in Fort Worth, TX is gone now:

This sign in Fort Worth was painted white by a church which occupies the building now:

I loved the doggie-on-TV detail on top:

Both of these adapted Genie Car Wash signs in Austin, TX are gone now:

This business in Austin, TX closed and the sign is gone now:

In Abilene, TX, these signs have been removed and the glass block covered up:

This sign in Big Spring, TX…:

… has been replaced with this smaller and shorter one:

This sign in Conroe, TX is gone now:

This sign in Kerrville, TX…:

… has been adapted for the Charles Club:

Finally, let’s end with some good news! This sign in Mineola, TX…:

… was removed in 2013 during the building’s restoration — and the sign went back up around 2023 after its restoration:

This post has gotten ridiculously long. I’ll wrap up the Texas signs and move on to the California section in the next one.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Lots more devastation I’m afraid. But, hang in there, there’s some happier news at the bottom of this post.

This sign in Oklahoma City, OK is gone now…:

… but the letters on the building remain:

This sign in Oklahoma City, OK...:

… no longer has neon and the text has been changed to this:

This sign in Greenville, OH...

… is gone now — replaced with this:

… but at least this sign remains on the front of the building:

I knew the former Jerry’s Drive-in sign, later Tee Jaye’s, in Columbus, OH…

… was being adapted last year for a Chick-Fil-A. But I wasn’t prepared for the LED rope treatment of the arrow — what a mess:

This Walgreens in Phoenix, AZ has closed and these neon signs are gone. The building remains:

This sign in Colorado Springs, CO is gone now:

This sign in Colorado Springs, CO…:

… has been adapted for a barber shop:

This sign in Cotopaxi, CO is gone now:

Although the Bonnie Brae Tavern letters in Denver, CO were supposedly going to be displayed on the new building, I don’t see them on the recent renderings. So, these may be gone for good:

This sign in Raton, NM…:

… looks like this now:

This sign in Roy, NM is gone now:

This sign in Albuquerque, NM has been through a lot. The motel was built in 1950 as the Loma Verde Court with a smaller pole sign:

In the early 1960s, it was renamed the Loma Verde Motel and this sign must have been installed then. It originally looked like the postcard image below. I assume that the poles connecting the top and bottom panels had neon:

The sign was painted a cheerful green by 2007. Here’s my photo from 2012:

By 2021, it had a really shabby paint job:

What a surprise though at the Google StreetView from last month! It was repainted and neon added. I don’t know why they didn’t stick with the capital letters on the top like the original sign. And why they added a trellis grid to the poles and the neon on that…

… The neon on the trellis is apparently some sort of flowering cactus? This rendering appears in a couple of restoration pending articles for several ABQ signs:

And some other good news from Albuquerque. The Dog House now has a new pole sign. It was previously just a plastic panel sign but now there’s neon and a wagging tail like the sign on the building:

There was actually a similar neon sign there previously but it didn’t have a wagging tail. John Margolies shot this one in 1979:

Five more states to go but those have the most pages (about 150): Nevada, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, and California. So, I’ll be back soon enough with another heartbreaking post from some of them.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram