Let’s get back to the summer trip. This day was pretty grey but I did what I could. Let’s start with the Chuck-a-Burger drive-in in St. John. There were eight locations but this one, built in 1957, is the only one left.

The Crown Candy Kitchen in St. Louis opened in 1913. It still makes its own chocolate candy and retains its old-time interior with booths and soda fountain (the oldest in town). I had some peach ice cream to go and it was mighty good.

In front of the business is this giant cake which was one of 250 of them installed around town in 2014 at historic locations to celebrate St. Louis 250th birthday. This is the only one that I know of that’s still around:

This J.C. Penney store in St. Louis was built in 1948:

The store closed in 1976 and it’s been vacant since then:

Children’s Palace was a nationwide chain of toy stores built in the 1970s. The buildings had castle-style turrets and a crenelated roofline:

The stores all closed in the 1990s. This one in St. Louis closed in 1994 and was adapted for The Palace skating rink. That closed in 2007 and the building’s been vacant since then:

One of my favorite buildings in St. Louis: the DeBaliviere Building was built in 1928. It features glazed and unglazed terra cotta. A couple of detail photos here:

The Employment Security Building in St. Louis was built in 1958:

This sad Lindell Bank & Trust motor bank in St. Louis has been abandoned for decades:

Happier stuff — a fish on a bicycle in a fountain in University City:

These stylized dolphins are in a different park in University City. They were built in 1967 and installed in a pool:

Later, that pool was filled in and grass was planted. The dolphins were in bad shape until they were restored last year and placed in this splash pad for kids:

This repainted Big Boy statue is at the Hi-Pointe Drive-in in St. Louis:

This revolving, 20-foot-in-diameter moon was built in 2009 for the Moonrise Hotel in St. Louis:

These two covered wagons are located in Marthasville at the Boone Monument Village event venue. You can rent them out for overnight stays. The first one was produced by the Conestoga Wagon Co. which has been selling these to campgrounds around the country since 2015. I have many of them at my website here:
https://www.roadarch.com/mim/vehicles2.html

This smaller one appears to be a one-off:

The Soda Museum in St. Charles has several neon signs but it has LOTS of other cool, vintage stuff — like drink coolers:

… and coolers/vending machines:

This sign is installed at the Beverly Hills Pharmacy in St. Louis. Ah – for some sun!!

The Droste Furnace & Cooling Service building in St. Louis was built in 1937. It’s been vacant since at least 2007:

This Stag Beer sign in Florissant is installed at B.J.’s Bar:

Sundecker’s bar in St. Louis has been closed since 2014 but these signs remain:

Stay tuned: there’s still about 20 days/posts to come!

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

I took a break from adding to the website for a couple of extended weekend trips to L.A. & Orange County and then to Central California & the Bay Area en route to NeonSpeaks. Those photos are all up at the website and I’ll add some highlights of other things here (some included at my site, some not). If you are new to my blog, the purpose of it is to document each day’s shooting in some way and to include many things not worthy of my website. The photos at my blog are also include at my roadsidenut Flickr account so that the images are searchable and have links in each caption to the blog post where they appear.

Let’s start off with some Southern California stuff. This chimp statue is installed in front of the Mr. Brainwash Art Museum in Beverly Hills:

Another chimp statue in Beverly Hills in front of a house on Benedict Canyon:

A wood-carved bear in Los Angeles that’s been painted many colors over the years:

A detail from the L.A. Times Building in downtown Los Angeles:

A detail from an apartment building in Los Angeles:

The Silver Fox nightclub in Long Beach — fake deco from 1981:

The Segal House in Malibu:

The Tail O’ the Pup clock in West Hollywood:

The Rainbow Neon Dog in West Hollywood which was built in 1990 for a pet store. The store closed in 2020 and the sign was gifted to the City and installed here earlier this year:

Let’s move on to some Central and Bay Area stuff. The restored Mammoth Orange from Fairmead now at the Fossil Discovery Center in Chowchilla:

This building is in San Francisco:

A mountain lion carved from a tree stump in Mill Valley:

Lord Snort from recycled metal in Healdsburg:

Moving on to a batch of signs. This former bulbs and sputnik-ish detail is mid-pole at the Puerto Vallarta restaurant in Hanford:

Sam’s Anchor Cafe in Tiburon:

This former Bob’s Big Boy sign in Fresno was recently repurposed for a cannabis store:

A detail from the Pine Cone restaurant in Sebastopol:

The Milt’s Coffee Shop sign now installed at the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield:

Caldron’s Jewelers in Tracy closed in 2021 but this sign remains over the vacant space:

The SureSave Market sign in Madera:

The Linder Hardware (also closed) sign in Tulare:

A couple of San Francisco signs. Neon directly over vitrolite on Mission St. Established in 1908 and still operating:

This sign with the “tipsy” martini” was repainted recently. I’m sure it had neon originally:

Let’s end this post with this sign. The Hotsy Totsy sign in Albany in looked like this until just a few weeks ago:

The new owners wanted to it to be known that management had changed and asked for these colors. The neon was reinstalled just a week after my photo:

That’s it for now. I’ll be back soon as we get back on track with the summer trip’s Missouri stuff and eventually Illinois.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start off with a couple buildings. The Royal Theatre is in Versailles. The neon appears to be in good shape:

This restored Skelly gas station is in Stover. It now houses an ice cream shop:

Let’s move on to some statues. This Mortimer Snerd statue in Lake Ozark was restored and reinstalled earlier this year (across the street from another International Fiberglass statue, an Indian Chief, which was restored in 2016). For more about these Mortimer Snerd statues, see my website here: https://www.roadarch.com/giants/ifsnerds.html

This wood-carved fisherman and animals is located in Stockton:

This swan is installed in front of a house in Warrensburg. The bird’s back has a little slide and there are some built-in steps on the other side. I suspect this was used in conjunction with a pool:

This former Sirloin Stockade bull is located in Windsor. I have dozens of these statues at my website here:
https://www.roadarch.com/critters/bulls2.html

This Rexall Drug is in Warsaw. Notice the under canopy plastic sign which are even rarer now than the panel signs above:

This motel sign in Eldon was blown apart into 40 pieces by a tornado in 2019. The panels were bent and all of the neon and bulbs were destroyed. Here’s what some of the sign looked like.

This video shows the damage and restoration of the sign and buildings:

The owners got it all put back together and reinstalled the following year. Here’s what it looks like now:

Lee Mace’s Ozark Opry in Osage Beach opened in 1953. By the 1960s, (unknown photographer, photo from 1988 at Facebook shown below), the Ozark Opry panel had letters on top of corrugated plastic. I suspect that part of the sign was neon originally but I can’t find any early photos. Or it’s possible there was another pole sign there that was replaced with this one in the 1960s.

After closing in 2005, the building sat empty until it became a Sears in 2014. The Ozark Opry panel was replaced with new flat panel then. In 2023, the building began housing a Harbor Freight store and the sign was adapted again:

Stewart’s Restaurant opened in 1953 in Lake Ozark. Earlier this year, the business and sign moved down the street to this former hotel/gas station/cafe:

I don’t know if the sign was built in 1953 or later. The oval must have been added after the 1960s:

This sign is in Bolivar. Goldena’s opened in 1988. This sign is probably from the 1960s and must have had a different name before Goldena’s took over.

This sign is in Camdenton. The motel has been there since at least 1960. The sign had slightly different wording then but the same neon star:

This one is in Warsaw. The motel was built in 1940 but the sign is probably from the 1950s:

This sign is in Lake Ozark and is probably from the 1950s. Evidently, the arrow was added later:

The motel has closed and there are plans to demolish it. I don’t know what the plans are for the sign.

That’s it for now. There was a delay for this post since I took a couple of extended weekends trips to shoot things in the Los Angeles/Orange County area and on the way to/from NeonSpeaks in San Francisco. I’ll sneak in some blog posts for those trips soon before we get back to the Missouri stuff.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

There was some sketchy weather on Day 9 so the photos are pretty depressingly gray. I’m combining two days for this post. Check out those gray skies in the background – the kids & Ronald McDonald in Bethany:

The bread slicing machine was invented in Chillicothe:

This Art Deco building with polychrome, glazed terracotta tiles is in Kirksville. There are a bunch of missing black tiles around the horizontal window. I’m not optimistic that those can or will be replaced:

Miller’s Rexall is in Macon. The interior (shot thru the front door when they were closed) looks so wonderfully old school. Check out that neon clock:

Speaking of old school — this still-operating combo Firestone tires business and appliance store is in Vandalia:

I’m always relieved to see Crescent Jewelers in Hannibal is still open and these marbled vitrolite tiles are still there:

Duval & Reid Menswear in Moberly opened in 1928. The building now houses an Italian restaurant but they kept the letters above the storefront and display a lot of vintage photos of the store in the left window:

One of the vintage photos in the window:

This jewelry store is also in Moberly. There are some missing tiles upper right but it’s still a pretty amazing building:

Just across the border in Keokuk, IA is this round motor bank with round canopies. It was built from 1969-1970:

How about a couple of former gas station? This one in Marshall has been vacant for decades. I love these simple, little box stations with tile roofs:

This former station is in Centralia. Most of these 1920s/1930s canopies are half the length — but this one could accommodate two cars (three if you count access to the pumps in front of the canopy).

The Keokuk Plant sign in Keokuk, IA was installed around 1925 when the Union Electric Company bought the building:

Around 1997, those letters at the bottom were replaced with the Ameren logo:

This company in Chillicothe opened in 1954. These signs might be from the 1960s. The ribbed white plastic background with affixed letters was common then. Around 2015, the blue panel was painted turquoise. There was previously an oval Carrier neon sign where the Lennox sign is now (replaced around 2016). The horizontal panel for the website was also added around the same time:

This sad-looking sign is in Carrollton. I managed to find a postcard showing that this was the Starliner Motel originally:

This Western wear store in Higginsville opened in 1969. This sign might be from then:

This sign in Concordia was built in 1951. It had been stashed in the attic for decades and replaced with a boring plastic box sign. New owners found it in 2021 and had the neon restored and the sign reinstalled:

This sign in Sedalia hangs above a long-closed nightclub/bar:

Two more special signs for this post. The Hotel Strand in Chillicothe was built in 1925. This sign or a similar one was there by 1931. The porcelain enamel panels have very rare patterning and the letters are embossed. In addition, the original service ladder is still there:

The Hotel Bothwell in Sedalia was built in 1927 and was originally part of the Sweet Hotel chain in Kansas and Missouri. Blowing up a postcard image, it looks like the original sign had bulbs instead of neon. And it was an “I”-shaped sign with Sweet on top and Bothwell at the bottom:

The “T”-shaped sign was definitely there by the 1940s. Here’s my photo from 2010 — note the crazy, scary service ladders – yikes!

Around 2020, the sign was restored – yay (but the ladders removed — bummer):

The canopy signs over the entrance are pretty special as well:

Back soon with more from Missouri.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

The Missouri marathon continues! This former International House of Pancakes is in Kansas City (now a Mexican restaurant):

This modern sign in North Kansas City advertises for the Mop Bucket cleaning supplies store:

Another sign in North Kansas City. The store is closed and this sign might not be around much longer:

An 18-wheeler is installed on former Phillips 66 gas station supports in Faucett:

This Penguin Park kangaroo mom & baby in Kansas City were built in 1965:

A couple of giant bulls. This former Sirloin Stockade restaurant statue/sign now advertises for a meat market in Savannah:

This one in Kansas City is at the American International Charolais Association headquarters:

This Ray’s Dairy Diner sign in Fairfax originally advertised for a Dairy Queen:

Here are a few signs from St. Joseph. An arrow with electric light bulbs was originally installed above the Hi-Ho bar sign. By 2018, it had been replaced with this LED version:

This sign was installed at a different location a few blocks away and moved here along with the business when the building was converted to lofts. I assume that it originally had neon:

This Reddy Kilowatt sign came from Mound City and is now at the Patee House Museum. It’s in a really bad spot where you can only shoot from this angle and you have to push a button and run over to get close in about 2 seconds before the neon turns off. More about Reddy signs at my website here:

https://www.roadarch.com/sca/reddy.html

This Hy-Vee grocery store sign is in Tarkio. I think the only other one left is in Leon, IA. I wish they hadn’t painted over the blue background with beige paint:

This former Safeway sign is in Excelsior Springs:

Let’s close out with a few more things from Excelsior Springs. Ray’s Diner:

The Dari-B Drive-in opened in 1954 as the Dari-O Drive-in. The sign’s “O” was swapped for the “B”:

The Elms Hotel:

The Oaks Hotel was built as the Snapp Hotel. The name was changed around 1946 and this sign is probably from then. The building is now used for the Oaks Apartments:

Enough for now. Yet more Missouri soon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

All these photos are from Kansas City unless mentioned. Let’s start off with some statues. The “Struttin’ Man” is installed in front of the Gates Bar-B-Q on Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd. This is the chain’s mascot:

“Barney” was originally installed at the Carpet Barn in Springfield, MO. He’s now inside Atomic Collision along with some other statues and signs:

The owner plans to paint this statue which he got from Mark Cline molds. He wants to create a giant paint sprayer and put the statue on the roof at some point.

One of the signs at Atomic:

This is a modern scaffold sign is installed downtown:

This Sprite sign has some broken pieces but still great to see as these plastic “privilege” signs are so rare. It reads “Chinese Carry Out Food” at the top if you’re having trouble deciphering the letters:

These two Don’s Liquor signs are pretty neglected but those bottles in the “Swiss cheese hole” are so cute. Certainly not original to the sign, right?:

This giant hamburger-mobile was built in 2009 from carved polyurethane foam. If you’d like to see more giant burgers, I’ve got a page full at my website here: https://www.roadarch.com/food/burgers.html

This giant handkerchief and shirt pocket were created by Claes Oldenburg in 1999. The sculpture is installed in front of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art:

The House of Flowers is now a salon but these signs with neon flowers remain:

A former Town Topic Sandwich Shop (now looking closed):

There are still two other locations operating with these signs — this one is on Baltimore Ave.:

The former Tower Cleaners – now Donutology:

The Village Office Center (originally the Bryan Building) in Prairie Village, KS:

An even more impressive barrel canopy at Louis Memorial Chapel:

This Winstead’s restaurant from 1940 is still operating Several other modern locations were built in the Kansas City area but I believe the only other still open is in Overland Park, KS:

The Twin Drive-in in Independence, MO is still operating:

This used car lot is closed but the sign and rooftop feature are still there:

The Scimeca’s sign is behind the Scimeca’s Famous Sausage Company:

A Scimeca’s Retail Market & Deli in North Kansas City opened in 2020 and pays tribute to this sign with a new sign and at their website:

The Milk Jug grocery store in Independence, MO has been vacant for decades but this sign remains:

I was lucky enough to hook up on this trip with Nick Vedros, the man behind the LUMI Neon Museum which will soon be opening a neon alley at Pennway Point. He took me around to his three different storage locations to see dozens of signs. Below are just a few.

More about the project here:
https://www.startlandnews.com/2023/07/lumi-neon-alley/

and LUMI’s website:
https://thelumineonmuseum.org/

Let’s close with one more sign — the enormous and wonderful, fully-functioning Western Auto sign:

Yet more Missouri soon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Somehow my numbering got off. If it matters, the last post should have been Day 5 and this one is really Day 6. Anyhow, lets start off with some animal statues.

This buzzard statue is in Springfield:

This giant foot, also in Springfield:

I’ve been documenting these former Sirloin Stockade bulls at my website for years. Here’s where you’ll find them:
https://www.roadarch.com/critters/bulls2.html

This one is in Lamar…:

and this one is on the roof in Martin City (although the restaurant and Google both say Kansas City):

This giant chair was built for a furniture store in Lee’s Summit. A few other businesses have occupied this building since then but the chair remains:

The Klaude Kendrick Library at Evangel University in Springfield:

I’ve been shooting these former Mid-West National Insurance Company buildings for years. This one is in Springfield. It would have had a plexiglass dome and revolving globe with a U.S. map on it above that roof projection. It was a very ambitious company that had hoped to build offices in all 50 states. I think they only got to about a half-dozen states before they disappeared. More about them and the surviving locations that I’ve been able to find (let me know if you find others!) at my website here:

https://www.roadarch.com/modarch/mooffice.html#Tax

A former Clark gas station sign in Springfield (I posted the surviving the cute little, mostly intact office building over at Flickr just now:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

This sign in Butler is located at the now closed Chicken Larry’s Drive-in (former Sam’s Highway Hamburger):

This one is in Lee’s Summit (still open):

This Glo Cleaners is in Springfield:

Also in Springfield:

This sign in Springfield was built and installed in 2022. It was supposedly a replica but I’ve looked at a lot of postcards and do not find a match. Maybe “inspired by” would be a better term? The original sign from 1929 — super blurry but clearly a different design:

And the much larger sign, probably from the 1950s – a curving arrow but much different design:

And the new sign:

A few other signs in Springfield:

The Shamrock Court:

At the South Side Baptist Church – restored in 2016:

Hoover Music closed in 2020…:

but the sign has been adapted:

Taylor’s closed last year but there is some hope that it will reopen:

This sign is in Kansas City:

One more from Springfield to wrap things up:

Even more Missouri soon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

I had so many plans for Missouri last year when my transmission starting acting up and I was able to limp on home early. So, with a new transmission on-board, it gave me a sense of joy and accomplishment to arrive and shoot in Branson where I left off. Branson has exploded with crazy giant stuff since I was there roughly 10 years ago. So, that also filled me with joy. I posted a number of those things over at Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

But here are a few other photos. At the Bigfoot Fun Park’s mini golf:

These giant hands and camera are at Beyond the Lens! (The location in Pigeon Forge, TN has two of these):

This giant skate at the World’s Largest Toy Museum:

I knew it looked familiar and was able to identify it as the one I shot a few years ago in Wilburton, OK which disappeared around the same time that it showed up in Branson.

Another aha! moment. These fiberglass rooster and turkey statues in Cassville turned up at QC Supply after disappearing from Springdale, AR and later Lincoln, AR:

This giant Indian was looking for a home when the gift shop in Charlemont, MA decided to get rid of him for being racially insensitive. He is now installed in Vinita, OK at the Hi-Way Cafe (along with a new “Muffler Man” that was created by Bell Plastics and traveled Route 66 for Mobil 1):

The Cafe sign was recently restored:

OK — enough with the giant things. How about this vitrolite facade and glass block at the former Civic Theatre in Webb City:

There are a handful of surviving former Mid-West National Insurance Company buildings in the Midwest but I think this one in Springfield is the only survivor with the original plexiglass dome and revolving ball:

A nice midcentury dealership building (originally Oldsmobile, now Pinegar Honda) in Springfield:

A former movie theatre in Carthage with the sign and interior adapted for a bowling alley:

I liked the old “Lulu” the hula girl design better at the Pineapple Whip trailers in Springfield:

But the new signs still feature the motorized, rapid swiveling hips. And the whip is awesome!:

A cute department store in Monett:

Time for some signs? This one is in Carthage:

This sign is at Dude’s Donuts in Joplin, MO:

Let’s close with a few more signs from Joplin:

More Missouri soon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

We are still just getting started! A pair of lions flank the driveway to a home in Broken Arrow, OK:

The Guardian of the Plains bison sculpture in Sapulpa, OK:

The incredible East Meets West sculpture group in Tulsa, OK:

Part of a penguin art project around Tulsa from many years ago. This biker penguin is in front of a Harley-Davidson dealer:

A scaled-up tin toy robot at Buck Atoms Cosmic Curios in Tulsa:

A vintage moving van at Page Storage & Van Lines in Tulsa:

The Brook Theatre in Tulsa (now a restaurant):

The “Jetsons House” in Tulsa – built in 2005 based on a 1960s postcard of a house in Arizona:

A former Taco Bell with the original fire pit, tables & brickwork in Tulsa:

The Skyliner Motel in Stroud, OK:

One of many, many signs at the Stokely Event Center in Tulsa. This one was originally in Springfield, MO:

One of three recreated signs in a park in Tulsa:

Established in 1933 and still kicking in Tulsa:

A modern sign in Tulsa:

A bar (using the moved vintage sign and its name) in Tulsa:

And lastly – an adapted and restored sign in Tulsa:

For the next post, I’ll be starting on Missouri.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Let’s start with a couple of giant things. This bicycle is in Amarillo, TX near the Cliffside Event Center:

This giant flip flop in San Jon, NM is still under construction:

This strange rabbit man is installed in front of the Milburn-Price Culture Museum in Vega, TX. He looks big in this photo but he’s only about 3 feet tall:

Ellie the Elephant at this Empire Slice in Oklahoma City has been stolen a few times and is now inside. She was previously painted pink:

Oklahoma City has produced three Miss Americas — here they are:

This double-canopy former Conoco gas station in Edmund, OK now houses the Sunnyside Diner:

This former Magnolia gas station in Oklahoma City has housed countless things over the years. It’s currently the Margarita Garden:

The glorious, former Conoco gas station in Shamrock, TX was restored around 2003 with neon. Here’s a photo I took in 2012:

In 2014, the neon was replaced with LED tubing. I took a couple of close-ups of the ugliness on this trip (which I’m sure looks worse at night with missing bits and uneven lines):

This topper on top of the tower is missing tubing on the left and the tubing isn’t even straight:

This Coca-Cola building in Oklahoma City had stainless steel Coca-Cola letters which have been replaced with the plastic sign shown at center below. But the mid-century building itself is still incredible:

The Lincoln Plaza in Oklahoma City has been renovated as the Presley Apartments:

I happened to be in the right place at the right time on this trip to see the interior of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Oklahoma City:

This former Mr. Swiss restaurant in Oklahoma City is now a barber shop. Never heard of the chain? See my website here:
https://www.roadarch.com/eateries/aframeswiss.html

This cute plastic sign is in Oklahoma City:

This modern sign is at Pearl’s Crab Town in Oklahoma City:

This bowling alley in Amarillo, TX is still operating:

The Meridian Lanes in Oklahoma City was demolished but this sign remains:

I’m always relieved to see the former Big Giant Supermarket sign in Oklahoma City is still there. The building now houses an events center and the sign that the giant holds reads simply “Enclave”:

More Oklahoma coming soon and then it will be a Missouri marathon.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram