I was all gung-ho to get some shooting done in Philadelphia today since the sun was out and smiling right away.  The threat of rain in the afternoon had me extra antsy (it didn’t come til evening).  But then stuff got in the way — some good, some bad.  Though not too bad.  I noticed a tire low on air.  Took Sparkle over to a nearby Firestone where we got fixed up (a nail) for free since I cleverly bought “road hazard service” at some point.  But it was a real methodical shop which took nearly an hour to do proper procedures (estimate paperwork, paper on the floor mat & plastic around the seat and steering wheel, closing paperwork, etc).  So I was stuck for another hour in New Jersey.

One last shot before crossing the river — from Mount Ephraim.  Probably not a paint store originally.  Bays next to it make me think it was a car dealership or car-related sort of business.  Note the groovy triangulated front windows as well:

 

On to Philadelphia — one of several sports statues from the 1970s at Citizens Bank Park:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2545970217/

 

And then on to today’s main event.  I had an early morning “date” with Len Davidson who lives in Philadelphia.  Neon collector, restorer, artist, historian.  And nice guy.  He’s also the author of “Vintage Neon” — a must have book for anyone that loves neon signs.  Pricey — but photo-rich and worth every penny since you’ll keep it on your shelf the rest of your life:
http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Neon-Schiffer-Reference-Book/dp/0764308572/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348367434&sr=8-2&keywords=vintage+neon+davidson

Len gave me a little tour of some things in his personal collection.  Embossed porcelain letters.  These signs were mass-produced.  Here’s one in Jefferson, TX with the glass and neon intact:
http://www.agilitynut.com/11/4/pittsp.jpg

A panel from a Howard Johnson’s restaurant — the Lamplighter sign:

A super neat small “box” sign:

Breath-taking:

Classic & wonderful:

And then, there he is!  In Sparkle’s passenger seat.  Len took a ride around downtown with us for a bit — pointing out some things that I might have missed.  The dogs were mostly good.  Gremlin saw lots of dogs and motorcycles to bark at — which must have amused and irritated Len a bit.  If so, he never let on.  But, thankfully, it was hot and the dogs were tired and nobody jumped all over the guy.  Even though, technically, he was in THEIR seat.

 

So that was mighty fun.  And an honor to finally meet the guy I’ve read about for decades.  Even though it set my schedule back — way, way back.  Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow.  And be polite and patient.  And not carry on like the frenzied fiend that you really are — making every day a race against time.

 

So let’s get back to the Philly photos.  A random and beautiful Art Deco detail:

 

A cute Dutch boy holding —  a tire?  Maybe a garage:

 

A pit stop at Shane’s Candies — sorry, I didn’t buy anything!  My will against sugar these days is mighty strong.  And I already had my sweet for this trip (that frozen custard a couple of days back).  But mostly a stop to document the major exterior change.  This photo from 2009:

 

But a change in ownership in 2010 — and now the facade is blue and the signs are gone.  OK — at least the look is the same — and they left the stained glass alone — and even more of it is visible.  But still, I’m bummed:

The Wedgewood Blue now continues to the inside (also previously green):

It does look pretty nice and tidy and fancy though.  And it smelled strongly of chocolate mint truffles or something when I walked in.  But I resisted.  The gorgeous register:

 

A random Deco building detail:

 

And a nice car showroom that I finally got in the sun:

 

Just one more photo for this post.  The Masonic Temple downtown has an Egyptian Room.  And I have a growing appreciation for the Egyptian Revival style and all.  But you can only see it on the tour.  The tour is about 45 mins and cheap at $8.  But 45 mins. is a lot for me to give up on a sunny day and one already shrunken by socializing.  Here’s what we missed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohlenna/3058963531/

So, mental note the next time I’m in Philly on a crappy, rainy day, I’ll have something to look forward to — and shoot for you.  I did shoot this Sphinx, one of a pair, in the lobby:

 

Tomorrow, some stuff surrounding Philly — and then down to Delaware.  I doubt I’ll get to anything on the Maryland list before I have to skedaddle home.

Fantastic weather, no accidents, snoozing dogs, and tons of photos.  The sun was good from the start so I stayed a bit longer in Wildwood than planned.  I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to reshoot lots of stuff that I’ve shot before in perfect sun.  I also gave the dogs a good, long, hour-long session on the beach there which really helped keep the chaos and barking down today.

I had hoped to start on the Philadelphia stuff by afternoon — but things took longer than planned.  So I raced around like made the last couple hours to finish my NJ list.  Now I’m feeling the pain (exhausted).  The sun runs out at around 6:15 pm on this trip.  My summer trip in Colorado & Wyoming, I could shoot til about 8 pm.  So that’s affecting my progress as well.

On with the show — palm trees Wildwood style:

 

Many of the motels have put their palms away for the year — removing the fronds and leaving the trunks standing.  Here’s another motel with their palms still out in the off-season — and a bonus neon palm:

 

On the boardwalk – a recent addition.  I know the octopus and pirates were done by Mark Cline — famous in the fiberglass statue world for all his dinosaurs, Foamhenge and such in Natural Bridge, VA and elsewhere.  Maybe he built the whole display:

 

Inside a former Woolworth — which seems to be someone’s private collection of stuff now.  It doesn’t look like it opens to the public but I could be wrong.  So sorry for the glare.  This ice cream man sign was originally installed in Wildwood at  Schumann’s Restaurant (now gone).

There’s lots of amusement park stuff visible through the windows — this clown must have been at one of those toss-the-bean-bag type arcade games:

 

I have no explanation for this cactus in Cape May Court House.  The sign reads “Sarah’s Garden”.  But there doesn’t appear to be a business there:

 

The restoration of the Palace Depression is coming along.  Last time I was here, Jeff and Kevin were still building all the underground chambers.
http://agilitynut.com/h/palace.html

Jeff is living at the Palace full-time now.  He’ll probably continue working through October and then cut off til spring.  Jeff was describing how photographs at night show all sorts of orbs (paranormal stuff).  I love his passion about the place.

 

Last one for the night — I gotta get some sleep.  This mystery building is in Elmer.  Apparently, a little restaurant of some sort.  The house to the right is made of the same stucco-y concrete and shares the same address.  So I’d assume owned by the same person.

 

Tomorrow, I hope to get thru the Philly area stuff and some Delaware places.  The forecast says the rain should arrive around 4pm.  Somewhat cloudy maybe leading up to that.  But Sunday should be better.  So if it gets nasty, I’ll park & wait rather than head home.

Hey there!  I needed a little break from the drudgery of my real job and my website labors.  And the dogs are thrilled to be off on adventures!  Though they’ll miss all that good scavenging back home.  The park has been a bonanza of picnic scraps lately.  This will be a little four-day affair — Jersey Shore & Philadelphia-ish mostly, a little Delaware, and if time a bit of Baltimore area.

The usual applies (my faithful blog followers might want to skip this paragraph):  clicking on photos makes them bigger.  Different photos posted each night over at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/
My Flickr photos & blog posts are done late at night, only while traveling.  So it’s just a sampling of the photos taken each day.  And after driving and shooting all day, my writing is not my best.  The subjects covered are the same as my website (buildings, signs & statues) — but usually the stuff here at the blog is the “junk” that won’t make it to the site.  Funky signs, oddball buildings & more random stuff like my dogs & food.  Flickr agilitynut is for the prime-time stuff which will make it to the site.

OK with that out of the way… Let’s get to today.  It was a real mixed bag of sun and grey.  Very summery warm.  With that deliciously skanky marshy smell of coastal marshy NJ.  I guess they have it elsewhere like Rhode Island but I associate it with NJ.  And love it.   The forecast is for mostly sun — Saturday might be rainy & miserable.

Stopped in Perth Amboy for this one.  It’s been on my to-shoot list for years.  Evidently a garage…

… and possibly built at the same time as the building on the left which is also identified as 1916.  Maybe a dealership?

 

Also Perth Amboy.  Slightly canted windows.  Those chunky blocks can’t be original.  And maybe some sort of tile, panel, or glass facade.  Gratefully, they kept those neon letters.

 

A sweet yet sad abandoned gas station in Toms River.  A big modern canopy from much later in front of it.  Pumps gone.  I’m not optimistic that this will survive since it’s surrounded by all kinds of new development chain stores & such.

 

I love the beachie amusement park towns in the off-season.  When everything’s shuttered and no one’s around.   And this time of year, most of them are legal for off-leashing.  And the ones that aren’t, are either deserted or no one seems to mind.  The kids got three beach romps today.  And it wasn’t enough.

A couple of shots from Seaside Heights:

Yeah, the palm is plastic – no real ones in NJ…

 

Sitting at a light in Atlantic City — then BLAM.  A woman in a Honda Civic plows into me from behind.  She must have been doing about 30.  She said her foot slipped off the brake.  Her car got a barely a scrape but poor Sparkle now has a badly mangled bumper and the Dutch doors don’t open.  The cops came to file a report.  I have her insurance info & all that.  So I’ll be getting a new, free bumper.  Again.  The same thing happened a couple of years ago in Long Island — just sitting at a light.  Is Sparkle just not big enough for people to see her?  Is white an invisible color?   Anyhow, just a hassle — nobody hurt.  And a waste of precious shooting time.

 

From Egg Harbor City.   I like how the bottle serves as an arrow:

 

On to Ocean City — where everything was locked up tight.  Including Tee Time which I was really hoping to revisit.  I shot it about 10 years ago when it was pretty derelict.  Then I was told mistakenly that it was demolished.  Then I was told it wasn’t.  Here’s a fun sign near the place which gives you an idea of the vintage wonderfulness of it:

 

And I was thrilled to see it looking well-taken care of with the figures repainted & shiny. But DAMN stuck behind chain link.  Note the Lucy the Elephant on the right (photo of the real Lucy at my Flickr stream tonight).  I will make a point of getting back here in the spring:

 

Just about the only thing not closed on the Ocean City boardwalk today — so I had to have one last summer treat.  Rather than the classic Kohr’s orange & vanilla, I went with the chocolate & peanut butter.  A+.

 

One more from Ocean City — a still operating five-and-dime store:

 

On to Wildwood.  The SCA (Society for Commercial Archeology) is having their big conference here next weekend.  And even though I’m a regular contributor to their publications, I won’t be attending.  Just didn’t work out that way — procrastinating on my part, a crazy work schedule, money, etc.   I think the deadline is past for registration.  But if you’re interested in going — maybe they can squeeze you in:
http://www.sca-roadside.org/content/conference-schedule-0

So much of Wildwood’s mid-century modern motels have been destroyed — but there’s still plenty to see and shoot.  I’ve been there at least a half-dozen times and it’s still fun for me.

 

Another shot from Laura’s Fudge (more over at Flickr tonight):

 

A modern sign — but still great:

 

One of the small but wonderful signs:

 

One of my faves:

 

I don’t think I’ve noticed the Beach Colony Motel corner at night before.   I’ve long admired it during the day:
http://www.agilitynut.com/07/5/family.jpg
The different colored lights really look nice:

 

Marvelous:

 

And one more for the night — some of the neon out — but still terrrific:

 

Tomorrow, lots more NJ and then on to Philadelphia.  I hope you’re grabbing what’s left of summer wherever you are, too.

My endless summer has finally come to an end.  Before we launch into the final batch of photos from this trip, let’s get the trip stats out of the way.

Days on the road: 37 (two days less than the spring trip)

16,397 miles — that’s what I put on Sparkle during this trip.  With the spring trip of 15,712 miles, that’s 32,109 miles this year.  Plus some little trips here and there.  She pretty much sits the rest of the year since I take the subway to work.  In fact, I only put less than 100 miles on her between the spring trip and this one.

Her odometer currently reads 335,007.   And I won’t hesitate to take her out for another marathon trip next spring.  She runs like she’s brand new.  I don’t know why Chevy stopped making these Astro Vans.  They are the VW Bugs of our generation — you can’t kill them.  I didn’t spend a dime on repairs on this trip (excluding oil changes).  There was that A/C breakdown early in the trip in Illinois.  But that doesn’t count since it was due to faulty repairs in the spring — so there as no charge.  In fact, after dealing with Firestone headquarters and the district manager back in Albuquerque, I managed to get a credit for half the original repair ($400 of the $800).  So that was nice — but nothing compensates for the two days of shooting that were lost.  However, I’m happy to report that my A/C is still working superbly.  And I absolutely needed it just about every day.

Total spent on gas:  $3,438.  That’s 21 cents per mile.  Sparkle never claimed to be energy efficient.  And there were a lot of mountains and city driving in there.

I noticed quite a discrepancy of gas prices on this trip.  In Wyoming and Colorado it was about $3.40 per gallon.  A little higher elsewhere, including Iowa even with the ethanol.  As soon as I got to northern Illinois — a huge jump to $4.10 or so.  Much cheaper on the OH and PA interstates coming home.

Speeding tickets:  One “warning” early in the trip for speed and not signaling — but otherwise no tickets!  A first — or so I thought.  Little did I know about the “surprise” waiting for me in my mailbox from Muscatine, IA.  A $100 ticket from a speed camera.  I have no recollection of seeing “speed camera” signs or a flash from the camera when it got me.  But there it is — a couple of photos of Sparkle merrily motoring along.  I woulda waved!  The ticket says I was doing 66 in a 45.  Luckily, not a “real” ticket since nothing goes on my driving record.  Supposedly.  They must make a killing with that camera.  I guess it’s the way of the future.  Soon, we won’t be able to speed anywhere and it’ll take twice as long to get anything done.  Roadtrip thrills will be fewer.  Bummer.

Number of photos taken:  5,416.  About 550 of them appeared at the blog; another 500 or so appeared at the agilitynut Flickr account.  Roughly about 5,000 photos will eventually get added to the website.  That’s after I get another 5,000 from the spring trip in place.  I’ll be lucky if I can get all the photos from these two trips up by next spring.  It’s one thing to just upload photos straight from the camera as many people do.  But I crop & tweak each photo.  And then there’s the research for each subject for the descriptions which takes up the most time.

“Value” of this trip:  Overall, I’d rate this trip as fantastic.   The weather was mostly great.  I really did a great job of preparing the lists and maps so that every day was chock full of organized stops.  It was also just about perfect in terms of what was accomplish-able.  There’s nothing sadder than coming home with pages and pages of stuff you couldn’t get to.

The dogs would also rate this trip as awesome.  Lots of swimming, motorcycles to bark at, prairie dogs to chase, different terrain to explore, and extra meals due to Grippie’s screwed up timeclock (blindness? dementia?).

What’s next:  I’m done with the big trips for this year.  I do the two biggies in spring & summer when the weather is best for shooting.  Then I bust my butt the rest of the year working & paying for the trips.   There will probably be some little three day trips in the fall.

Next year, if I can still get time off from work and I get the credit card balance whacked back, I’ll be doing a spring trip to Florida and a summer trip to California.  If you want a heads-up, I send a quick tweet when I head off on big trips.  You can become one of my Twitter followers here:
https://twitter.com/roadsidenut/

So, let’s move on to the photos from Saturday’s Chicago area whirlwind.  There are more vintage signs here than anywhere else in the country, hands down.

A “skeleton” sign burning brightly during the day in Mount Prospect:

 

 

A couple of photos from Mundelein.  Clearly an adapted Rexall sign:
http://www.agilitynut.com/signs/rex.html

 

 

A nifty mid-century building.  I love the tube entrance.  Houses the Advocate Medical Group.  It was surely built before CAT scans but I can’t help but think of that.

 

 

A restaurant in Highwood:

 

 

On to Chicago proper:

 

 

I stopped to shoot the Norwood Park Auto Sales sign — and then realized, hey, what’s that off to the right:

 

Yup, a big neon collection inside:

A couple close-ups:

 

 

More Chicago signs — this one still lit and bulbs flashing during the day:

 

 

Ruby Cleaners is still open but lost the neon at some point:

 

 

Rare gold porcelain enamel — and a quirky arrow.  The neon was lit here during the day:

 

 

A massive repurposed sign — note the mailboxes lower right for scale:

 

 

This one really intrigued me.  Who knows what it looked like originally.  But it looks like a lot of hands-on altering over the years.  Some of the holes obviously held bulbs.  But other holes make me think maybe there was some internal backlighting going on.  Maybe not.  The holes are so unevenly spaced — particular on the arrow that it looks like a real D-I-Y project.  I told the guy standing there who couldn’t understand why I was shooting it that it was a “truly fantastic piece of junk”.

 

I’ve shot this twice or thrice before but today the light was finally right.

 

Closed & for sale.  Shoot this one while you can.

 

 

Architectural Artifacts on Ravenswood has been selling some neon signs lately.  They don’t go after them — but when business owners can’t or don’t want to keep their signs, they sometimes end up here.  I don’t know if any money changes hands or they are just donations.  Here’s the two vintage neon signs that were there on Saturday.  Very sad.

Here’s a photo of this one that I took in 2006 when it was still up:
http://www.agilitynut.com/06/7/kosher.jpg

 

And this sign when it was still up:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zol87/3910389524/

 

 

Back out into the sun and hope and all the good stuff that we still have to admire.  How can simple plastic letters look this good?

 

 

Stunning vitrolite:

 
Marvelous.  These eagles continue all the way around the facade:

 

 

Apparently, a local chain — but this is the only location that I know of with a stunning neon sign like this:

 

 

Iggy’s is now Bonny’s — I don’t know what the name was originally:

 

 

And as the light was waning — the reality set in.  Must drive home.  Now.  Waaaah.  This one lit nice and early just to tempt me into staying.  But no.  Chasing bulbs working also:

I got through all but about 50 Chicago stops.  Which killed me.  But I cheered myself up with the promise made while driving home that I would start next summer’s trip with finishing up that list even if it’s way out of the way.

******************************************

Thanks for all your comments, support, praise, and enthusiasm on this trip.  It’s a real energy booster while I’m slugging it out on the road.  If you want to make a donation towards my efforts, that’s always greatly appreciated.  There’s a “Feed Sparkle” button on the upper right of my webpages — which takes you here:
http://www.agilitynut.com/donation.html

Or you can just go to PayPal and send whatever amount you want, big or small, to the agilitynut@hotmail.com account.  Or if you’re broke like me, positive feedback is always nice.  I have no idea how many people are out there following along.

Wishing you all sunny skies and trouble-free roadtrips of your own!

Debra Jane
Gripper, Fix, Sputnik & Gremlin
RoadsideArchitecture.com

It’s catch-up time.  I arrived safely home Sunday at 3 pm.  The dust hasn’t quite settled here but I’ll get Friday’s post up — and maybe Saturday’s later or tomorrow.  I had mostly good sun — some haziness.  I wrapped up some stuff in southern Wisconsin and moved on to northern Illinois.  I’ll keep the talking brief since I’m exhausted and I have a big yapper coming up in the final post.

This ice cream shaped sign is in Kenosha, WI:

Also Kenosha:

 

On to Beloit, WI:

 

On to Illinois — from Rockford.  It appears a building was recently reduced to rubble — a vacant lot where I’m standing & shooting.  Thus exposing this bit of painted advertising.  Amazing that these big three credit card companies still exist — just with different names:

 

A nice vitrolite facade in Harvard, IL:

 

On to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union.  I was there for a few neon signs.  The museum just got this Santa Fe sign from Chicago in July:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-24/news/ct-talk-santa-fe-sign-0724-20120724_1_santa-fe-sign-motorola-solutions

And of course there are loads of trains and streetcars and such — filling building after building:

And lots of trains outside, too:

 

This one was built in 1964 and operated in Chicago:

Semaphores & signals:

Also a diner which I posted to the Flickr agilitynut account — and, yes, some signs. I’m told they have all been restored and are lit at night for special events:

Love this one with the trains & chasing bulbs on top:

Another massive sign…

…. with that nifty marble textured background:

Also found this salvaged piece of terrazzo floor:

 

On to Elgin where the sun was running out.  This spectacular Art Deco building is too “golden hour” for the website — but good enough for the blog.

 

Then it was on to Chicago area for some night shooting (the reason I fell behind in my posts).  This was pretty much on the fly — no list.  I just put together about a dozen stops at places with signs that I knew should be lit.  Some of them weren’t but maybe they were closed for the day and turn their signs off when they lock up.

This business in Chicago was still in business but a depressing “for sale” sign posted.  Shoot ’em while you can folks:

 

The world-famous, original Superdawg Drive-in in Chicago.  The statues spin and their eyes flash on and off.    There is a new location in Wheeling, IL with these same statues of Maurie & Flaurie:
http://www.superdawg.com/history.cfm

 

More from Chicago.  I made a quickie video to show you the flickering bulb action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3_6Tf7_lRg&feature=youtu.be

 

 

These signs at the Melrose Restaurant were covered up by an awning for years.  The restaurant was going to replace the awning and discovered this underneath when they removed it.  This was over a year ago so it looks like the signs will remain on view.

 

To close out this post — a fun modern sign:

 

I’ll start working on the final post but I’m running out of steam.  And I have to go to work tonight.  So I probably won’t get it up until tomorrow morning.

Don’t stray too far. A whopper post yet to come with TONS of photos from Wisconsin and Illinois. Yep, and Flickr, too. Reporting to you from the interstate in Youngstown, OH. About 6 hours to go.

All is well.  Got lots of good stuff from Chicago area today — and some neon shots tonight.  I thought I’d get a couple of extra hours sleep but that’s not happening.  Tomorrow (Saturday) — I’ll be racing around all day for more Chicagoland.  Then hitting the interstate for NYC (home).  Stay tuned — I’ll catch you up photos & details from these final two days when I get home.

No surprise — all day was spent in Wisconsin today.  Illinois will have to wait til tomorrow.  Thick white clouds muted the sun in the morning — and then caused me to stop an hour early tonight.  The forecast for tomorrow is “mostly cloudy” — which could mean anything.  The heat returned today after a fairly mild week.  Back in the 90s.  I wasn’t bumping into my usual amount of lakes and rivers.  So I’d just let the dogs run in big grassy areas and then douse them with water and crank up the A/C.  YES!  Sparkle’s A/C is still working nicely.  She turned over a magical number today:  333,333 miles.  I’m going for 555,555!

The day began in Monroe.  This is part of a larger, not so interesting sign for the Red Apple Inn restaurant.  I like the fading myself:

 

 

Moving on to Madison.  I had read that there was a cute Blatz sign at the Old Fashioned restaurant/bar.  But there were actually a few of them and quite a number of other beer signs.  I know I hit you with beer signs last night — but beer IS what Wisconsin is all about!    And this place has more than 150 beers to choose from:
http://www.theoldfashioned.com/

 

 

From Richland Center:

 

 

From Portage.  This place was closed when I was here last summer.  It was nice to see the signs (and peachy vitrolite) were still there for now:

 

 

Also in Portage.  Apparently, this pilgrim hat A&W was updated at some point with the “All American” neon in front and that ghastly retro sign.  There would have been a canopy attached to the building originally.  But I guess that was scrapped in favor of more Starbucks-like feel with tables and chairs outside.  I’m sure it IS more profitable this way.  Note the storage shed on the far left.  The two faces of the original sign are installed on it.

 

 

A couple more funky signs from Portage:

 

Closed & for sale:

 

 

Last August I was here in crappy weather.  Today was a bit better but not great.  Who knew August could be so fickle!  The Kiltie Drive-in is in Oconomowoc — yes, add it to your list.

 

The cool lamps:

 

The menu:

 

The cute car hop girls in plaid skirts:

 

And finally,  I indulged since it was about 96 degrees, and tomorrow I’ll probably be too obsessed with shooting to think about food.  This is a “Jr. Sundae” — I went with the crushed cherry topping and nuts.  Awesome!  Posed on Sparkle’s back bumper.  Note the Kiltie character on the cup:

 

 

Milwaukee was not on my list for this trip.  But after being told last night about the Gambrinus statue being moved there last year, I impulsively decided to go see & shoot him at the end of the day.  He’s located at one of the Pabst Brewery buildings.  This stained glass entrance window is at a nearby building:

 

 

And this sign connects a couple of other buildings nearby.  It looked like the “P” was out or I would have stuck around to get a better photo.  The sign appears to be mounted on a bridge between the two buildings:

 

 

OK — so here’s the plan for the remaining three days of the trip.  Tomorrow is officially the last day of shooting.  If I’m up to it, I might do a little neon shooting in the Chicago area tomorrow night.  Which means I’ll be up late.  And with some hellish driving on Saturday, I should go to bed  after that instead of staying up and doing this Flickr & blog stuff.  For Saturday, I should really set a deadline to get on the interstate.  11 am?  1 pm?  It’s about 14 hours from Chicago to NYC, plus naps, throwing balls for dogs & getting gas.  I’d like to be home mid-day Sunday but that’s obviously not gonna happen.  With all that driving to look forward to, I’ll have to my usual double post from home for Friday’s and Saturday’s photos/adventures and wrap-up stats (mileage, how much spent on gas, etc.).  I’ll post a couple quick hellos so you’ll know all is well.  But the real post with a double-batch of photos will be Monday or worst case Tuesday.

 

I made a really good dent in the Wisconsin list today.  The day started out promising but by early afternoon, an annoying white cloud cover had moved in.  No time to wait it out for the sun.  The clock is ticking with picture-taking cut-off on Saturday.  I’ll have to reshoot a lot of stuff one day.  But for now, something is better than nothing.

The day started in La Crosse — so here are a few photos from there.  This shoe store is now a book store.  Thank God they left this tile floor entry alone:

 

 

I believe the Casino Bar vitrolite facade is from the 1930s.  Calling Tim Dun….

 

Obviously, a modern sign there now:

 

 

A fun modern sign south of town.  The yellow strings are neon.  Must be neat at night but I can’t find any photos of it:

 

 

It wasn’t on my list for this trip but I had to go check on my favorite sign in town.  I was horrified at first when I didn’t see it.  But then turning around, I spotted it next to the building in the parking lot.  So, I had to go inside and ask what was up.  I spoke with the owner who explained the building had been hit by a tornado (ah, yes, big blue tarp on one corner).  And that they were moving in March to a new building in an industrial park.  He will keep the sign and most likely display it inside the office.  He seemed very interested in restoring it.  I expressed my concern that if he did that he should just repair the neon and maybe touch up the paint but not repaint it.  The patina is really what makes the sign — makes it vintage, historic and visually appealing.  He seemed to agree.  Fingers crossed.  I emailed Tod (American Sign Museum) to see if he knew of any historically sensitive sign shops in the area.  The owner said the sign is from the late 1950s and was originally animated somehow.

 

I was glad to see that the sausage man is used on the company’s trucks and packaging:

 

 

Still in La Crosse — another cute character:

 

 

I didn’t get any food shots today — but I’ll share with you my favorite beverage experience of this trip.  I’ve become a diehard fan of Kwik Trip for all my caffeine and bathroom needs.  They are everywhere.  And they are some of the cleanest, most welcoming, organized gas station c-stores I’ve experienced over the years.  I head right for the dark roast, a little half & half and I’m back on the road.  It’s not as strong as Starbucks coffee (not seeing them in southern Wisconsin) but more powerful and better tasting than your typical gas station coffee.  Posed here on one of those underground gas tank covers:

 

 

On to Prairie du Chien.  I’ve gradually become a big fan of these corrugated (“corduroy”) plastic signs.  One day, the entire country is going to say “let’s get rid of this shit” and just like that, seemingly overnight, it’ll all be gone.  Maybe I’ll be the only one crying.  Unless I can convince you — and you can convince your local business owners that those signs are special, neat, historic…

 

 

From Fennimore.  There’s a railroad museum in town — too tired to do much Googling right now — but I guess this town is big on trains:

 

 

Also Fennimore:

 

On to one of today’s high points.  I went to Potosi to shoot the giant beer can and what was supposed to be “a couple of signs in the museum”.  Uh, seems there are a LOT of signs in the brewery museum and restaurant.  And far more than that — all kinds of advertising, bottles, collectibles, etc.  I was told all the stuff in the museum is on loan from various collectors so the displays change all the time.   Truly fantastic — add it to your list folks.  Potosi is close to Dubuque, IA if you have any plans of heading that way:
http://www.potosibrewery.com/

 

 

Moving back outside — and on to Platteville.  This is obviously a modern sign — but nicely done:

 

 

This one also appears to be modern.  Although it might be a replacement sign.  The “hanger pole” (all these years I’ve been studying signs and I don’t know the name for it, if there is one) is definitely old:

 

 

Last photo for the night — from Mineral Point.  Such a great name:

 

 

I’ll do my best to finish up the Wisconsin stuff tomorrow. I’d like to start on Illinois but don’t know if that’s possible.  I’ll have to prioritize the Illinois stuff on the fly on Friday.  I’d like to get the dogs to the doggie beach in Chicago as a final farewell to this trip’s adventures.  I might need an intervention to stop shooting on Saturday morning.

Finally, and just barely, I finished up Minnesota today.  Somehow my estimates were off — and I’m now a day behind schedule.  I guess I’m not going to get to the northern Illinois stuff.  Which makes me pout like a spoiled child.  Next year’s trips probably won’t take me up this way (Spring: Florida & Summer: SoCal).  It really hurts to have organized this chunk of stuff and not be able to get to it til 2014.  I’m not giving up just yet — but the Wisconsin stuff yet-to-do looks like two days worth.

More sunshine all day today.  But much of it spent sitting in the driver’s seat between one-stop towns.  The dogs made the usual demands — and I had to indulge them.  When a trip starts winding down, I start making more and more stops for them.  It just really makes me happy to see them happy.  Here’s a typical and frequent excerpt from my day of driving.  Sorry that the video is sideways — taken while driving and just sort of randomly shot.  I don’t see a function at YouTube to rotate the video.  Much of the day I had these sound effects since we were along the Upper Mississippi for a good bit of time.  Nik is whining, the high-pitched squealing is Grem, the deep barking is Fixie (at them), and Grip must be in there somewhere.

But let’s start the photos back where the day began — in Austin.  I’m guessing there was a nicer facade here which has since been removed:

On to Lanesboro — for the Spud Boy Diner.  I’m too wiped out to give you the whole history of this place.  And it’s already been done  better than I could do at Larry’s blog:
http://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/gordon-tindalls-spud-boy-diner-gets-nice-write-up-and-it-is-almost-a-year-away-from-opening/

and Spencer’s blog:
http://dinerhunter.com/2012/04/15/gordon-tindalls-spud-boy-lunch/

Let’s just say, it’s one of those happy ending stories thanks to people who stepped in to save this place.  Like Mike and Gordon.

Timing is everything and it just so happened that Mike Engle from Upstate New York was in town and stuck around to meet me.  He’s the guy in the middle of this photo.  And he’s the one to thank for saving the diner.  He’s also written a couple of books about diners and been obsessed with them for decades.

So, it was Mike that hooked up Gordon Tindall with this diner.   Gordon had previously restored and operated the Red Rose Diner in Towanda, PA:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/1474485764/

I didn’t get a chance to talk to him since the place was jammed with people.  A tiny town on a Tuesday morning.  Good to see it’s doing well!  Here’s Gordon making REAL home fries with a grater over the grill:

Another long view of the very small diner.  Gordon’s the only one cooking.  While his wife, Val, just visible over his shoulder, takes the orders.  It’s a wonderful little place and I wish I’d gotten a chance to actually eat there.  Beautiful little town, too.  Add to your list.

Back on the road.   Here’s one from Rochester —  the Recreation Lanes:

A nice mid-century design from Winona:

Also Winona — I’ve included Louis Sullivan buildings in posts before.  I figured you might be tired of them — but this one’s a knock-out.  This one was designed by Purcell & Elmslie.  Elmslie was Sullivan’s chief draftsman.  I only wish I’d been there a half hour earlier when the place was open.  The murals and other details inside partially visible through the windows looked incredible.

And this is how most of my day’s end here on the road.  Too late to shoot — light enough for one last run & sniff for the dogs.  This big grassy area was between a school and a cemetery.  There’s still a lot of vaguely owned, golf-course-green areas out there in America up for 20 minute grabs.  I don’t know if that will be the case 10 years from now.

One I shot in the dark just to see if it was worth going back sometime to shoot this statue in the light.  I thought you might like it since it’s rather eerie from the flash.  This was at the Ashley Furniture factory in Whitehall, WI:

OK — on to La Crosse and Sparta first thing in the morning.  I know I should get you some food shots — and I still haven’t come up with a self-portrait yet.  Working on it.