This blog documents the photo-gathering roadtrips for RoadsideArchitecture.com (aka roadarch.com). That gigantic website covers buildings, signs & statues from the 1920s-1970s. The posts here offer about a dozen photos from each day of shooting. In winter, there are "news" posts about demolitions, removals, remodeling, restorations, etc.
Here come the restaurants, ice cream stands, and the like.
This Griff’s Burger Bar in Arvada, CO closed in 2015. It was demolished in 2020 or 2021:
This Whataburger in Marshall, TX had been adapted with the drive-in canopy in front walled up. Then, around 2020, this vintage building was demolished and a new one built on the lot:
This former A&W “pilgrim hat” building in Menlo Park, CA …
… is vacant and looks endangered with new construction going on nearby:
This one in Loveland, CO was demolished around last year – replaced with a Culver’s:
This former Burger Chef in Portland, OR:
is now housing a cannabis store:
The former Bob’s Big Boy in Las Vegas, NV caught fire last year and was demolished:
The Fannie May Candies in La Grange, IL is still open. However….
the vitrolite tiles and canopies shown above were replaced and there are tacky plastic letters on the facade now. Such a crime:
This ice cream stand in Cleveland, OH is closed and the sign was removed last year:
This “crown roof” Denny’s in Kansas City, MO was demolished last year:
This former Dairy Queen sign in Detroit, MI was removed around 2020:
The Dairy Queen signs at the Bisbee, AZ location:
have been replaced with modern logo signs:
The El Taco sign panels in San Pedro, CA have been replaced. Here’s what the sign looked like before 2021:
and now:
The Foster’s Freeze in Gilroy, CA closed around last year and this sign is gone now:
The Caspers Famous Hot Dogs location in Albany, CA has closed and these signs have been removed:
This Maid-Rite location in Toledo, IA closed in 2020 and this sign is gone now:
I’m just getting started with this section but this post is already long enough. I’ll be back soon with more.
was devastated by a fire in late 2020. It seems unlikely that it will be rebuilt.
The Arcadia Theatre in Kerrville, TX has a new look and has reopened as a live performance venue. Here’s what it looked like since 1948:
In 2020, the facade and sign were replaced to look more like the original. I believe the 1948 sign was moved to the back of the building.
This is a trend with movie theatres: remove perfectly functional neon signs (evenly recently restored) and marquees with readerboards and replace with schlocky “replicas” approximately the originals. I get being historic and being proud of how old something is for a community… but I really think the detail of the facade fell short and the sign looks pretty cheese-y. Here are a couple of 1920s photos:
The Des Moines Theatre sign in Des Moines, WA is missing right now but it will be back when renovations are done to the building:
I’m not a fan of the new building but hey:
the original building was pretty drab:
Four sections to go but they are massive. Next up will be Eateries (restaurants, fast food chains, etc.)
There were 128 pages in this section and, fortunately, very few tragedies to report.
Sterling Cleaners in Burlingame, CA has closed and the building and sign have been repainted. Here’s what it used to look like:
and now. Why that ugly brown paint? I guess a reference to tanning? It looks like the neon is still there but I doubt it’s lit. And why was the sign repainted pink? Better than brown though:
The Verdi Club building in San Francisco, CA…
was repainted around 2020:
TheBowlway Lanes in Elgin, IL opened in 1942….
It closed in 2020 and this sign has been removed. I have no idea where it went. There is talk of turning the building into an event space:
The long-vacant Rayville Light & Water Plant from 1940 in Rayville, LA was demolished last year:
This faux Deco building was built in 1986 in Corpus Christi, TX as J.P. Bombers restaurant. It was demolished around 2020:
The Model Tobacco Building from the late 1930s in Richmond, VA is being adapted for apartments:
This A&W Papa Burger statue in Sebastopol, CA appears to be missing now:
This Guard statue at Kernville Mini Storage in Kernville, CA appears to be gone now:
This statue in Sacramento, CA is gone now. I’m assuming that it was demolished along with the building behind it:
The Apple Boy in Mountain Park, NM…
was apparently repainted last year:
This statue at Halloran’s Home Pizza in St. Clairsville, OH was installed in 1968. It was removed in 2020 when the business closed:
Later that year, it was repainted and installed in Halloran Park west of town:
This Tin Man statue was at Taylor Metal Works & Pipe Co. in Port Arthur, TX. By last year, the business had closed and the statue was gone:
Midtown Printing in Nashville, TN moved to a new building in 2019. This statue made the move and is now displayed on the ground instead of a pole:
The Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in Nashville, TN was removed and destroyed last year:
This Astronaut statue in Houston, TX was installed on the roof of a McDonald’s. A new McDonald’s opened across the street last year and this statue is evidently inside:
That’s a wrap for this section. The next post will be featuring news from the Art Deco Buildings section.
This was a big section with nearly 100 pages. I decided to do one big post with all of the noteworthy updates. It’s a safe bet that many of these statues were moved to other businesses, owners’ back yards, etc. Most of them are fiberglass or small enough that moving them is easy enough. Some of them are plaster or concrete over wire mesh or were in fragile condition. Those I fear are gone forever.
This mass-produced, fiberglass gorilla statue at Roadside Daiquiris in Des Allemands, LA had been there since at least 2008. By last year, the statue and business were gone:
Snowball Bears (that’s I call them since they were always in pairs and posed as if they were engaged in a snowball fight) were built around 1930 and installed at Polar Bear Frozen Custard stand locations in Wichita, KS, Washington, DC, several in Tennessee, and elsewhere. Less than 10 of them survive — see my website for them, if you’re interested:
This Chicken Car was located at Blackwell Motors in Farmington, MO along with lots of other statues. That location closed and the statues and this car were moved to their location in Bonne Terre, MO. That location closed last year and all of the statues are gone:
This Chicken Car in Kerrville, TX at a Church’s Chicken is gone now, too:
And, another one gone now in Doolittle, MO. I’d like to think some were off being driven around or repaired of the heads and tails moved to other cars:
This statue in Turlock, CA is gone now:
This Bull in Winston-Salem, NC was still there in 2019 but gone now:
This bull in Oologah, OK is gone now, too:
The Branding Iron Family Restaurant in Durant, OK has closed and this statue is also gone:
This pair of Bulls in Los Angeles, CA are gone now. The restaurant closed in 2020:
On to the Dogs pages. This statue in Bellevue, OH is gone now. It was installed in front of a residence:
The White Elephant Surplus Stores in Spokane, WA and Spokane Valley, WA closed in 2020. These guys are all gone now:
This Elephant was installed in front of Empire Slice House in Oklahoma City, OK around 2014. She was stolen for the third time in 2019 and I don’t think she has been recovered this time:
This Fish in Seattle, WA was installed above Sandy’s Seafood in 1951. The store closed in 2019 and the fish is gone now:
These Frog statues in Dallas, TX were built in 1983 by Bob “Daddy-O” Wade. The six statues were installed at the Tango Club (earning them the nickname of “Tango Frogs”. When then club closed in 1984, the statues were sold and split up. Three of them went to Houston, TX and then, in 2013, those statues moved to Nashville, TN. These three Dallas statues wound up at Taco Cabana (my photos below):
That restaurant closed in 2020 and the frogs were moved again to the nearby Truck Yard restaurant/bar. From their FB page:
If you’re curious about the Nashville Frogs, here they are from Google at a Chuy’s restaurant:
The Giant Crawfish in Lake Arthur, LA:
… apparently got battered in a hurricane. All that’s left is this claw. I sent a FB message and they are rebuilding. They hope to have it done this spring:
The Crawfish and Cowboy in Waller, TX are gone now:
This Beaver statue in Houston, TX is gone now. It was built and installed in 2017 for Beaver’s restaurant. The business closed in 2019. I assume that this statue was saved. It was created by David Adickes who is famous for his other giant statues (Presidents, the Beatles, Sam Houston, etc.):
This Hippo in Edmond, OK got a nice paint job around 2020. He was pretty faded for years before that. Someone loving must be taking care of him because the building behind him has peeling paint:
I’m ready to start on the next section which is also about 100 pages: People Statues. That will be the last blogs post(s) about statues. After that, the remaining sections for this project are: Art Deco Buildings, Movie Theatres, Eateries, Gas Stations, Signs, and Mid-Century Modern Buildings. Some of these sections are huge. So, this is probably going to take a couple more months.
The Putt-Putt in Lake Charles, LA got hit by two hurricanes in 2020 but they are back in action. Here’s StreetView soon after the hurricane. It looks like the roof of the building on the left was badly damaged:
It’s a delightfully vintage place with the classic Putt-Putt overhead lights, fun statues, and old-school obstacles/holes. It’s only about 5 miles off I-10 if you are traveling between Houston and New Orleans:
Clifton Park Golf in Clifton Park, NY was sold to a developer in 2017. The driving range, cute statues and mini golf courses, etc. are all gone now:
Moving on to Diners. This sweet little Valentine diner in Colorado Springs, CO is gone now. I scoured the internet and could not find if it was moved or demolished:
This Valentine diner in Pueblo, CO got a vibrant paint job recently. From this:
to this:
This one comes as no surprise. The Whitehouse Diner in Whitehouse Station, NJ had been abandoned since the early 2000s and probably even longer. It was demolished last year:
This diner was saved and trucked from Schodack, NY to Duanesburg, NY in 2010. It was going to be restored and displayed at the Canal Street Station Village Museum. But it was still sitting on blocks in 2019. But now, in the 2021 Street View — it’s gone. I’ve dug around online and sent a few emails but no info. Apparently, the guy who was working on the museum, Joe Merli, passed away in 2016 and I think that was that.
This Valentine diner in White Sulphur Springs, WV has gone by many names since it was installed here in 1952:
It closed around 2016 and was vacant for many years. I feared the worst. But no! In 2019, it reopened as Road Hog’s Barbeque. They’ve added a big dining area behind the diner. I think the interior’s eight stools and original metal cabinets are gone :
That’s it for these two sections. The next post we’ll be covering giant animal statues.
After 142 pages checked from these two sections, there is, fortunately, not much bad news to report.
From the Department Store pages, there was only one significant change. The former J.C. Penney in Alamosa, CO closed in 2019. By last year, the sign had been removed:
From the Car Dealerships section: two of the three South Motors hexagonal-shaped buildings in Miami, FL are gone now. The one on the left below is still there. But it may be the next to go:
Google Street View shows the building on the right being gruesomely demolished last March:
And this is the other one that was demolished:
This former car dealership building for the Roman Automobile Company in Philadelphia, PA:
has a wonderful pediment with terra cotta letters and a flying wheel detail:
Well, sometime in the last couple of years, some freaking taggers got on the roof and did this. I sure hope it gets repainted:
Here is what has become of the former A.W. Golden Cadillac-Pontiac dealership building in Reading, PA — the before:
the after (not up at StreetView yet and the only photo I could find online):
Quite the paint job on this former Martin Chevrolet dealership in Richmond, VA. I can’t find a vintage photo but I have this photo from 2009:
and now:
I’ll be back soon with more sections. There are only 10 sections left but some of them are monsters. For example, the last two will be Signs (~311 pages) and Mid-century Modern Buildings (~453 pages)
Moving on to the Giant Things section which includes statues, buildings shaped like things, etc. The giant statues of people and animals will come later in these update posts.
From the Giant Boots page: Quality Shoe Repair in Los Angeles closed last year and this Boot Car is gone now. It was parked inside the store for the last few years. I don’t know if it was still drive-able at that point. I’m hoping that this guy is now at the Henderson, NV location where there are other shoe-themed cars:
From the Fake Castles section: this building in Pahrump, NV was demolished in 2019:
From the Fake Lighthouses section: this lighthouse in Crothersville, IN was demolished last year. The Lighthouse Tabernacle is building a new church on the site and this guy was apparently removed during construction:
The long-vacant Beacon Oil building in Bayonne, NJ was demolished last year:
From the Various Giant Things pages… the Giant Pencil in Pittsburgh, PA is gone now. The Top Notch Art Centre store closed in 2019 and in 2020 the storefront was remodeled.
These giant glasses in Xenia, OH are gone now. A different eye doctor has moved in:
This Giant Kachina was one of a pair in Williams, AZ at the Canyon Trading Post. The buildings and Kachinas were demolished in 2017:
From the Giant Paint Cans page, Hamline Hardware in St. Paul, MN closed in 2020 and the covering on the paint can has been removed. There was originally a handle and it revolved. When a new tenant is found, this can will probably be removed:
The Siperstein Paint store in North Plainfield, NJ had five paint cans originally. By 2009, only two cans were left. And now… there are none.
Moving on to the Dinosaurs section. This bronze statue in Holbrook, AZ is gone now:
Finally, some good news! This wonderful and gigantic guy in Oklahoma City, OK was installed in 1996 at Statuary World. The place closed in 2020 and everything was auctioned off. This statue was sold for $5,000 and moved to Yukon, OK. Here he was in OKC:
and now — a bright blue — at Jameson’s in Yukon:
I’m in the mid-sized sections now which have between 70-100 pages. I’m hoping to finish this mega project by the end of next month. I’m itching to take some little roadtrips and take some new photos but I want to plow through this first.
Back to the SCA section at my website. I’m happy to report that of the 53 pages in this section, there were only a few tragedies. From the Pancakes page — the Uncle John’s Pancake House in Toledo, OH was reworked last year — from this:
… to this with the bulbs removed, the white border covered up, the top plastic panel now painted. I’m guessing that’s LED instead of neon but I can’t quite tell. At least the rooftop sign with bulbs wasn’t touched.
From the Pizza Chef page — this neon skeleton sign at Niki’s Pizza in Pittsburgh, PA was removed around 2020 when a new pizza place moved in:
From the Sputnik Signs pages, the sputnik at Monica’s Bakery in Long Beach, CA is gone now — and so is the giant pole sign that supported it. I suspect car accident:
This sputnik at Rabe’s Service Station in Edgewood, TX is now in a private collection:
This C-152 Lectra (and the entire pole sign) in Cleveland, TX is gone now. Last year, Shiloh’s Restaurant moved in with a boring little plastic sign:
From the Skating Signs page: Star Skate in Norman, OK closed last year. This sign is still there but the panels are now missing:
Before we move on to the next section, here are are couple of very recent transformations. The Sea Jay Motel sign in Treasure Island, FL is now all backlit plastic:
The Lu Fran Motel sign in Wildwood, NJ will either be sold or scrapped by the end of the week:
I’ll be back soon with updates to the Giant Things section.
From the Cars Signs page, Hawkes Motors in Boise, ID moved last year and the sign was brought along. The readerboard and original sign pole stayed behind. The text panel changed a bit. Here’s the before:
and the after:
This modern sign in Austin, TX was removed around 2021 when the shop closed:
From the Diving Women page — the Dive Bar in San Jose, CA closed in 2021 and this modern sign is gone now:
Last year, the former Motel Birmingham in Birmingham, AL was demolished and this sign is gone:
On to the Donut Signs section. This painted wall sign for Hunt’s Donuts in San Francisco, CA was uncovered in 2011. It was painted over last year:
Jessie’s Donuts in River Oaks, TX closed around 2019:
The sign has been covered up with new panels for Cherry Kitchen & Catering. The lower panels have been removed:
This former Mister Donut building and sign in San Jose, CA were demolished last year:
The long-abandoned Mister Donut in Cleveland, OH was also demolished last year. Not a surprise since the building was in miserable shape. The building and sign would have looked like this originally:
I shot the place in 2005 when things were a tiny bit nicer:
The entrance canopy had been lying on the ground since 2019:
Moving on to the Extension Signs section (signs with neon tubing that extends off the face of the sign)…. the B&B Discount Liquor sign in Memphis, TN is gone. The building is now housing a restaurant. Here’s what the sign looked like in 2011. Note the man on the top left with the animated pointing arm and bowtie. The bottle on the right had sequentially lit rings. The bottle’s plastic panels were blown out by 2018.
From the House Signs page… this sign in McCammon, ID was removed or destroyed around 2018 when a Family Dollar opened on the lot:
That’s enough pain for one post. I’ll be back with more soon.
RoadArch.com companion 