But be forewarned, most of this is bad news.  Continuing with my annual winter project and updates to my website from clicking on those [map] links in each description.  Lots and lots of signs are now missing.  We can hope that some went to collectors at least or museums (less likely).  However, we must face the truth that most were scrapped.

First item of business:  you may notice that this blog has a new easy to type and remember url:  https://roadarch.blog/  Not to worry, the old longer url (roadsidenut.wordpress.com) will redirect forever to this new one.  I was forced to upgrade at WordPress and figured it was time to jive the name with the website‘s name (www.RoadsideArchitecture.com has had the double, shortie url of http://www.roadarch.com for years now).  Yes, blogs and websites are very different things (chronological posts vs. super organized structures).  And my focus has always been on the highly organized website (for nearly 20 years now!).

All of the “before” photos in this post were taken by me with the bad news “afters” courtesy of Google Street View.  Now then, plowing through alphabetically, starting with the heartbreaks in ARIZONA.  Luckily, only a couple for that state.

This beauty in Safford, AZ was removed in 2018 and replaced with a boring plastic box last year:

 

And in Mesa, AZ, the neon palm trees are now missing from this sign and the plastic panels were replaced:

 

Moving on to about a dozen recent losses in CALIFORNIA.  This one is only half bad news.  While the neon is gone, the fish has been nicely repainted.  Here’s the Bucksport Sporting Goods sign in Eureka, CA in 2016:

And now (that guy painting the building gives you a sense of scale):

 

This sign in Martinez, CA:

has been adapted for this Greek restaurant.  Okay, so it’s still neon.  And yes, there was some bad rust at the bottom of the panels.  But these Florsheim Shoe signs which used to be all over the country are super rare now.  In this case, I would much rather have seen it removed and handed to a happy collector while a new sign put up in its place.

 

The Balboa Pharmacy sign in Newport Beach, CA is gone now.  It got some paint in 2009 but I think that only somewhat concealed the rust that was going on.  This photo is from 2013.  In 2017, the sign crashed to the ground and was a mangled mess.  It was destroyed.

 

The Peking Restaurant in Red Bluff, CA closed around 2016.  By last year, there was a Mexican restaurant in the building and this sign was gone:

 

I don’t believe there are any Shakey’s Pizza Parlor signs with neon left.  The Riverside, CA location closed in 2016 and this sign is gone now:

I believe all of the the older locations that had neon signs now have backlit plastic letters.  In 2017, the El Monte and Monterey Park signs both succumbed to this.  Here are the “befores”:

And now, they both look like this:

 

The Del Rosa Lanes in San Bernardino, CA closed in 2016.  The sign hung in there after that:

Sometime within the last year or so, it was adapted for a medical center.  As you can see, they spared no expense on nice typography:

 

The Washoe Motel in South Lake Tahoe, CA is still in business but this sign is not there at the 2018 Google Map.  The poles are still there so we can hope that it’s just at the sign shop getting repaired:

 

This sign in Bellflower, CA looked like this:

Then, in 2016, the neon was removed and the sign was repainted to look like this:

 

The Townhouse Motel sign in Weed, CA is gone.  The motel replaced it with a rectangular plastic box sign.  I’ll spare you the “after”.  It’s ugly as hell.

 

The Townhouse bar in Sacramento has been through a lot.  Here’s the original look – my photo from 2008:

Then recreated in 2013 for the Starlite:

And then last year or so, painted black & the martini is gone as the Holy Diver:

 

This sign in San Francisco:

was covered up with new panels around 2017 for a pediatrician sign.  We can only hope that they didn’t use superglue or some crappy adhesive and that the bakery sign’s porcelain is safe underneath and can be resurrected one day:

 

This sign in Stockton, CA:

was stripped of neon and horribly disfigured for another liquor store about a year ago.  It doesn’t get much worse than this, does it?

 

OK enough of that!  Let me leave you with 3 bits of happy news for California.

This sign in North Hollywood had peeling paint for many years.  It was completely restored last year:

 

In Vacaville, CA: a glass half-full surprise.  Here’s a photo I took in 2014 of the U-Save Liquor sign.  Peeling & rust but still delightful.  Most of the U-Save locations’ signs have been replaced with backlit plastic in recent years.  So, this was a hold-out:

 

Until 2016, when the neon was removed and the sign was repainted:

The neon tubing holes had apparently been patched and that seemed to be the end of the story.  At least the rust way maybe under control.  Then, last year, the sign was apparently dressed with LED rope.  So, at least it’s lit at night, sort of, or until the rope breaks:

 

Lastly, this sign in Los Angeles crashed to the ground in 2017 and we were sure that was that.  Never to be seen again.  I even called them on the phone and they didn’t think it would be back:

But then, sometime last year, it reappeared.  Apparently, a mostly faithful reproduction with the neon on top (the text on the panels is a little disappointing but hey…):

 

This is a ridiculously huge post so I’ll cut it off here.  I have another one nearly ready to go tonight.

Stay tuned…

dj & the dogs

 

 

 

 

My winter website updating project is humming along.  I just finished combing the biggest section at my website (434 pages, more than 7,000 photos) and, naturally, have some bad news to report. The good news is far better though:   most of the buildings I’ve photographed & written about are still there.

Here are a couple dozen buildings that been demolished or disfigured in the past year or so.  The “before” photos are mine (from my website, roadarch.com) and the “afters” are courtesy of Google Street View.

Let’s start with this sweet little A-frame motel office in Williams, AZ:

Remodeled last year into this:

 

In Norwalk, CA, this building was built in 1962 as a Unimart.   It later housed a Two Guys and then, for many years, was used as an indoor swap meet.  The building was demolished last year:

 

I’ve long been a fab of these prefab structures and there are not many left at this point.  This one was in National City, CA and last housed a law office.   Before that, it was a medical office.  It was either dismantled or, more likely, demolished last year:

 

In Crestview, FL, the Okaloosa County Courthouse was demolished in 2017.  It was replaced with a larger (and uglier) courthouse:

 

The Rigby Bowl in Rigby, ID is no more.  In 2017, the building began housing a gym and the mid-century features and sign were removed:

 

The First Federal Savings & Loan Bank in Kewanee, IL has been undergoing some unfortunate remodeling lately.  Here’s what it looked like from 1963 until recently:

Around 2013, those colorful panels were replaced with clear (?) plastic (?) panels:

And then, last year, it looks like the panels might be gone for good and a visible worker was repainting the exterior a gloomy black (we can only hope it’s primer and that the original panels will return):

I don’t know the status of the interior which has or had the same designs as the exterior panels:

 

These barrel roofed buildings in Wichita, KS were demolished either last year or soon before that:

 

Here’s another prefab example from Paducah, KY that disappeared some in or between 2012 and 2018.  It last housed a barber shop.:

 

The Plantation Inn in Chicopee, MA was designed by Morris Lapidus as the Chicopee Motor Inn and built in 1958.  This round building with a zigzag crown was used as the motel’s conference center.  It was vacant for many years even while the motel was still operating.  In 2013, the property was sold and the buildings were demolished in 2016.  There’s now a big, unremarkable car dealership on the site now:

 

Some good news:  this building in Redford, MI is still there.  Designed by Minoru Yamasaki as a YWCA chapter.  Still intact canopies, screens, and loads of glass:

But when a school moved into the building in 2012, this sign disappeared.  I sure hope someone has it!

 

This sweet little entrance canopy of Midland Park, NJ — removed in or around 2018:

 

The Western Reserve Hardware building in Madison, OH was demolished last year:

 

The Executive Club Building in Rocky River, OH was demolished in 2016:

 

The Anthony Rossi Studio in Canton, OH closed around 2017 and these screens have been removed:

 

The Great National Life Insurance Company Building in Dallas, TX from 1963 was either demolished last year or will be this year:

 

The Hill Farms State Transportation Building in Madison, WI was demolished last year:

Google Street View even documents the tragedy:

 

The Lincoln Community Bank (both the branch & the matchy-matchy drive-thru) in Merrill, WI was demolished in 2018 or slightly before that:

 

I never got to shoot the Uptown Motel building in Rawlins, WY.  It was demolished in 2017.  It was designed by Richard Crowther.  Here’s a vintage postcard:

Google last shot it in 2009:

 

Let’s move on to some better news.   In Boulder, CO, the First Christian Church building has be transformed into a recreation for “The Province” student housing which now surrounds it.  The building had been vacant since 2010.  The exterior and stained glass remain intact.  This website shows some photos of the interior:
https://www.apartments.com/the-province-at-boulder-boulder-co/lezkegd/

 

The long vacant former Gilldorn Savings Bank in Pawnee, IL has been adapted for the Pawnee Police Department.  Unfortunately, the dirt mounds which were part of the original 1984 design have been removed and they’ve slapped some ugly siding on the building and messed with the windows but the original intent is still kinda sorta there:

Google 2018 photo:

 

The Paris Laundry & Dry Cleaners in Phoenix, AZ was built in 1957:

The cleaners closed in 2016.  In 2018, the building was adapted for Modern Manor, a vintage furniture store and cafe.  Google shows the work taking place.  I believe the original Paris sign panel is inside the store (repainted but no neon):

 

So, what shall we conclude from all this devastation?  Yes, mid-century modern design is still under-appreciated by the masses and under attack all across the country — big cities & tiny towns.  One-story buildings on valuable land are especially at high risk for condo development.  Many mcm buildings have asbestos problems and that adds another complication and expense when it comes to reusing vs. teardown.

What can you do about it? If you are into these buildings, you can help at the local or state level by working with others to make a list of significant examples.  Create a walking or driving tour.  Take lots of photos. Meet with local government officials when a building becomes vacant to help them understand why the building “matters”.  Set up a card table near the building & hand out flyers to the locals about getting the building landmarked or at least recognized locally. Let other folks know about the vacancy or threat of demolition via social media and see what plans you can come up with to help save these beauties.  There are lots of great mcm organizations out there that might be interested in helping publicize your effort or provide strategy advice.

If you need a cheering up after this blog post, you might want to explore the mid-century modern buildings section at my website here:

http://www.roadarch.com/modarch/main.html

 

My next blog post will be in a month or two once I’ve combed the last section for the year:  the Signs section.  Wouldn’t be great if I only found a few things to report back about?

And as for the next “real” roadtrip...  Once I’ve finished this “homework”, I’ll take a few little trips here in California.  One little trip up to the Bay Area in April will be to attend & speak at the 2nd (annual?) Neon Speaks event in San Francisco April 26-28.  If you love signs, you GOTTA go:
https://sfneon.org/

The Really Big Trip for the year will be in June — a month to wrap up some Texas stuff and then focus on Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

Happy Trails,

dj & the dogs

 

 

 

 

Lots of “news” while updating the Gas Station section at my website.  Let’s start with the bad news.  The photos were all taken by me.  The “Afters”/update photos are from Google Street View.

This former Shell station in San Bernardino was demolished in 2017.  I only know of one other original canopy like this left (Tracy, CA):

 

This former Beacon Oil station in Stoneham, MA housed the Dairy Dome for many years.  The building will be demolished soon for condos.

Well, at least there are three other surviving examples of this design:
http://www.roadarch.com/gas/macan.html

 

 

This station in Janesville, WI was demolished recently:

 

Let’s move on to the Before/Afters.

This Standard Oil station in Lawrenceburg, KY:

was unfortunately remodeled (canopy removed) into this (photo GSV):

 

 

This former station in Cambridge, MA when it was in use as a colorful cafe:

It was remodeled in 2016 for a medical center (photo GSV) – the tower removed & altered:

 

 

Let’s move on to some happy news:

This photo of this former Esso station in Lynchburg, VA is from 2011:

began housing this swanky bar/restaurant in 2016 (photo GSV):

 

This former Gulf station in Beckley, WV:

has housed Poncho & Lefty’s restaurant since 2016 (photo GSV):

 

This station in Minerva, OH:

is now housing a brewery (photo GSV):

 

This former Gulf station in Durham, NC was in rough shape for many years:

Since 2011, the building has housed the Geer Street Garden restaurant/bar (photo GSV):

 

This former Cities Service station in Darlington, WI was housing a farm supply store in 2012:

Since 2017, the building has housed City Service Brewing:

 

This former Conoco station in Des Moines, IA was endangered and saved.  But then it sat up on blocks for many years:

Finally, it has landed and is now used as a youth center (photo GSV):

 

This former Phillips 66 station in 2017:

is now housing the Graze restaurant (photo GSV):

 

This former Sinclair station in Denver, CO (yes, the P66 design was used by Sinclair in Colorado):

is now housing a Snarf’s Sandwiches (photo GSV):

 

This boarded up Enco station in Tallahassee, FL:

was adapted for the Happy Motoring bar/restaurant last year (photo GSV):

That wraps up these blog posts for awhile.  I’m now going to tackle the two biggest sections at my website (mid-century modern buildings and signs).  I’ll be back in a few weeks with an mcm post.

dj

The last section at my website that I comb for updates with be the Signs section.  But in going through the SCA article section, I found lots of bad news pertaining to signs.  Kleenex handy?

The Blue Ribbon Shoe Service store and sign in Grants Pass, OR are gone:

 
This one in Memphis, TN — yep, the business and sign are now gone:

 

The Filling Station sign in Savanna, IL is gone.  Originally, a mechanical waving sign.  It was painted differently on both sides:

 
This motorized sign in Willow Springs, MO was installed at the long-closed Hillbilly Store.  It was down to one arm in 2016.  The entire sign is gone now:

 
This Original Pancake House sign and location in Seattle were built around 2001.  A very nice animated neon sign though.  By last year, the building and sign were gone.

 
The La Frite sign in Sherman Oaks, CA is also gone now:

 
The Skate Inn in Tallahassee, FL closed in 2017.   And, yep, this sign is gone now:

This Neo-Lectra in Elkhart, IN is gone, too:

 

This sign in Denton, TX is gone:

It was “updated” (ugh) with this crap:

https://www.reddit.com/r/unt/comments/9xg2cv/the_resemblance_of_this_and_my_dl_photo_has_me/

 

And last heartbreak for this post… the former Pee Wee Pizza sign in San Leandro, CA.  Here’s what the sign looked like in 2008:

Papa John’s moved in in 2010.  The text sign was adapted with their name on the top panel with new neon.  The chef’s neon was removed at that point:

And then, by 2017, Papa John’s decided to completely ruin the sign.  Here’s how it looks now, from Google Street View.  All backlit plastic slapped onto the panels and the chef obliterated with the stupid phone number disk:

OK — that’s enough for now.  I’m happy to say the devastation to the SCA signs section has been minor.  Super interesting signs await you here:

Society for Commercial Archeology Journal Article Companion Pages

I’ll be back tomorrow with the Gas Stations section (losses & classy transformations).

dj

 

Let’s talk Statues.  One of my favorite subjects, if not yours.  Here are some wonderful things now missing from our public landscapes.

The seven-foot-tall Owl in Orem, UT was built in 2011 for a crepe-focused restaurant.   My photo from 2014.  Missing in 2018.  I hope he’s safe somewhere:

 

The funky bucking bull with the taxidermy face in Kanab, UT is gone now, too.  So is the restaurant it was installed in front of:

 

The International Fiberglass “Giant Man” (IF’s name — nicknamed “Muffler Men” in the 1990s) in Compton, CA disappeared last year.  No one, not even Joel, knows where he is:

 

The Giant Waitress in Flint, MI which stood on top of the sign at the Colonial Coney Island & Family Restaurant from 1978-2014.  She was supposedly put in storage but no one was sure just where:

In July, she resurfaced and was moved on to a private collection.  Better than being destroyed but too bad that she couldn’t a) be public and b) stay in Flint.  This article describes her restoration and other details:
https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2018/07/big_girl_statue_that_overlooke.html

 

 

Moving on to the Eateries section at my website.  The Dairy Queen clown sign in Seelyville, IN is gone now.  It seemed inevitable since it appeared to be abandoned for decades.  It was still there in 2013 but gone by last year.  There are only three examples of these waving, mechanical DQ clown signs known to still exist.  Info at my website here:
http://www.roadarch.com/eateries/dq.html#Clown

 

 

This Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop in Macomb, IL had been abandoned since around 2007 and is gone now:

 

 

The Chocolate Moose in Bloomington, IN moved to the boring building next door and this sweet A-frame walk-up was demolished in 2016:

 

The Bohemian Cafe in Omaha, NE closed in 2016.  These signs were gone by 2018.  The colorful building remains vacant:

 

The East Park Restaurant in Ravenna, OH closed around 2014 and was demolished in 2016.  By last year, this sign and the long-closed drive-in canopy and building behind it were gone:

This former Sambo’s sign in Willamina, OR was always a mystery.  There was never a Sambo’s there so it came from someplace else and got reworked.  There are no other Sambo’s or former Sambo’s signs that still have the yellow spike.  This sign disappeared last year:

 

Lots more signs in the next post.  But if the above subjects appeal to you, check out all the surviving statues & great restaurant buildings that still survive at my website:

Animal Statues

People Statues

Eateries

dj

This is the first of a flurry of blog posts from my winter site updating.  I’ll admit, most of it is bad news but I’ll share it anyway.  The good news is that, so far (I still have the two biggest sections to go), most things are still there.

Let’s start with Ship-Shaped Buildings.

The Dockside building in Morro Bay, CA was demolished in October.  It was built in the 1950s as a fish market.  Never a real boat — just built to look like one. Torn down for new development.  A few “pieces” were saved for the local museum.  Sigh.

Some good news:  the Pirate Ship in Sparks, NV has finally reopened.  I sure thought this one was doomed!  It was built in 1971 as a fish & chips restaurant.  A few other restaurants after that and then closed seemingly for good in 2008.  My photo from 2014:

But, by 2017, thank you Google Street View, reopened as Mariscos El Barco with colorful paint.  A bit crude but the building’s exterior is intact and the sign & crow’s nest are still there and that’s what matters:

Moving on to Theatres.  The Eastwood Theatre in Toledo, OH.  It had fallen on hard times for decades and housed many a church.  My photo here is from 2011:

In 2014, the theatre was on the way to recovery and about to return to showing movies.  By this 2018 GSV photo, the theatre had been painted a garish red and the reader boarded had been replaced with a crappy digital display:

The worst of it is the LED rope which replaced the neon — geez!

The Paris Theatre has one of my fave signs in Portland, OR.  Originally, the Third Avenue Theatre, built in 1890.  The adapted sign still has the old school tin border beading.  I’m guessing the sign from the 1920s or so from the I-shape and border.  Gotta love those scary sign-repair ladders!   It became the Paris Theatre in the 1940s or so and the lettering was changed at the bottom.  I don’t know if the drama masks at the top were original (1920s-ish).  Quite possibly, since it was a vaudeville/live performance theatre, not movie theatre then. This photo is from 2015:

Around 2017, the theatre was renovated and the sign got new paint and neon:

This photo shows a closeup of the sign [credit Robert K. Chin at Alamy.com] – nice job, right?:

 
The Miller Theatre in Augusta, GA opened in 1938 and closed in 1983.  It looked worse and worse every year despite promises of restoration.  My photo from 2009:

 

It seemed a goner but, in 2017, the theatre reopened!  The message board marquee, which was originally a manual letter readerboard, is now a scrolling digital graphic thing.  But the neon letters and Art Deco style elements on top of the marquee were kept and restored.  This photo from this article shows what it looks like now:
https://www.svconline.com/the-wire/l-acoustics-at-miller-theater

Moving on to Car Dealerships.  This mid-century modern beauty with neon letters on roof and at left in Graham, TX 2011 is basically no more:

Here’s what happened to it about a year ago:

This is a horrible trend all over the country:  brand dealerships, especially Ford and Chevrolet, are destroying historic, lovely buildings and replacing them with modern horror shows all in the name of consistent corporate branding.  Uff.  Well, at least the Davidson letters were slapped on the building next door:

 
The Cutrubus Freeway Mazda in Ogden, UT was built in 1973.   My photo is from 2014.  The building was still there and the biz operating in 2015.  But by 2018, the beautiful, round zigzaggy building was gone.  Replaced with a drab shopping center.

 
Another mcm loss:  this big ol’ A-frame showroom in Olympia, WA was built in 1964 for a Cadillac dealership.  In later years, it housed car rental businesses.  Vacant in 2015 and demolished in 2016:

BUT the good news is that there are still plenty of spectacular buildings still out there.  If you’re interested in any of these themes, here’s where you will find them at my website:

Ship Buildings

Ship Restaurants

Movie Theatres

Car Dealerships

Back with more later tonight…

dj

I’m now hunkered down for the big winter project.  I’m combing my entire website for dead links to other websites and checking out the map links for ev-ry-thing (2600+ pages) to see if there have been changes (demolitions, removals, repaints, etc.).  As you can imagine, most of the news is not good.  But, these days, anything that’s still in place and hasn’t been touched is good news!

Over the next several months, I’ll be updating my website with the info as I go and posting some of these discoveries here at blog posts.  The focus will be on signs since that seems to be my blog audience.  But I’ll slip in some buildings and statues as well.

So.  Let’s get the ball rolling with the 63 Diner in Columbia, MO which closed in 2015.  These signs hung in there until at least 2016.  But, by this year, they were gone and the building was deteriorating.

I think most of the signs were retro (new/made to look vintage).  The pig might have been vintage.  The atomic sign either came from a Mr. Quick or was modeled after that burger stand chain’s sign.  There was also a cute giant burger & french fries here.  Gone as well.

 
From the Egyptian Revival section at my site, here’s a heartbreak in Los Angeles.  The Ahmed Apartments from 1925 had lots of nice detail.  Until a couple of years ago when some bozo decided to paint and basically ruin it.  Here’s a detail photo I took in 2010:

And here’s the Google Street View tragic view – ugh:

 

That’s enough bad news for one blog post.  Here are some “wins” from the Giant Animals section.  While checking on all the cow head statues, I feared the worst when I saw this at Google Street View for 2017 for Holland Farms in Yorkville, NY:

My photo from 2010:

But after Googling a bit to see what happened (bakery closed or what), I found out that the Cupcake and Chuckie had been restored:
https://www.facebook.com/hollandfarms/photos/a.1128178683878451/1896233233739655/?type=3&theater

Here’s John Margolies’ photo of the sign in 1987:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/mrg.07511/

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

The Giant Horseshoe Crab in Blanchester, OH was also missing at Street View.  My photo from 2009:

A little hunting at Google revealed that the crab is now a feature of a vintage trailer park in Hillsboro, OH:
http://www.ohio.org/blogs/2015/10/worlds-largest-horseshoe-crab-has-new-home

 
Same situation for the Whale Car in South St. Paul, MN.  Missing at Street View so I called the new used car lot biz that’s there now and found out that he’s been moved to the new owner’s location nearby:

 

Let’s end with a sign since that’s what most of you want to hear about.  This sign in Victoria, TX was pretty much destroyed last year by Hurricane Harvey.  The text panel survived but the Indian was completely crumpled.  My photo from 2011:

After corresponding at Facebook for over a year with the owner who insisted that the sign was being “restored”, I had pretty much given up.  But then this news item popped up.  The Indian had been recreated and reinstalled.  Not neon but the style still looks fairly close (although the colors look kinda bright):
https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/iconic-sign-returns-to-the-corral/article_47e665ce-f41e-11e8-83e4-3fc7e71b2121.html

More good news/bad news coming soon.  There’ll be another post most likely next weekend.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs

Hey there!

All of the ~3,000 photos from my June trip are officially up at my website (roadarch.com).  So, if you’re thinking of traveling to Texas or just want to travel virtually, have a look at any of the sections (signs, mid-century modern, eateries, theatres, gas stations, giant statues, etc.) and you’ll find loads of new additions.  There were also some additions to Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.

In the past few weeks, I took two little daytrips down to the L.A. area.  Here are some funky-blogworthy signs, buildings, etc..  If you didn’t know, the “good stuff” appears at my website and the coarser stuff gets uploaded here.

From Hawthorne — kind of a bizarre circus thingie on top.  Maybe there were horses?  Maybe it revolved?

 

The Custer’s Gift Shop in Covina has been gone for many years.  Nevertheless, the sign hung in there. Here’s a photo I took in 2013:

The central panel has been missing since around 2017.  I don’t suppose any money or effort will be spent to repair it.  I doubt this will be around much longer:

 

From Whittier.  Too late in the day and I got silly shadows but I’ll include this anyway.

 

From Valley Village:

 

The Bootmobile at Victor’s Shoe Repair in Burbank is getting a makeover.  It’s normally red and this looks like a primer coat to me:

 

The Mission Hills Bowl in Mission Hills in its new life as a Ross Dress for Less store:

 

This sign in Los Angeles was built & installed around 2014:

 

Let’s close out this post with some signs from the Valley Relics Museum which recently relocated to Burbank:

Yes, part of the Premiere Lanes sign from Santa Fe Springs:

There will be more posts coming up very soon since my annual website combing project  is underway which leads to all kinds of pleasant surprises (restorations) and, more commonly, devastating discoveries about demolitions, horrible sign updating and removals.  Stay tuned!

dj & the dogs

 

A few signs from Albuquerque:

 

At the A-1 Trophy Center:

 

At Ski-Hi Liquors.  The business is set on a hill on the west end of town but then I’m sure people get plenty high from what they purchase here as well:

 

I stopped in at Zeon Signs in ABQ to see if they had anything interesting.  Sign fans might want to pick up this little book about some of the famous signs that this company designed and built:
https://www.amazon.com/Zeon-Files-Design-Historic-Route/dp/0826356028

Sure enough!  They are restoring the Cavern Theatre sign from Carlsbad, NM:

 

They are also storing two local signs for Carlos Garcia with plans to eventually restore them.  The Robin Hood Inn archer is about 20 feet tall:

 

 

This one requires a little more imagination as to what the final product will look like:  the Jack’s Liquor sign.  Here’s what the sign looked like at night:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tadsonbussey/272565135/

Moving on to Kingman, AZ:

 

This one is at the same place but way, high up there:

I stopped in at Legacy Signs & Iron to see what they might have lying about.  The local Brandin’ Iron sign is still there (eventually restoring it).  I don’t think the City Cafe sign was there last year.  This was another local sign:

 

And there was also an Imperial 400 sign.  I don’t know it they just have the top part or the blade is somewhere else.   If you want to see the whole sign, I have a bunch at my website here:
http://www.roadarch.com/modarch/chain2.html

 

 

And then… no more stops… straight driving to Barstow, CA.  I wouldn’t driven all the way home from there but since I had no headlights…  We’ve been home two weeks.  Back all my job.  And more importantly, back at the beach!  Happy dogs, happy life.  This beach is about a four minute drive from my apartment.  Paradise!  There’s no place like home!

The Ventura River meets the ocean at this beach.  Griz is about to dive into the rivermouth to get a ballie:

THE TRIP RECAP

29 days on the road
12,314 miles (avg. 440 mi per day)
approximately 3,000 photos for the website

Gas: $2,394 (approx. $83 day); mostly at cheap Texas prices of $2.59 gallon (vs. California $4.29)

Sparkle repairs:  AC ($333), wiring ($419), tie rods & donut gaskets ($567), new tire ($79), thunking diagnosis $22 = $1420.  Plus oil changes, air filters, & top offs = $235

Tickets:  no seat belt ($161); speeding ($250)

New radio & installation: $168

Plantsitter:  $74

Food: $471 (includes snacks, coffee & other beverages)

GRAND TOTAL: (not including lodging) about $5,173

The memories, thrills, highs & lows, adventures for me and the dogs…. PRICELESS!

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

So, I’m going to be quiet and busy for many months (photoshopping, researching, and uploading all these photos to the website).  The process will probably take about six months.

If you need another “fix” of photos, you might want to check out the sampling of DIFFERENT photos that I uploaded to Flickr on this trip.  You can either view them as “big” photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

or chronologically at this trip album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/albums/72157698017198705

 

And, if you want to review this trip’s blog in entirety, you can see everything via this link:
https://roadsidenut.wordpress.com/

 

But that’s reverse order — So, if you want to start at Day 1, you can start here and then click on the links to the other days at the bottom of the page (above the comments):
https://roadsidenut.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/day-1-of-30-california-to-tucson/

 

If you’ve been viewing these posts on your phone, you’re missing out on a LOT of detail.  You might want to give things another gander on a big monitor.

 

And, one more link — I guess I should plug my book if you don’t already have it (it came out here in the states in April):
https://www.bookdepository.com/Vintage-Signs-of-Americ-Debr-Jane-Seltzer/9781445669489?ref=grid-view

 

Until the next trip (a few three or four day weekends planned for late summer or fall)…

Happy Trails!
dj & the dogs

 

 

We’re in the home stretch now!  Here are a couple of signs from Canadian, TX.  I especially like the bulb thingie at the top of this signs.  Looks pretty homemade and Tinker Toy-esque:

 

 

The Riverside Motel has a Best Western-ish crown sign on top:

 

 

This two panel sign in Miami, TX has been repainted and the place has been renamed the Rafter B Cafe:

 

Same business — this sign is stationed a bit lower:

 
This super-faded motel sign is in Clarendon, TX:

 

This terrazzo apron is in downtown Amarillo:

 

A mysterious arrowhead sign in Amarillo:

 
Maybe this canopy sign pole was meant to simulate an “A” for Amarillo originally?

Way back in the posts from this trip, I posted a couple photos of the Teddy Jack’s Hub City Grill in Lubbock.  Here’s the other location in Amarillo.  Both locations have modern retro signs:

 

Last subject for this post:  the former Arrow Motel in Amarillo.  The C-152 Lectra has slid down the pole.  Earlier in this trip, I posted a photo to my Flickr stream of a nicely restored example of this sign in Stamford, TX:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/29419009878/

 

Last post coming up soon!

dj & the dogs