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

This sign in Sweetwater, TX is gone now:

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

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

This one in Alameda, CA is also gone:

This sign in San Jose, CA is gone now:

This sign in Stockton, CA is gone:

This sign in Bakersfield, CA…:

… now has plastic panels attached to it:

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

This sign in Oakland, CA…:

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

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

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

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

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

… the current look:

This sign in Sacramento, CA is gone now:

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

This sign in Fresno, CA… :

… has been painted over but the neon remains:

This sign in Fresno, CA:

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

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

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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

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

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

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

This sign in Las Vegas, NV…:

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

This sign in North Las Vegas, NV…:

… has been crudely adapted with plastic letters:

This sign in La Belle, MO is gone now:

This sign in Centralia, IL is gone now:

This sign in Chicago, IL is gone now:

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

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

From the news article:

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

This sign in El Paso, TX…:

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

This sign in San Antonio, TX is gone now:

This sign in Fort Worth, TX is gone now:

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

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

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

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

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

This sign in Big Spring, TX…:

… has been replaced with this smaller and shorter one:

This sign in Conroe, TX is gone now:

This sign in Kerrville, TX…:

… has been adapted for the Charles Club:

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

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

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

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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

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

… but the letters on the building remain:

This sign in Oklahoma City, OK...:

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

This sign in Greenville, OH...

… is gone now — replaced with this:

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

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

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

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

This sign in Colorado Springs, CO is gone now:

This sign in Colorado Springs, CO…:

… has been adapted for a barber shop:

This sign in Cotopaxi, CO is gone now:

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

This sign in Raton, NM…:

… looks like this now:

This sign in Roy, NM is gone now:

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

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

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

By 2021, it had a really shabby paint job:

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

I’ve got another batch of sign “news”. This sign in Chattanooga, TN is gone now:

The former Kern’s Bakery sign in Knoxville, TN was later repainted with the Sara Lee label:

Around 2017, it was repainted with the Kern’s label and was still on the roof while redevelopment of the building was going on. When I didn’t see it at the latest Street View maps, I poked around and found this article with the photo below:
https://www.knoxnews.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/2024/03/29/kerns-food-hall-coming-to-chapman-highway-south-knoxville/73122545007/

The building is now known as Kern’s Food Hall and the sign is inside. From this article:

The Mac Auto Loans building in Knoxville, TN has been demolished and the sign put in storage in order to build an apartment and retail complex known as “MAC on Fifth”:

The sign will supposedly be adapted to look like this:

This sign in Lexington, TN is gone now:

Badger Cleaners in Baraboo, WI closed in 2020 and this sign is gone now:

This sign in Baraboo, WI is also gone now:

This sign in Portage, WI is gone now:

This sign in Three Lakes, WI is gone now:

This sign in Three Lakes, WI is also gone:

This sign in Fort Lauderdale, FL…:

has been stripped and painted white. Even the banner projections on the sides have been removed:

This sign in Tampa, FL…:

… has been adapted — no more neon:

This store in Fremont, MI closed last year and the projecting sign is gone:

This store in Wahpeton, ND closed in 2023 and this sign is gone now:

These Rexall panels and window decals in Sayre, OK are gone now:

This sign in Peshastin, WA is gone now:

This jewelry store in Seattle, WA has closed and this diamond ring sign from 2020 is gone now:

I’m pretty sure that this sign in Seattle, WA is also gone — unless it’s displayed inside the company’s new location:

Let’s end this post with a bit of good news. This sign in Monroe, WA…:

… has some new paint:

Back with more signs soon.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Another batch of sign updates. This sign in International Falls, MN is gone now:

This business in Worthington, MN closed in 2020 and this sign is gone now:

This neon sign in St. Paul, MN has been replaced with a plastic letter sign:

This sign (and the motel itself) in St. Francis, KS is gone now:

This sign at Sam & Jeff’s in Glasgow, MT is gone now:

This sign in Miles City, MT…:

… has been replaced with crappy plastic panels and some cheap LED rope around the outside edges:

The Pheasant Grill in Arlington, OR closed and the building was demolished in 2023. These signs are gone now:

The Tioga Hotel sign in Coos Bay, OR:

was restored in 2021. It was repainted the original color and the neon was restored:

This sign in Klamath Falls, OR…:

… was shot by John Margolies in 1987…:

… well, it looks like this now, dear god:

This sign in Medford, OR…:

… has been refurbished and moved about 100 feet from its original location. The property was destroyed by the Almeda wildfire in 2020 and rebuilt:

Let’s end this post on a good note. The Bates-Ayres Blacksmith Welding Shop sign with an anvil on top in Redmond, OR seemed to have disappeared…:

… but after some poking around, I found that the Blacksmith Public House brew pub opened in the building and restored the sign and installed it inside:

There are still about 240 pages of signs at my website to go. I’ll be back soon with more.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

More sign news — not all of it bad…

This sign in Burley, ID is gone now:

This jewelry store sign in Boise, ID is “down but not out.” It was donated last year to Vangie Osborn who has a collection of Boise signs, some of which were restored and put on display last year:

The Cowboy Oil Co. sign in Pocatello, ID…:

… was repainted and the metal stabilized last year by Relight the Night:

The Fashion Cleaners sign in Pocatello, ID had the neon removed and the panels were painted white by 2018. The sign is gone now. I don’t know if Relight the Night has it for possible restoration or if this one is gone for good:

Skip’s Snack Bar in Merrimac, MA closed in 2022 and this sign was sold for $8,100 at an auction:

I finally tracked down where the Owl Shop sign in Worcester, MA went. Here’s my photo of the sign:

It’s now inside Rhino’s Cigar Lounge in Windham, NH — photo from their website:

The Tops Bar & Restaurant sign in Harrisburg, PA… :

… has been replaced with a backlit plastic sign. It sounds like “parts” of the old sign are displayed inside now:

The Pepsi sign in St. Marys, PA…

… has been replaced with one about half the size:

This sign in Titusville, PA is gone now:

Last year, the Master Muffler chain in Utah changed their name to Master Auto Tech. The signs have all been, or will soon be, repainted to reflect the new name and man’s looks. Here’s the “before” of the Salt Lake City State St. location:

and the “after” – note that the readerboard is also gone:

This location in West Valley City, UT hadn’t been repainted in the November Street View but it probably has been by now. Note the readerboard announcing the rebranding. I’m gonna miss these guys with their flattop haircuts, bow ties, and grins. There were about 22 of these signs made in the late 1960s but only about six are left now:

The Cowboy Bar sign in Meeteetse, WY…:

… had fallen onto the awning in November — I’m hoping that they put it back up by now but that “for sale” sign has me nervous:

This sign in Thermopolis, WY is gone now:

This sign in Bedford, IN…:

… has been painted brighter colors — no neon but the bulbs are working:

The Rihm’s Drive-in Liquor sign in Cambridge City, IN:

… has a new name and panel. At least they didn’t replace the whole sign with a plastic box:

I came across this bit of news while looking for info for my next sign news column for the SCA newsletter, I discovered that the Bruno’s Pizza sign in Kalamazoo, MI is now at the Midwest Sign Co. in Kansas City, KS. No local museums or buyers could be found for the sign but Midwest took the sign in exchange for creating a new plastic sign for the restaurant that now occupies the building. Midwest has a bunch of other vintage signs in storage inside their huge shop — photos at my website here: https://www.roadarch.com/signs/kskc.html#Midwest

Here’s a photo of the Bruno’s sign from the article:
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2025/04/iconic-pizzeria-sign-taken-down-in-kalamazoo.html

There are still about 275 pages of signs at my website to go through. I’ll be back soon with another post.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

Buckle up — here comes the devastation!

This sign in Meridian, MS is gone now:

This sign in Tupelo, MS is gone now:

This sign in Huntington, WV is gone now:

This sign in Webster Springs, WV is gone now:

This Masonic sign in Louisburg, NC is gone now:

This sign in Wahpeton, ND is gone now:

This sign in Sault Ste. Marie, ON is gone now:

The Forum Motor Inn signs in Ocean City, NJ…:

… look like this now:

It’s official now: it’s still not showing up at a new StreetView map but this Pavilion Motor Lodge sign in Ocean City, NJ is gone now…:

… here is the current look from The Atlantic’s website:

… and for a direct comparison, here’s a “before” from an earlier StreetView:

This sign in Savannah, GA has been repurposed yet again. I still have not been able to figure out what it advertised for originally but, in recent years, it was adapted for at least two other used car dealerships:

This sign in Scottsbluff, NE is gone now:

This sign in Omaha, NE…:

… has now been adapted for this smoke shop:

This former Norge Village sign (aka Norge “ball”) in San Antonio, TX is gone now:

This store in Sioux Falls, SD was sold to a John Deere dealership and this sign is gone:

The Hi-Lo Drive-Thru in Abingdon, VA is now a marijuana dispensary and this sign is gone:

And, last one for now, this cleaners in Roanoke, VA closed in 2021 and the signs are gone now:

Well — that’s quite enough for now. And I’m just getting started with still 300 pages in the Signs section to go through.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

website | blog | Flickr | Instagram

About 335 pages later…. I’ve got one gigantic post of the noteworthy changes discovered via GoogleStreetView maps.

The former Phillips 66 double canopy station in San Jose, CA is now behind chain link and it looks like the underground gas tanks have been removed. I suspect this building won’t be around much longer (if it’s still there):

The prefabricated metal Toich & Son gas station in San Francisco, CA was preserved when the condo building behind it was built…:

… but now it’s barely visible behind the fencing:

This former Texaco station in Montpelier, ID…:

… has been remodeled for a Domino’s:

The former Jenney station in Falmouth, MA…:

… has been partly demolished. I believe an apartment complex will be built on the site. I don’t know if the station’s office will be preserved:

I haven’t gotten around to shoot this former Jenney station in Somerville, MA...:

… and the latest StreetView shows two apartment buildings have been built around it:

This former Cities Service station in Tupelo, MS is gone now:

This former DX station in Lamont, IA is gone now:

This former station in Ann Arbor, MI is gone now. It was demolished to build a 5-story hotel:

This former station in St. Paul, MN is gone now:

This former Pure Oil station in Moose Lake, MN was demolished in 2023:

This former Conoco station in Chicago, IL is gone now:

This former Sinclair station in Okeene, OK has been demolished:

This former Phillips 66 in Glendale, WI has been demolished:

The former Sinclair station in Gustine, TX:

… has been repainted and the addition on the right removed:

This former station in Spur, TX had been vacant for many years… :

… but, surprisingly, it’s been fixed up and now houses G-Ma’s Coffee & More:

This former Gulf station in Big Spring, TX was looking pretty doomed…:

… but “restoration” began in 2021 and there are even neon Gulf letters installed on the canopy now. To be accurate, the station was originally a 1950s “icebox station” but the porcelain enamel panels were removed and the look of the building hearkens back to an earlier Gulf design with a single post canopy and Art Deco details. Still, it looks great:

This former Texaco station in San Antonio, TX…

… reopened as Stranded Coffee just a few weeks ago. From their FB page:

This former station in Luling, TX…:

… now houses The Station, an outdoor venue with live entertainment, food trucks, and drinks:

This former Sinclair station in Childress, TX is gone now:

This former Sinclair station in Dallas, TX…:

… now houses Baker’s Ribs. I wish they hadn’t walled up the canopy area but better than demolishing the building:

The Trolley 373 in Gordon, TX with its adapted streetcar and Sinclair station had been abandoned for years.

In 2023, the station was gone and the streetcar had been gutted… :

… and the StreetView from last year shows the final product. I don’t know if the streetcar interior has any resemblance to its original look:

This station with a giant canopy in Guymon, OK was demolished last year:

Let’s close this mega post with a few good news stories. This former Conoco station in Corpus Christi, TX was housing a cleaners…:

… then, last year, it opened as Mia Mia’s Pizzeria. It’s not at Google Street View yet but here’s a photo from their FB page:

The former Humble station in Navasota, TX…:

… has been adapted for the Garage Burger Co. It opened just a few days ago. From last month’s StreetView:

and here’s a photo from their FB page:

And… last but not least… this former Texaco station in Palatka, FL… :

… seemed in mid-demolition at Google Street View… :

… but it is actually being reconstructed, kinda sorta (we shall see) for a burger place:

And with that… the next post I’ll be starting on the Signs section (with about 375 pages, it’ll take a while).

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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At long last, I have finished combing all the maps in this section.

The Griffin Dog House building in Griffin, GA now houses a Mexican restaurant and the giant hot dog and Coca-Cola bottle is gone:

I never got a chance to shoot the Burger Baron in Edmonton, AB. Last year’s StreetView shows the building gone but the sign is still there (for now). The location in Leduc, AB is still open with the same style building but its sign is not as nice as the one in Edmonton shown below:

Another place on my to-shoot list — now too late. Sonny’s Drive-in in Waterloo, ON was demolished last year:

And one more Canadian place that I didn’t get to: the Peter Pan Restaurant in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island — has been demolished:

The former Ray’s Starlite Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC is now houses Midsummer Brewing…:

… and the motel with the Holiday Inn copycat Starlite Inn sign next door has been adapted for Bea’s Parkway Inn:

This postcard shows what what probably the original look of both places — the restaurant top left:

A later postcard shows the restaurant when it still had the steeple on the building:

Drown’s Dairy and this sign in Oak Harbor, OH are gone now… :

… as the building began housing the Village Creamery and a new sign was installed around 2023:

This former Sambo’s restaurant in San Diego, CA that housed Perry’s Cafe since 1985 closed last summer. A housing development will be built on the site with part of the restaurant repurposed for the building. I’m assuming some sort of tribute sawtooth entrance maybe:

This former Sandy’s Hamburgers in Lodi, CA was already unrecognizable when it was housing this business:

The building sat vacant for about 4 years until last year it was, oh my, repurposed for a Dunkin’ and Pizza Hut:

If you don’t know, this is what these buildings looked like originally:

Cafe Jack in Los Angeles, CA was housed in this boat west of downtown (far from any water) from around 2006-2020. It was demolished by last year. I guess it could have been moved but I doubt it:

Another ship restaurant is gone — this one in Three Lakes, WI. It was built in 1946 as Marty’s Show Boat and Supper Club and was part of the Northernaire Resort. It sat next to Big Stone Lake but was built on land as a fake ship. It had been vacant since at least 2011 and the property was for sale. By last year, it had been demolished:

The former Tastee-Freez, later Tastee-Treat, in Pocatello, ID is gone now. The building now houses a coffee place and this sign is gone:

The former Tastee-Freez in Clarion, PA has been demolished:

I never got to shoot this very intact Tastee-Freez in Cumberland, KY and now it’s been replaced with a gas station. I believe that was the last embossed plastic pole sign like this left:

The Tastee-Freez sign in Perris, CA was the last surviving original example of this type…:

…until last year or so when it was adapted for a taqueria. At least they kept the original sign poles and sign frames. The original building (and probably lights) are still there though:

The former Horne’s in Gainesville, TX which had been vacant since at least 2006. I think the Horne’s had closed in the mid-1980s. The building is gone now:

Gnome Cones in Denton, TX closed after a fire in 2023. It’s not known if it will reopen.

The Mr. Burger in Beaumont, TX:

… began housing Smash Wagon last year. The neon sign and readerboard have been updated with plastic text panels:

The former House of Pies building in Salt Lake City, UT has been remodeled into a boxy building (not even worth showing here) for a seafood market:

Arshel’s Cafe in Beaver, UT…:

began housing Arshel’s Loaded Burger in 2024. The neon projecting sign is gone now but the sign on the side of the building is still there:

Let’s end this long post with this bit of good news/bad news. The Longhorn Restaurant in Chattanooga, TN closed at the end of last year. This sign is gone…:

… but the 1959 building has been renovated for soon-to-open Build-a-Salad. They have added a couple of sputnik style light fixtures outside:

Picking up next time with the Gas Stations section — another doozy with over 300 pages.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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There are about 300 pages in this section and lots of “news.” So, this will be at least a two-parter.

The sign at the Daisy Queen Hi-Boy in Harrison, AR:

got some renovating by late last year:

The Arby’s in Huntsville, AL which closed around 2021 was demolished last year:

The former Arby’s in East Lansing, MI that last housed a Biggby Coffee was demolished in 2020:

This Arby’s hat sign in Bartlesville, OK is gone now. It was replaced with a plastic version by 2023:

The only thing left of the Burger Chef in Beaumont, TX was this adapted sign:

It was replaced last year with this:

These signs looked like this originally – courtesy of John Margolies in the Library of Congress collection:

The former Burger Chef in Spokane, WA which was remodeled and operated as a Chinese restaurant for many years has been demolished:

The Frisch’s Big Boy chain is undergoing restructuring, rebranding, and legal issues in recent years. In 2024, most of the Ohio locations closed as did some in Kentucky and Indiana. Their wonderful vintage signs and statues have been removed. I’m assuming the signs were destroyed but many of the statues are in a holding pen (chain link area) behind the company headquarters in Cincinnati. For more about the losses and survivors, see my website here:
https://www.roadarch.com/eateries/bigboy3.html

Fortunately, in December, the Frisch’s Mainliner sign in Fairfax, OH was saved by the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati where it will be restored and displayed:

I don’t know where the location’s statue went:

The Colonial Kitchen facade and pole signs in San Marino, CA:

The former Cindy’s Restaurant in Westminster, CA (later the Cafe Westminster) has been demolished:

The Cindy’s in Davis, CA closed in 2022 and it looks like it might be next to meet the dozers as there a plans to build a Chipotle on the site. The small chain’s building design was created by Victor Newlove of Armet & Davis.

The Astro-Burger in Boron, CA closed in 2020 and was demolished last year. It appears that a new gas station is being built there:

The only A-frame Baskin-Robbins ice cream store outside of California that I know of — in El Paso, TX — was demolished by last spring:

The former Dari-Delite in Napa, CA which has housed Big D Burgers since at least 2007 still had the original plastic sign panels of Dee and Dee-Dee in the gables. They were the only surviving examples as all the others in surviving buildings have either been removed or painted over:

Something happened to one of the panels in 2023 and it was missing. By last year, the panels were both gone. At least the original sign poles and plastic panel uniquely-shaped frames remain:

The Dairy Queen in Starbuck, MN closed in 2024. The rooftop sign was removed and the business reopened as Shirley’s Treats & Eats. I’m sure the sign either went to a collector or DQ corporate:

The former Dog n Suds in Byron, IL was demolished a couple of months ago:

The panels on the Foster’s Freeze sign in Campbell, CA…:

… have been updated with non-embossed panels. I sure hope this is not a trend!

This little companion building which was the last bit of the Candyland Restaurant chain housed a motel office in McDonough, GA has been demolished for a Wendy’s:

The building above is circled/arrowed in the postcard image below. The larger restaurant building on the left was demolished in 2021:

The Lake Park, GA building below was demolished around 2020. There were at least two other locations like this (Jesup, GA and St. Augustine, FL):

That’s quite enough for one post. I’ll be back soon.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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