It is very dusty there in Fresno and southward.  The dogs really missed the grassy lawns & hard-packed beach sand.  Poor Nik had mouth fulls of dirt from his compulsive ball-retrieving.  And the other dogs got stickers in their feet.  If dogs could curse…  But we’re back home now.  I managed to get through a huge list of stuff on this trip so I’ll be busy adding stuff to the website for a few weeks.

I’ve been very anxious to update the photos at my website for this one.  Here’s what Mearle’s Drive-in in Visalia looked like in 2008:

It was built in 1940 and then closed in 2006.  It seemed doomed to the wrecking ball.  Finally, in 2011, it was transformed & reopened as a Habit Burger Grill location:

I don’t know if the milk shake sign is the restored original or a replica.  I got a peek at the original “Mearle’s” & “Drive-in” signs from the top of the pylon.  They are currently in storage at the Tulare County Historical Society museum in Visalia.  There are plans to restore the signs — but no timeframe yet.  It’s not known if they will be installed inside or outside the museum.

 

 

Just across the street from Mearle’s is the COS (College of the Sequoias) Giant — carved in the 1950s.  A neat little video about the making of the sculpture is here:
http://www.coscampusonline.com/2012/09/27/a-giant-discovery-of-a-piece-of-cos-history/

 

 

The former Wagon Wheel Steakhouse sign in Visalia.  Not quite as nice as it was before with more neon  and a funkier font:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9243200@N04/6955229736/

 

 

Another sign from Visalia — note the fun flair on the sign pole as well.  Apparently, the “Frank’s” piece revolved since I have seen a photo of it in a different position:

 

Another from Visalia — a mid-century looking metal screen above a Main Street business:

 

This is all that’s left of this drive-in in Visalia.  A big empty lot there now:

 

A wonderfully busy sign from Tulare.  I don’t know what this originally advertised for:

 

Be grateful to Tulare Natural Stone for painting over rather than trashing this one:

Canby’s Air Conditioning & Heating has been here since 1938.  The building was originally a dance hall.  But I think this styling is all Canby’s doing:

 

Also in Tulare.  Not the neon glitz of the Rice Bowl in Lompoc (probably no relation) which I posted about on Saturday — but this is still wonderful in its own right:

 

Grem has been using Nik as her hot water bottle sofa for years.  It seems her new little brother, Griz, has the same tolerance:

If you want more doggie photos, I got a friend to take a bunch of me & the kids last weekend & posted them at the top of this page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/4gdf.html

 

Moving on to Porterville —

 

On to Delano.  The building is long gone —  just another dusty field good for dog running & sniffing.  I guess it’s too much trouble to remove this giant sign:

 

Another rusty crusty — from McFarland:

 

From Wasco:

I showed my support — it might be the last hot roadtrip excuse for ice cream this year.  Strawberry sundae.  It was a little disappointing.  The ice cream was a bit granular/crunchy.  Ice milk I think.  But I gobbled it down & the dogs didn’t complain either:

 

Also from Wasco.  There must have been more text to this sign — and probably lime green not the original color:

 

The last photo for the day — from Bakersfield.  “Sub Bourbon Liquors”?  For a change, this sign has a lot more character than it must have had originally!

 

Alright then — I hope you enjoyed tagging along this weekend.  I’ll be settling in at home for a while.  Contemplating whether do go north or south for the next trip.  But you probably won’t hear from me til November.

Don’t forget, there are more photos from this trip over at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

Hello there — time for a little weekend getaway.  Today, it was all about Fresno — a treasure trove of neon signs and other stuff.  I left after work on Friday night and got the dogs a good run in at the doggie beach in Santa Barbara.  I managed to get some neon shots en route to Fresno.

[Quick tip or reminder — clicking on the photos gives you a larger view.]

I always wanted to see this one at night in Lompoc.  Unfortunately, the rice bowl sign on top is barely lit:

 

But more unfortunately, there was not a soul in the place on a Friday night.  The owner said there’s a new Applebee’s nearby and everybody’s going there.   I felt compelled to get something just to throw a few dollars their way.  But I’m the only person I know that hates Chinese food.  So, if you’re in Lompoc or anywhere near — do what I didn’t do & give this place some business.  The restaurant opened in 1936… but for how much longer?  Check out the lovely interior:

I’ve got a ton of photos ready for this blog — so I’ll keep the chitchat minimal.  It’s after midnight anyway & tomorrow will be another big sprint from sunup to sundown.  Work on Monday…

Today’s shooting began in Lemoore.  The former A&W Teen Burger at the Forty One Cafe has always had funky feet — but now he is really ominously listing to the side:

 

From Hanford:

 

From Caruthers:

 

From Selma:

 

And now, on to Fresno.  I have no idea how that arrow got crunched like that.  Low flying plane?

 

Sorry about the chain-link.  A real head-scratcher.  Why would someone build their house or office in this shape?

 

A couple from Fowler.  I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that this “Fowler-this-way” sign was restored recently.   That yellow arrow looks new but the blue porcelain enamel has enough dings that I’m convinced it’s old & must have been given a good scrubbing:

 

A lovely rusty crusty:

 

And back to Fresno.  Here’s a vintage postcard of the California Motel with this sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29574002@N00/5901965454/

Now the place seems to be operating as some sort of correctional facility — with razor wire on top of the fence & guys playing basketball:

 

A couple from the Ayres Motel:

 

 

So much to love here:

 

I saw two or three of these dancing sign-spinner guys today.  Mynah birds?  It must be unbelievably hot in that costume!

 

The last time I was in Fresno in 2008, this sign looked like this:

 

and today:  (ugh)

 

A pretty one from the Tower District — the store is still open:

 

Originally, the Leilani restaurant — a tiki place.  The building is still there but I’m sure no Polynesian flavor inside.  This palm tree sign had nice detail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51025643@N00/46256758/
Later, this sign was painted black:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7211280@N04/2394108157/

So, this is actually an improvement:

 

In 2008, this 1940s building was sadly neglected and vacant.  I have read that it was originally the administration building for the shopping center in which it is located — and that it was a women’s clothing store.  I don’t know in which order or which, if either, uses is true:

Anyway, I am glad to see it is now spruced up — and used as a storage facility office:

 

Signs, signs, everywhere there are signs in Fresno.  Wonderfully, redundant arrows:

 

Fun fonts:

 

 

Multi-media:

This one was in Clovis — but there’s a similar sign in Fresno:

Fresno — still a beauty salon:

 

And since I usually end these Saturday night posts with some neon — here are a couple of shots from Fresno.  The Tower Theatre (a close-up of the sputnik at night and in motion over at my Flickr stream tonight:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/10240523443/

 

And the Tokyo Garden:

 

 

I’ll be shooting lots of stuff tomorrow as I inch my way home.  I’ll try to get you the wrap-up blog post on Monday night or Tuesday.

 

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

Don’t forget to check out the “good stuff” from today that’s over at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

Most of the photos I post here at the blog are of rusty signs & funky buildings not “worthy” of my website — but stuff that deserves attention anyway.  What I post to the Flickr stream is the “fancier” highlights from the day.

 

The dogs & I are back home safe now — thoroughly exhausted from the heat, driving, and beach romps.  I still have some stuff from L.A. & Orange Counties to shoot but they’ll have to wait til October.  I’m going to hunker down and work on the website and other projects for a few weeks.  I’d like to catch up on adding the photos (about 500 of them) from all these mini trips.   Then, I’d like to do some central California and a San Diego trip soon.

I forced myself to stop shooting around 3 pm yesterday (Sunday) since I wanted to beat some of the traffic getting home.  So not the usual prolific-ness but I still plenty of things to share with you.

Let’s start with this tent-like building from Costa Mesa.  This was probably always a car dealership since this stretch of Harbor Blvd. is full of them.

 

Another one from Costa Mesa — the Ala Moana Apartments.  Below that soaring A-frame is a little bridge over a little trickle of water from a lava rock fountain.  Then, of course, like most of these mid-century “Poly Pop” buildings, you have the central courtyard pool straight ahead.  With a few tiki totem poles scattered about:

 

From San Clemente in the fog — a well-preserved Denny’s sign:

and its companion boomerang-roof building:

 

Moving on to Corona del Mar:

 

Also in Corona del Mar — this See’s Candies location opened in 1956.  Yesterday was Mary See’s birthday — so the employees were all wearing little paper hats.  Mary observed from her portrait inside on the far right.  And I went ahead and indulged in a small bag of Bridge Mix.  A nice little mix of milk and dark, caramels, nuts & raisins.  OMG, these candies are to DIE for!

 

Some depressing news — this is what’s become of the Port Theatre in Corona Del Mar.  My two photos below from 2008 show it when the building still had some integrity and that nice neon sign with the sailing ship:

 

And today with the tacky slipcover & LED marquee on the building and the hideously recreated backlit plastic sign.  OK, yes, it’s good that it’s still a theatre and not a church (as so many former theatres are now).  And maybe that slipcover can be removed and improved upon someday.

 

Moving on to Newport Beach — this is what this building looked like in 2008:

 

And now — boarded up & vacant:

I’ve never been able to get the history of this building — other than that it was the Bubbles Balboa Club in the mid-1980s.  When that closed, it became the Bubbles Art Gallery.  I don’t know if this was originally a Streamline Moderne probably 1940s building — or if it was just a Disney-like impersonation of one.

 

A couple more photos from Newport Beach before I close out this post.  According to a plaque, this sign was built in 1933 and then restored in 2009.  “Restoration” means different things to different people.  I think in this case, we’re talking recreated or at least repainted panels and new neon.  I have never seen a night photo of the sign so I suspect it’s no longer lit.   I wish I knew more about this sign and what it advertised.  Like, if this was a kiddie ride sort of thing or if it was truly a boat rental business.  Today, the sign is located right next to the ferry to Balboa Island — and just a few steps away from all sorts of rides and food stands:

 

And a nice little rusty crusty just a couple hundred feet away:

 

So, I’ll be pounding on the laptop for a few weeks — working on the website.  Come visit sometime as there’s loads of new California stuff scattered about at various sections:
http://www.RoadsideArchitecture.com

and don’t forget there are also other new photos over at Flickr from this weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

dj & the dogs

Hello!  The dogs and I are taking another weekend trip — this time to finish up the Orange County list that I didn’t get to last time.  I played it safe and stuck to running the dogs where it was legal:  the beach in Huntington Beach.  I got that ticket fine in the mail from a few weeks ago — Santa Monica wants $561 from me for that 10 minutes I had my dogs off leash in a park.  I will try to fight it with a court appearance in a couple weeks.  No signs, I’m not a resident so didn’t know, will never do it again, blah blah.  Ugh.

It’s 1:15 already so let’s just segue into the photos.  Shooting neon at night ran me very late — and then I couldn’t find coffee anywhere.  All the Starbucks had closed and all the gas stations were out!  So, more time wasted & I finally went to a Norm’s to get a cup to go.  Pretty mediocre-tasting but necessary.  No way I could make it thru this post without it.

From Manhattan Beach — a real jaunty sign and great a-frame.  I don’t know what was here originally:

 

 

From Huntington Beach — topiary hearts in someone’s front yard:

 

An hour-long run at the beach always works wonders (tuckering the dogs out).  Grem snuggling into Nik.  Note you can really see her freaking rear dewclaws in the sun here.  The other two dogs were dozing in the back:

 

How about a couple of tiki-style buildings from Torrance.  The Eli Kai Apartments:

and the Iris Apartments:

 

From Stanton — the Mad Greek Restaurant.  This looks like it might have been a bank originally:

 

A neat Teamsters sign in Long Beach:

 

Loads more Long Beach today — including the V Room — I’ll give you night and day shots here:

 

Everything to come in this post is from Long Beach unless I mention it.

Obviously an older sign that’s been slightly adapted.  I suspect it might be a city landmark.  Might be 1930s.  Anyone know what this sign advertised for originally?  I’m perplexed by the double sign cabinets:

 

Another oldie with affixed neon letters.  I saw a neon shot of this on Flickr — but when I went by tonight, it was dark:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_rick/7189672577/

 

From Anaheim — Bauman’s Market (now vacant):

 

Let’s wrap-up with some night-time shots — this one from Whittier:

 

From Lakewood:

 

And lastly — back in Long Beach.  The Ambassador Liquor store with some missing neon:

 

Back to the beach in the morning — and then on to Newport Beach and some more inland Orange County stuff.  Then back on the freeway for home.  I’ll probably get the wrapup blog post to you by Monday night.

Well, this three-day weekend turned into only two days of traveling for me.  When I got to Santa Cruz Sunday afternoon, I started noticing that Sparkle’s idle at a stop was a tad bit rough.  Probably something that most people wouldn’t even notice — just a slight stutter once in awhile.  I did the sensible thing, which I rarely do, and headed for home.  The traffic was unbearable as it was — both in cities and on the highways.   And the Monday holiday would only have been worse.  The next destinations were to be inland — in scorching heat.  So I thought it best to cut our losses (time) and not face a possible breakdown.  Sparkle ran fine all the way home at highway speed.  Hopefully, it’s just an adjustment and not more money!

Got home 10:30 pm, exhausted, but am rejuvenated now after a good night’s sleep.  The dogs are still thrashed from all their adventures.  I have a nice batch of photos for ya.

 

One disappointment was that I didn’t get to meet John Cerney on this trip.  We had tentative plans for Saturday but I didn’t make it there in time.  He was “booked” for Sunday so… another time.  I’m one his biggest fans.  He makes these incredible, realistic plywood signs of farmers & ordinary people.  He lives in Salinas so there’s lots of his stuff in the area.  But his stuff is found in other parts of the country as well.

His website shows samples of some of his other projects:
http://www.johncerney.com/

But better than that maybe is this video with him — almost as good as meeting him for now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-Ixvt7l8Kw

Some photos from yesterday south of Salinas — an enormous single panel sign:

This piece has several gigantic panels — this detail shows a closeup of two of the panels (one of man cutting grapes in the foreground with larger rectangular panel behind it):

This one is two panels — the handsome dog (Rat Terrier?) is separate:

and in Salinas:

 

I did manage to meet someone else for the first time.  I forced myself to put the camera down for awhile and head over to a USDAA agility trial in Prunedale.  This paragraph isn’t really roadside-related — but I know some of you are here for my doggie stuff & know me from my agility days.  So anyway.  I’ve been a big fan of this woman’s blog which covers mostly the adventures of Laura and her three small dogs.  Not just agility but other stuff.  I think even non-agility, non-doggie people would be amused & hooked.

http://blog.teamsmalldog.com/

Sorry I didn’t get any photos of her or her dogs — but there’s plenty there at her blog.  And next time when the trial isn’t going on, we’ll get the seven of our dogs & us to some beach for some photos.

 

Back to the roadside stuff — some Salinas stuff:

 

The last time I saw this Wagon Wheel Motel sign in 2008 — it had neon:

Well, the neon’s gone now which is pretty sad.  But at least at least it wasn’t replaced with some cheap plastic box sign:

 

An even sadder situation with this former movie “palace” in Salinas from the 1930s — the former El Rey Theatre.

Info about the place here:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2072

A vintage photo of the place in its prime:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2072/photos/1958

A closeup showing the glazed, polychrome terracotta tile — and terrazzo — and the spot on the ground where the ticket booth was:

 

Midway thru the Santa Cruz stuff, I reluctantly turned tail for home.  At least I grabbed a little neon during the five hour drive.  Here are some goodies from Pismo Beach.

The Pismo Beach Hotel:

 

This place has been around since 1942.  The signs might be 1940s or 1950s:

 

I don’t think this one is vintage — unless it’s been repainted & updated — still lovely day & night:

 

This sign might be modern or super refurbished as well:

 

And don’t forget — more photos from this weekend over at Flickr & Ipernity:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

 

No traveling next weekend — but I will probably be doing some shooting in L.A. and Orange County Sept. 14 & 15.  Then I’ll give Sparkle a break and focus on getting all these photos (you’ve only seen a sampling) into the website.

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend and are getting a little “chill” time today like we are.

dj & the dogs

This trip almost didn’t happen.  Sparkle sat for most of the week gathering dust at a horrible garage while I puttered back & forth to work in a rental car.  The dogs and I were miserable in that little Toyota Yaris.  I’ll spare you the details — but this garage was a nightmare.  Three days and they had replaced one spark plug!  I wound up towing Sparkle to another repair shop.   All she needed was a tune-up.  $700 and she was ready to roll at closing time on Friday night.  Whew!  She’s running beautifully now.

During the week, I had to run an errand for my boss.  While I was there in the Valley I ran into this little gem in North Hollywood and fortunately had my camera with me.  The car wash is a big empty lot now so I expect this sign will disappear any day now:

 

On to this weekend’s trip.  One of the stops was in Buellton at Mark Mendenhall’s Museum — which is loaded with petroliana (gas station related stuff), all kinds of signs, and a handful of vintage cars.  More about the place at his website:
http://www.mendenhallmuseum.com/

Normally, you need to be part of a group and have an appointment.  But Mark and his wife were gracious enough to let me have a quickie private tour.  Here’s just a sampling of his stuff — loads of porcelain enamel signs — with some non-gas stuff here and there:

 

This one’s a reproduction — but still awfully nice:

 

This one’s vintage — and the blades still turn:

 

Lots of indoor rooms jammed packed with pumps & globes, signs, etc.:

A Richfield Oil weathervane:

 

OK — back on the road.  A couple from Lompoc — sorry, no way to get the rest of this arrow in the shot:

 

Too bad both the bulbs & neon are gone.  I bet this was a stunner at night:

 

On to Santa Maria.  This building for the Santa Maria Times looks 1960s to me.  Neat corrugated concrete look:

 

I can’t find any old photos or postcards of this Valley Motel sign in Santa Maria.  You’ll have to use your imagination:

 

On to Pismo Beach:

 

You can drive on the beach in Grover Beach for 5 bucks.   I, myself, never miss the chance to drive on the beach when I can.  It makes the dogs bonkers though because they just ASSUME we will be getting out momentarily.  Most drive-on-the-beach places don’t allow dogs to get out PERIOD.  This one does if you keep them on-leash.  No point in walking around like that for us.  I don’t know why none of them are hanging their heads out the windows here.  Sparkle’s looking and feeling good!  Purring like a kitten with her new plugs & wires & all that — and with her recent front bumper paint job (some of you may recall a very unfortunate incident in New Mexico last year):

 

One more from Pismo Beach.  A neon martini from Alex Bar-B-Q:

 

From San Miguel:

 

And on to Salinas where we shall resume tomorrow.  The Valley Center Bowl sign needs some repairs — but still great.  A close-up of the sign on the right and a video are over at Flickr and Ipernity tonight — pick yer preferred format for more photos from today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/roadsidearchitecture

 

Too bad that I didn’t find more neon to shoot in Salinas.  Sadly, the Fox Theatre sign was dark despite a huge crowd of people in line to get in.  This one’s pretty nice though:

 

Two more days to play!  Tomorrow, plans are for Salinas, Santa Cruz and more.

OK — time for some of Sunday’s photos.  Although Sparkle’s been running flawlessly lately, tonight as I was a mile from home she started sputtering with the check engine light flashing.  The mechanic thinks it’s a misfire thing.  Maybe a spark plug wire or some such.  So the dogs and I are crammed into a rental car til whatever-it-is is fixed.  Could’ve happened on this trip.  Could’ve happened on my way home last night in the middle of nowhere. Or worst of all, on the three-day trip coming up.  So I guess it’s good timing.  Trying to find the silver lining in throwing a few hundred more bucks at my box on wheels.

From Rialto — I’m assuming a pretty modern sign:

 

From San Bernardino — A lot of U-Haul places around the country have those modern U-Haul trucks on the roof or revolving on poles.  I’ve never seen one with an antique moving truck before.  I think this one is too old to have been a U-Haul truck originally though.  U-Haul was established in 1945 (with trailers not trucks) and this looks older than that.

 

Also San Bernardino — a storybook house which I stumbled upon.  Challenging sun right behind it so the colors are washed out.  I especially love all the shutters:

xx

 

From West Covina.  An updated sign but still pretty much 1950s/1960s in style.  Most car dealerships are arm-twisted into hideous & imposing modern signs by the car manufacturers these days.  I guess this one has slipped through the cracks:

 

Also in West Covina.  A party store there now — but this sign is still hanging in:

 

Another from West Covina.  There should be a law that all businesses are required to have mascot characters:

 

The Terraza Jamay in Montebello.  Busted for selling drugs a few years ago.  I’m not sure if it’s reopened.  Interesting and recent paint scheme.  It was previously just two-toned:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckgirl/2723292231/

 

A fun one from Pico Rivera:

and its Polynesian-influenced building:

 

From either Covina or West Covina.  A tiki hut former Fotomat!  Thatched roof, straw mats exterior embellishments.  What it all has to do with cell phones — beats me!  But i just want to park my lawn chair there and have a pina colada.

 

From Whittier.  This is all that’s left of Jack’s Salad Bowl — a late 1950s coffee shop designed by Martin Stern, Jr.

 

But at the same time, the surviving and thriving Friendly Hills Bowl in Whittier:

 

 

OK then — more to come next Saturday night as the dogs and I will be heading north for a change.  A big three-day Labor Day weekend planned — the gods and Sparkle’s mechanics providing!  We mostly be hugging the coast on up to about Santa Cruz.  Thanks for tagging along.

 

I got an early start in Santa Monica this morning — no “marine layer” (fog) for a change.  I fooled around with email a bit too long and didn’t get the dogs to the beach at 6:30 (illegal but usually fine).  But I stumbled upon a pristine park on Pico — no signs saying “no dogs”.  Let them run around chasing balls & frisbees for about 15 mins and just as I was leaving — busted!  The cop was nice — but not nice enough.  She only cited me for two dogs instead of four — $35 per dog “plus court fees” (whatever that is).  I’m figuring $100 total?  As for no signs — she said it’s common sense.  And evidently, there’s only one dog park in Santa Monica — but we’re not welcome there because we’re not residents.  Wow.

Anyhow — let’s get rolling.  Callahan’s looking as wonderful as ever:

I had to throw them some support.  Although I barely eat sugar at all these days, I know my blog fans insist that I break the rules on roadtrips.  So…   Not very Viennese-y — but it looked too much like one of my fave pastries back in NYC at my beloved Connecticut Muffin.  There, you had an option of apple or cream cheese.  I confess, I usually got the cream cheese filling.  This one from Callahan’s was apple.  And with a thicker crust.  I’d say like eating a mini apple pie.

 

On to L.A.  This from that little section between Beverly Hills and Hollywood with lots of Jewish businesses like these.  Glad to see that Charlie’s is still open and this sign is still there.  Unfortunately, the sign’s buddy “Beverly Wood” here in this 2008 photo, has been whitewashed (painted over with white paint):
http://www.agilitynut.com/08/4/bevwood.jpg

 

Just down the block and soon to be no more.  Big “available sign” in the window.  And I’m sure nobody will feel as sentimental as we do when a new biz moves in.  Plastic signs rarely get any respect:

 

Maybe West Hollywood at this point.  A whimsical sign that makes you pause.  I have practically nothing and am just fine with it.  If you want to know more about “Free Humanity”, I dug up this link:
http://dailytrojan.com/2012/04/16/free-humanity-pushes-artistic-limits/

 

On to Hollywood.  I don’t know if Purple Man (yes, his skin was incredibly purple) is a fixture on Hollywood Blvd — but nobody was paying any attention to him.  So I just had to take his photo & make him happy.  I wondered what was in his shopping cart but didn’t stick around long enough to see if he had an “act”:

 

Before I moved to NYC, this is what I thought newsstands were.  But now back in California, these seem so wild.  In NYC, they are little six foot by four foot booths crammed with soda, cigs, candy, condoms, aspirin, stamps, and probably kiddie porn if you ask for it.  There used to be so many more of these things in Hollywood.  I guess that high glitz tourist junk is driving them out with higher rents and “beautification”.  Unless I’ve just been missing them.

 

We toughed out the heat until 11:30 when the temperature broke 80 degrees.  I think it got to mid-90s today.  Ridiculous hot for us anyway.  I indulged in A/C which works decent enough and makes everybody sleepy.   A blurry, over-the-shoulder at-a-light shot — but I’ll throw it into the mix.  Fixie was up front with me laying in the sunny passenger seat, panting like mad even though the A/C was blowing right on her.  Yes, that’s canned dog food under the seat — a couple weeks’ worth.  I rarely feed these guys at home.  Meals are usually served in the van after they run around.

 

At the Lankershim Car Wash in North Hollywood:

 

One of the hundreds of “reshoots” on my list for this weekend was the steel “thing” at U Pick Parts in Sun Valley.  The “thing” is what’s left of the Laurel Canyon Car Wash sign which was designed by Armet & Davis.  Here’s a vintage photo of it at its original location in North Hollywood:
http://foter.com/f/photo/4180760036/8e690baca6/

I’ve shot it before from outside the fence but wanted to do it right this time and go inside.  It was sort of a hassle because I mistakenly asked if I could go take a picture of it.  I’d have to talk to the owner blah blah blah.  I had to swear the photo was just for me, non-commercial, etc. and pay the $2 admission.  Whatever!  I got some photos of it and it was worth the time and money invested.  

 

Some other things of note — this car looms over the entrance.  It’s W-A-Y up in the air:

 

And amidst all the neatly organized junkers, there’s this thing next to the train and plane.  Giant walnut?  Acorn squash?

 

But my favorite was this thing.  One of the guys said it’s been here for at least 25 years.  I assume it was an ice cream truck of sorts at an amusement park.  Or maybe used in parades?  Was this built on a Citroen chassis?  Looks like Citroen headlights and a roundie hood.  But then I guess there were lots of bulging headlights in the 1960s.  Bug-eyed Sprites…  You car people out there probably know this one instantly.

 

And while I’m asking questions.  Time for the botany question of the trip.  These plants that look like giant grass from Mars.  Anybody know what this is called?

 

Not enough liquor store signs for you?  From the El Sereno area:

 

And lastly from tonight’s final destination — Glendora.    9pm and this donut shop was rocking.  Maybe there’s something to this place?  Maybe I should get something here in the morning?

 

And a closeup of the sign — wonderful for backlit plastic, eh?

 

Midnight here.  Tomorrow’s going to be a little shorter on the shooting.  An evening activity (Charles Phoenix’s L.A. Architecture presentation) and a drive home after that and straight to bed.  So you’ll have to wait for Sunday’s photo batch until probably Tuesday.

Until then, don’t forget about the other stuff over at Flickr/Ipernity…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

zzzz

Starting this weekend off with a whirlwind neon tour.  Off to the Valley, bumper to bumper traffic for most of it.  It was fun but exhausting and now it’s after 1 am already.  Oh well.  Several disappointments — a couple come to mind.  The Corbin Bowl in Tarzana was only half-lit — a real stunner, such a shame.  But what’s worse — the Leonardo’s Nightclub in L.A. has been crappily adapted for the Candela Taco Bar — painted over & neon removed.  Let’s all mourn:

Here’s what I had been hoping to see tonight:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7623944@N03/3879887813/

 

But let’s not linger on what was  — let’s rejoice in what still is!

Carlson’s Liquors in Woodland Hills, for instance.  By day —

and by night:

 

Lots more liquor tonight.  Here’s Al’s Liquor in Reseda:

 

More liquor in Reseda:

 

A darling of a sign in Van Nuys.  Too bad the sun was so low that the building shadow-ed the bottom of the sign.  But had it been morning, it would have been impossible to shoot around that Del Taco sign on the left:

 

At the Valley Beverage Company in Sherman Oaks:

 

Also in Sherman Oaks — Antonio’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant.   Some of the “boot” neon border is out on both sides.  I would have shot the other side so the boot would be facing the right way — but there was a tree challenge on that side:

 

And lastly — I think this might be a modern sign.  Or maybe it was just re-lettered for  Champ’s Sports Bar in Burbank.  The arrow looks vintage:

 

OK — that’s enough for now.  Lots more goodies tomorrow night.  I thought I’d be doing some Orange County this weekend but that seems very unlikely.  The list of L.A. reshoots kept growing as I looked at my website photos from 2008.  So OC will have to wait.  Although there is one Must-See (I’ll keep you in suspense) this weekend in Newport Beach.  So maybe we’ll dilly-dally down there a bit to get out of this L.A. heat.  It was 95 in the Valley tonight at 6 pm.  The dogs and I are definitely not used to this after living near the beach where it never gets above 70.

Lots of killer neon signs from tonight over at Flickr & Ipernity (I’m killing myself uploading to both now).  So click on your preferred format:
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/roadsidearchitecture/home/photo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

 

Night-night.