Art & Inspiration Old Signs

sorry no signs here because the town i used to live in ( but still work in) has this beautification committee b.s who's job it is to take all the old cool signs you talk about and make them uniform. by this i mean an entire strip of stores has the same color sign, same font etc. it sucks.

 

These old signs are something I love. I am actually working on making one for a 15' wall I have in my family room. You got to love the old neon and googie stuff!

 

one of my favs.

 

here's one somewhat local to me. i've talked to the guy that owns it. he's nuts. besides the already high price to buy it( he wouldn't narrow it down to a ball park, but did say he would trade it for a 4x4 4 wheeler or a car) he wants me to pay for and sign a release in case i fall off his building. he's affraid i may sue him for his whole $112.00 i guess.

 

it's neon but the bottom is rusted pretty bad. it's a lot bigger than it looks in the pics

 

The old diner sign in front of the Triangle Diner in Winchester, Virginia.

 

Awesome thread! I LOVE old neon signs!!!!!!!

 

I HAVE A 7FOOT LONG TWO SIDED 3-D RED ARROW THAT HAS A COUPLE HUNDRED FLASHING/BLINKING BULBS ON IT AND I HAVE A 6 FOOT ROUND MULTICOLORED FIBERGLASS CONED LITE TIPPED SPUTNIK/ATOMIC THINGIE...
where they will go i a am unsure but i luv em

 

Got this one from a website that has old pictures and post cards from the Austin area. (http://www.austinpostcard.com/)

 

Milwaukee Signage:
Leon's Custard,,the inpiration for "Happy Days"

Nite Owl Diner,,,operated by fellow milwaukee hot rodder

 

Here's mine before got the neon fixed

It wasn't bad getting climbin' the pole but hell getting back down with the sign on my back

I gotta go to Italy...... lotssa neon in Italy

 

Here's my sign, brought home from town by my grandfather many years ago. He had it covering a hole in the wall in his barn. This 42" diameter sign is now in my living room.

 

Huntington, West Virginia Greyhound Bus Depot

 

I worked at an old auto parts store in Seattle back in high school. There was a fantastic hand lettered sign on the side of the building 20 or 30 feet above the ground. It had been there since the 50's I'm sure and I used to marvel at it every time I took out the trash or brought battery cores out to the pallette behind the shop. One night, the back door had just shut behind me when I was returning from a garbage run when there came this huge CRASH! right behind me. Nearly jumped out of my skin and crapped myself at the same time. I couldn't open the back door to find out what made the noise because something was blocking the door. I thought someone might have crashed into the building it was so loud and the floor shook. I raced around from the front and there was the sign, all smashed to bits from it's fall to the ground, blocking the door shut. The relief of not being crushed by the sign was quickly overcome by a desire to take the remains of the sign home with me for repair and display in my garage.
I picked up the dozens of pieces, and after hours of trying with glue and screws, decided the old sign was too riddled with dry rot and termites to be salvagable.
Wow. I hadn't thought about that for years.

 

There is a local guy here that has one of the most extensive collections of "stuff" you will ever see. He owns a small mall locally, and the majority of his stuff is on display. Outside the mall, he has a huge neon, rotating star, that used to be at one of Flint's hottest cruising spots in the 60's. I have been wanting to get over there to snap a few pics, I will make it a point to do so in the next day or 2.

Cool topic, I have always loved the cool old signs. Here are a couple that i have saved on my computer, that somebody else contributed to an earlier thread at one time.

 

Don't get me started on signs...

7' x 4' neon sign that used to be at the top of the Bertwheelers liquor store sign in Houston. Built in 1952.





Doesn't include ALL the old neon beer signs I have.

 

Now that is true ambiance. Love it.

 

Ryan, we have what we call "sign trips". The wife and I love to get off the beaten path ad look for old signs, restored or untouched. We usually try and shoot some film of them as well.

Sometimes it's just for the weekend but it gives you something to look for on your travels. You'd be surpised how much other stuff you find while looking for signs.

 

Guy in my area has one each of neon dealer signs from a local Mopar dealership:

Chrysler FirePower V8
DeSoto Firedome V8
Dodge Red Ram V8

And they all work. :lust:

There is a sign for a strip mall near my house in Haltom City, it is just fantastic. I'll get a picture of it tonight.

 

Not exactly a sign but something you don't see anymore. One of our many Sunday road trips......... Later,Bill

 

I love these old signs! I'll cruise around Tucson this weekend with the camera, since we'll be downtown.
Anyone want to post up some of those old St.louis signs I miss seeing? Chuck-A-Burger,etc.... ?

 

These two are right by my shop in Burbank, if they ever come down I have first dips to buy them.

 

There used to be one of these car-hops just a couple miles from my house when I was a kid growing up, it had one of these giant mugs of neon lit rootbeer that rotated on the roof of the building...It was pretty freakin cool!!!!!!

 

As soon as I can I'll get some of downtown Abq. Lots of history and sweet signs. KiMo theater, Highland Theater, Rt. 66 Diner, more down on Central.

 

Roothhawg.......can u share some of those signs...?

 

Here's some from my St. Louis trip couple months ago


<img src=" [/IMG]http://a122.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/110/l_dd4c3de658e53b1ff77cacd55508a319.jpg[/IMG] ">

 

This is as close as I can get:

 

Most of these are from a Grand Canyon road trip down route 66...the Wig Wam motor hotel was too cool. The owner had quite a few old cars placed around the courtyard. The old neon was from Williams, Arizona and the Varisty is the world's largest drive in located in Atlanta.

 

Wow, thanks for putting up a local landmark on the HAMB, Ryan. I go out of my way to cruise down Camelback at night to see it in all its glory. Kind of like one of the sights to see on a weekend evening cruise. Phoenix ripped up quite a bunch of its history and neon in the eighties. They are now just figuring out how nifty it is and are actually retrofitting buildings with new neon. A trip down 7th Avenue from Camelback to Thomas and parts around downtown (ignore the light rail if you can, unlikely as that is) will offer up some more sights. Most of our stuff is separated by islands of plazas in the urban spraw, but it looks like the revitalization of our downtown has people interested in putting it back the way it never was? I dig it nonetheless.