Clifton's Cafeteria--Those Days are Long Gone

Clifton's Cafeteria in Los Angeles

The days of the hometown cafeteria are over, I mean...well...with the exception of Hometown Buffet, which is nothing like the old-style privately owned cafeterias of yesteryear.

Town House Motel

Town House Motel

Nice clean rooms. Best rates in town.

Signs Immune to Destruction

Delmar Movie Palace is closed, but sign remains   Photo by Matthew Bamberg

What makes one neon sign immune to the wrecking ball and another one still left standing is a matter of fate and luck. Suburban areas that are quickly gentrified are the first to see the signs go.

In Miami, for example, a few lucky areas have been preserved as districts where both the architecture and signage has been preserved. But outside these areas major rebuilding has taken place without regard to preservation.

The city of Paris saves just about every sign and building ever erected, while the city of London does not.

World globalization and corporate control of the land in much of the world is bad news for old neon and politics plays a major role in any preservation program.

In the city of Los Angeles the Neon Museum (MONA) hosts a program to save and repair the neon so that the signs of yesteryear still glow.

Road Runner

Road Runner Motel in Gallup, New Mexico  Photo by Matthew Bamberg

Beep...beep!
Who doesn't love a roadrunner. Throughout the Western United States, the bird is revered for it's sleek body and long tail. Homage to the lovely bird exists in signage in a few spots of the region.

Steel and Neon—The Makings of a Sign

Hill Top Motel, Kingman, AZ

Neon’s kinetic radiance turned the great sign of the mid-century into a symbol of American optimism that spread throughout the world. The reddish orange glow in the word Hill Top above was achieved in a vacuum discharge tube. The makings of a sign begin with displacing air in tubes with neon.

First, the sign maker bends the tubes, a tricky, yet artistic task as each letter must conform to the other and like letters must be bent in exactly the same shape.

To make the neon glow, an electric current must flow thorough the tube. The colors depend on the mixture of gasses inside the tube, usually neon, argon and mercury.

Blue Skies Trailer Park Sign at an Angle

Blue Skies Trailer Park sign near Santa Barbara, CA   Photo by Matthew Bamberg

One of the coolest neon signs that remains standing in Southern California. Anybody know the history of this one?

Pot Leaf in Neon--Is Marijuana Signage Increasing?

Pot leaf in neon   Photo by Matthew Bamberg

Well, then. Here's a pot leaf. Creating and displaying a marijuana neon sign is not illegal in most places. Most of the time it's an irony when you see one because it's usually displayed in places where pot isn't sold (hemp-made items are a possibility)--like head shops that sell the paraphernalia, but not the weed.

In my town the marijuana dispensaries wouldn't dare display something like this outside their business (I live in Palm Springs, CA) because it would attract too much attention. The only evidence of there being a business that deals in medical marijuana is a storefront with nothing on it or some innocuous sign with the word "organic" written on it.

Since I don't live in Colorado or Washington state, I have no idea about what's happening the marijuana signage. Since it's legal there, perhaps pot shops don't have to be shy about saying what they are.

In some places in California (like the Coachella Valley where Palm Springs is located) there are far too many people who would object to these signs for them to be put up in front of pot shops. But that still doesn't mean that they're not used in other types of shops. They're also popular in stores that sell clothes that's made of hemp.

Guess I have to take a trip to Boulder, Colorado to see what's happening with signage advertising marijuana.

The Story of RCA's Nipper--"The Master's Voice"

RCA Victor's dog, "Nipper"

A character molded in plastic, neon and steel in roadside signage play an important role of attracting the passersby, who can be lured inside by a figure outside. One of the best examples of the characters coming alive lies with RCA Victor's mascot, Nipper.

Nipper became associated with the service and products that RCA offered in  the early part of the 20th century.

No where is the matched or unmatched association between product and business evident than the phonograph-listening dog Nipper of RCA Victor fame, who was created back in 1910 when the company was known as Victor Talking Machine Company.

Nipper became the lifelong best friend of the company, so much so that signage that included him in the 1950s the dog sat alone without the phonograph (see RCA image). The dog alone became a lasting symbol of the company. His voice was labeled "The Master's Voice."

                              

The Silver Fox--A Dive Bar in Bakersfield

Silver Fox Bar and Cocktails

This dive bar sign was taken in Bakersfield, CA in 1999.  It was a snapshot photographed by Andrew Danish, author of Palm Springs Weekend: The Architecture and Design of a Midcentury Oasis

mountains photos

Sign with Clock--Klose-In Motel in Seattle

Klose-In Motel in Seattle, Washington

people photos

Art Deco Movie Palaces is the Historic Downtown District of Los Angeles

The State Art Deco movie theater in downtown Los Angeles

It's amazing how classic Art Deco era movie palaces are places where you can find lots activities, but have nothing to do with the movies. Here at the Catedral de la Fe nightfall turns the 1921 building into a rowdy Pentecostal shindig, bringing this part of downtown LA (Broadway and 7th) to its knees (so to speak).

Usually I don't like what they do with these signs from boarding them up to taking them down, but this one is special. I mean how many Art Deco era movie houses are churches, much less churches that have attempted to match their sign with the style of the movie house sign?

Wondering down the streets of LA inevitably will lead you to the Mexican neighborhood where Catedral de la Fe is located, which really has no name to refer to the vibrant south-of-the-border culture here, but rather the generic, meaningless label  "Historic LA."

color photos

Yin and Yang Sign

Beautiful hand painted signs in China

I'm not sure what these say, but they are certainly yin-and-yangish.