Really neat motel sign in the desert!

[kx250rider]

I had to go up to Tehachapi this weekend, and here on Hwy 14 in the middle of the Mojave Desert is this motel.... What a great sign! I had to stop and take this picture. The motel looks untouched in time, so I wonder if each room has a 50s TV? Well, probably not. But I have the feeling that this is one of only a very few motel signs left in the year 2006 that says "TELEVISION"... Not even color, cable, or FREE television!

Charles

[retrokeeper]

That is...A REEEALLY COOOOL SIGN!!Don't see many like that anywhere,anymore.I bet someone could make one of those coffee table books with photos in it,you know what kind,with pictures of old signs,sort of a tribute to advertising gone by in time.This one should be on page.....2!!(page one always has the "intro/why I did the book/acknowledgement stuff on it.)Thanks for sharing the photo.By the way,there's some good train watchin' nearby where you took this shot! Rob

[ManFromPorlock]

Originally Posted by retrokeeper

I bet someone could make one of those coffee table books with photos in it,you know what kind,with pictures of old signs,sort of a tribute to advertising gone by in time.

Try James Lileks' website at http://www.lileks.com/motels/index.html. All kinds of nostalgia stuff!

[Eric H]

Along the same lines is a photo book by Troy Paiva called "Lost America"

http://lostamerica.com/

I found this book one evening when I was searching online for the Lenwood Drive in (outside Barstow on Rt 66).
That screen on the cover is the Lenwood Drive In circa 1997, it's completely gone now.
This is the Theater I went to as a child in the 60's, you could see the screen from our front door about a mile away!

[shrinkboy]

i'm pretty sure that book's been done, retro. check this out: http://www.roadsidepeek.com/googie/index.htm. the design style is called Googie, and is currently the rage with the hip/urban design folk. the term 'Googie' comes from the name of the hollywood burger joint said to have originated the style, Googie's.

[2DualsNotEnough]

Originally Posted by shrinkboy

i'm pretty sure that book's been done, retro. check this out: http://www.roadsidepeek.com/googie/index.htm. the design style is called Googie, and is currently the rage with the hip/urban design folk. the term 'Googie' comes from the name of the hollywood burger joint said to have originated the style, Googie's.

Thanks for the link!Growing up in the San Fernando Valley,I remember so many of those signs,espescially the liquor store signs.My family were always night owls like I still am,and I would look forward to seeing that big Circus Liquor clown on the way to my grandparents house.I dont know how many times I begged my dad to stop at that liquor store,just so I could hang around underneath it.
I havent looked at the rest of the site,but I bet you a lot of those drive-in and hamburger joint signs from So-Cal would qualify too.
Thanks for that great trip down amnesia lane.
Jimmy

[Sandy G]

Oh, dear God...I remember all this stuff going over to Gatlinburg & the Smokies when I was a kid...the more garish & tacky, the better..There was one on the "backdoor' to Gatlinburg-it was a beer hall, I don't remember the name, but they had this big fiberglass bear & a "blinky moon" sign...Place was notorious-they had a killin' about every month there for awhile..It burnt down when I was a tadpole, but the bear & the blinky moon sign stayed up for quite awhile..

[Celt]

Yep...remember plenty of those sign from my childhood. Usually on motels and restaurants. Many had bright blue neon pronouncing:
COLD AIR

[Hepcat]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Oh, dear God...I remember all this stuff going over to Gatlinburg & the Smokies...

It was Gatlinburg in mid-July
I'd just hit town and my throat was dry...

[dtuomi]

I work for a city in Ventura County California called Fillmore. They have a pretty neat old sign that is for the city itself. They have lots of neon signed buildings there, I'll have to check out the local motels and see if there are any "color TV here" type signsl.

David

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by dtuomi

I work for a city in Ventura County California called Fillmore. They have a pretty neat old sign that is for the city itself. They have lots of neon signed buildings there, I'll have to check out the local motels and see if there are any "color TV here" type signsl.

David

It's a miracle that this sign survived 1994... I went through there on the Friday after, and downtown was pretty much a pile of bricks and smashed glass covering crushed cars parked along Central. Here's a photo of the Hotel Fillmore taken shortly after... Luckily a lot of the historic buildings got rebuilt, and the city has made a great comeback in the Old Downtown district. And a great car show on the 4th of July!

Charles

[dtuomi]

Originally Posted by Kaye-Halbert TV

It's a miracle that this sign survived 1994... I went through there on the Friday after, and downtown was pretty much a pile of bricks and smashed glass covering crushed cars parked along Central. Here's a photo of the Hotel Fillmore taken shortly after... Luckily a lot of the historic buildings got rebuilt, and the city has made a great comeback in the Old Downtown district. And a great car show on the 4th of July!

Charles

Yeah, that sign has been there since the 50's. A lot of the city wasn't as lucky, but we've been back for a while now. Some pictures are attatched, including the sign during the day. What downtown looks like now. Our ever favorite gun store. And the Lost & Found shop which is of more interest for televsision collectors as I have actually seen some Setchell Carlson studio monitors here.

David

[tentoze]

I know Troy from another music forum- nice guy. Great book, too. Stan Ridgway used some of Troy's photos on his last couple of cd's and on his web-site.

[mhardy6647]

"I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Now I driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
and you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'..."

Lowell George, 1970
http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/ea...eatWilling.htm

[tentoze]

Tonopah may not be the dead slap middle of nowhere, but it's right down the road from it.