Really neat motel sign in the desert! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

kx250rider · #1 05-07-2006, 01:04 AM

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 · #2 05-07-2006, 07:46 AM

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

shrinkboy · #3 05-07-2006, 07:58 AM

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.

Sandy G · #4 05-07-2006, 08:43 AM

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 · #5 05-07-2006, 10:02 AM

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

2DualsNotEnough · #6 05-07-2006, 10:56 AM

Quote:

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

ManFromPorlock · #7 05-07-2006, 05:43 PM

Quote:

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*** · #8 05-07-2006, 06:45 PM

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!

tentoze · #9 05-07-2006, 06:48 PM

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 · #10 05-07-2006, 08:05 PM

"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 · #11 05-07-2006, 08:09 PM

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

old_tv_nut · #12 05-07-2006, 09:19 PM

I've collected some motel postcards that mention television, especially ones from the years when color TV was a noteworthy feature. I have one that says "Color TV in the common room" and one that says "color TV on request". Also, one for a large chicago downtown hotel (can't remember which right now) bragging "color TV in every room".

IIRC, I also have one that bragged how many stations they had (was it 3 or 4?).
Along the way, I have picked up a few unrelated postcards, like the large hotel in the early 20th century that bragged about having 1000 rooms and 800 baths, and a motel in New Jersey that bragged loudly "NO MOSQUITOES."

Hotels and hotel furniture companies are going through a revolution today as flat screens are becoming the latest thing. The entertainment armoire is being phased out in favor of low furniture that can sit below the plasma or LCD that is mounted to the wall.

***Kamakiri*** · #13 05-07-2006, 09:32 PM

They still have a lot of those kind of digns dotting the Northern areas of Niagara Falls Boulevard.......The Bel-Aire and the Bit-O-Paris stick out in my mind......

gearhead · #14 05-07-2006, 09:39 PM

Thanks for posting that cool pic.
I like Route 66, old neon & other kitschy old stuff.
I got some pics years back of a Howard Johnson sign somewhere between Alton, IL and St Louis MO. It was the "Simple Simon and the pieman" sign.
I'm pretty sure it's gone now.

kx250rider · #15 05-08-2006, 01:07 AM

Thanks for all these notes of appreciation! Glad to share...

On this subject of signage, Does anyone have a photo of any TV repair shop signs that are noteworthy? Here in Los Angeles, most TV repair shops are gone. When I was a boy, there were 2 or 3 shops in every block (it seemed)... My favorite was the one which was founded by actor Victor Mature, "Vic Mature TV" on Pico Blvd just West of Westwood Blvd in LA. They had a really neat window display of vintage TVs that they had sold new, including a 3" Pilot, a Predicta, and others. The sign was HUGE, with plenty of neon tubing and featured "RCA VICTOR BIG COLOR TV available here". Also had a sign that said "Hoffman warranty center". That shop is gone, but was still there as late as the mid 80s. Then there was a shop on Westwood Blvd near UCLA that had a sign "WE NOW SERVICE COLOR TVs!"

Charles