Vintage neon signs

[Blackthorn]

Hey, at least you got the pic, DH66! It's cool.

 

[Matt Crunk]

Sorry for the crappy drive-by pic, it's in a part of town where you don't really want to get out of the car these days.

I believe I've driven by that place before, although I'd never remember how to get back there.

 

[dh66]

I believe I've driven by that place before, although I'd never remember how to get back there.

It's on 1st Ave./old U.S. Hwy 11 a few miles east of downtown. I'd bet back in the 70s/80s when the Crimson Tide played all their home games in Birmingham that this place was a goldmine.

 

[1mach1]

Uptown Theater, Washington DC

 

[Blackthorn]

In Jacksonville, Oregon:

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

An old memory coming down on Kavanaugh Blvd in Little Rock, AR. I don't know how long it was there but I remember it from the mid sixties and it wasn't new then.
The sign will go to a neon museum in New Orleans.

 

[dh66]

Neon museum in New Orleans???!!!!
I had no idea.
What is that, like an hour away from you?
Photos please, pretty please, if you get a chance.
It's about a 5 hour ride from me. You may have just motivated me to head down again soon.
Cool sign, too.

 

[MikeKardec]

I always liked these roof top deals ...



But, living in Hollywood the stuff could get pretty overwhelming at times ...



One of the coolest things ever in neon was the recreation of Hollywood Blvd. in miniature for Steven Spielberg's "1941." The same place did miniatures for Coppola's "One From the Heart." They used forced perspective sets on sound stages for their Las Vegas exteriors. For 70' or so all around the camera positions everything was life sized then it began to get narrower and narrower and smaller and smaller as you got toward the far walls of the stage. The neon got smaller and smaller too.

I got a chance to wander through those sets. They were pretty creepy as soon s you got out of the sweet spot!

 

[Fading Fast]

Mikekardec - that is a neat story. Now, I image, it would all be CGI. That said, I know they built a 90%-to-scale set of the 1920s Atlantic City boardwalk in Brooklyn for "Boardwalk Empire."

 

[MikeKardec]

Even with CGI it's often a good idea to build a miniature which is composited in "behind" your main action ... sometimes there is even a computer generated deep background composited in behind that! A technique like that was used on Peter Jackson's King Kong. They built what they called "bigatures," outdoors ... basically not so small miniatures, with a color key/green screen background. That way the "fake mid-background" had real sunlight light and weather and movie smoke etc in it. Then there was true CG behind that. Cool effect.

Now, back to neon ...

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

I posted these pictures in another thread.

This is a painting of the Fleur de lis Cocktail bar from the late '30s or early '40s.


A modern day photograho of Fluer de lis Roman Pizza (est. 1946).


The front is almost the same as it was, except for the addition of "Roman Pizza".The Jax Beer sign hanging off a poll to the right is still there, but is busted out on one side.

 

[randooch]

One of my favorites here in Ukiah:

 

[mactire]

A listed monument in Dublin

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[LadyBaltimore]

Man, what I wouldn't give to go back in time and criss cross American, staying at motels lit up by neon lights in their heyday...

Photo by Steve Lewis

Photo by ???

Photo by Janell Brown

Photo by Cathleen Heard

Photo by Debra Jane Seltzer

Last four photos by Tim Anderson

 

[DesertDan]

Great photos LadyB!

 

[dh66]

I've been to the El Don't, about 10 years ago. It's on old rt.66 in Albuquerque. I was in hog-heaven from all the old neon glowing up and down that stretch of road. Thanks for posting those Lady Baltimore, I share your sentiment.

Rob, you know I ALWAYS dig your posts from down in our corner of the country. The back roads in the gulf region are a goldmine for this stuff.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Ah....the too-small interior doorways, the bottle openers on the door jambs, the plastic lozenge-shaped key fobs, the two-color bathroom tiles with curved copings, jalousie windows, the sound of soft, intermittent buzzing of the neon signs on a warm summer evening, while sitting at the non-standard poolside....what's not to love about staying in old motels? I won't stay anywhere else when I travel, if I can search out and find an old mom-and-pop.

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Great imagery Ghostsoldier. Does anyone use jalousie windows anymore (other than replacing already existing ones)? The house I grew up in had a small jalousie breezeway or porch.