Searching for signs... literally.

December 15, 2014 3:29 PM

Every time I'm in Austin, I enjoy driving around and looking at the unique signage of various local businesses, signs which are often works of art in steel, paint and neon or bulbs. Las Vegas, of course, has the most epic signage (and even a graveyard for signs of deceased businesses), and I've been impressed with many of the googie-styled artifacts while visiting LA. On the contrary, every time I'm in my hometown, I'm saddened by the way the custom steel signs of the past have given way to illuminated plastic rectangles. What other cities have large numbers of amazing, steel-fashioned, illuminated signs?
posted by eschatfische to Society & Culture (9 answers total)

In Denver there are tons of old neon signs still in use, particularly by cheap motels and bars. It's as if nobody ever got around to replacing the ones installed in 1961. It's wonderful.
posted by scratch at 4:20 PM on December 15, 2014

They're fading away as redevelopment creeps down from the north and up from the south, but there are a lot of great old signs along Virginia Street in Reno. (Flickr)
posted by mudpuppie at 4:24 PM on December 15, 2014

Via MeFi Projects, here is a nice tumblr of signs that are usually tagged with their location.
posted by clavicle at 5:08 PM on December 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

Beale Street, Memphis TN?
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:23 PM on December 15, 2014

There are a good number of great old signs along East Belknap in Fort Worth. Also along Camp Bowie between I-30 and the museum district and south of Alta Mere, plus one of the completely restored Sinclair stations in that first part.
posted by cmoj at 5:38 PM on December 15, 2014

I just visited Seattle and the signs were fantastic. Lots of legit vintage signs plus what seemed like new ones styled that way. My favorites were of course the iconic Pikes Place Market sign, and the signs for Top Pot Doughnuts and Bergman Luggage.
posted by nowoutside at 6:14 PM on December 15, 2014

Cincinnati has a lot, but it's because of the American Sign Museum.
posted by PaulaSchultz at 7:32 PM on December 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Tangentially related, you can buy marquee lights which are pretty cool.
posted by kinetic at 2:33 AM on December 16, 2014

Hong Kong!
posted by mdonley at 6:58 AM on December 16, 2014