Wayside Motel

Hempstead, Texas

A random street in Baird

I went through Baird, Texas, primarily because the tiny town was the county seat, and, therefore, has a county courthouse. The 1929, Classical Revival building wasn't all that unique, but the sky was a deep blue, and the clouds were white and billowy. So I think the pictures came out really well, despite the plainness of the courthouse.



But on a complete whim, I took a slight deviation from my planned route and made a sudden, left-hand turn onto what turned out to be Baird's main street. I was rewarded handsomely almost immediately with this stunning, repainted Bull Durham ad. These are usually "ghosts" when I find them.





The repainted Coca-Cola sign must be from 1923-1925, as variations of the "Refresh Yourself" slogan were being used during those years.



A ghostly Dr. Pepper sign.


At the end of the street was the reason for all of the ads, the 1911 circa Texas Pacific Railroad Depot.

Cisco, Texas, was a friend of mine

Big Spring (or is it "Big Sprang"?)*

*I prefer the twangy version.

This is a ghost sign on the back of the Ritz Theatre in Big Spring. It says: "West Texas' Finest Theatre."

Stuff I took pictures of in Eastland

Real sugar in Sweetwater

I was going to make a diabetes joke, but opted for a milder post title...

Abilene, Abilene - prettiest town I've ever seen

Today's history lesson, chitlins, is about Abilene, Texas. Now, first I must admit that every single time I saw the word Abilene, whether it was on a city limits sign or anywhere else, I was compelled forced to loudly belt out George Hamilton IV's 1963 single "Abilene" with a desperate, whimpering cry in my voice. After having been there, I could see why someone would write a song about Abilene, Abilene....

Queen Victoria

John J. Welder Home carriage stone and gate post

Grand Dame Edna

Right on Main Street in Edna, Texas, the 1950 Edna Theatre:

I sort of gorged myself on Cuero...

...and for that, I must apologize, because there's a whole lot of great stuff(!) I got for the hour and a half or so I was there. If you are one of those EBiN readers who thinks "meh" or "wtf?" whenever you see the latest post is one of those 100-year-old-houses-ghost-signs-and-vintage-neon-signs-kind-of-posts, you may want to move along. Sorry, there's nothing to see here this go around. The rest of you should prepare to receive a face full of Cuero.

A ton of fun in Houston

The main carrot on the stick for me on this time traveling expedition primarily deep, deep into the farthest reaches of southern Houston was the neon sign pictured above. In a really good way, it was my Kurtz, if you will. Will you? I really couldn't tell whether or not the charming little motel was still open, but it looked like it was in good shape and possibly motor court style lodging at one time or another. Maybe now!

Speedy return to Gonzales (ahreeeba areeeba underle)

Art thou familiar....st with the "Come and Take It" battle flag? This occurred in Gonzales.

So, I went and took. And I didn't even need no stinkin' badgees. No, seriously.

Burning is tumbling

Well, looks like my Burning House picture was passed around at tumblr. Much obliged to whoever started it and those who re-tumbled.

Neonopolis

...a.k.a. 25 neon signs part iv...

1.
Houston, Texas
I begin this episode of Neonopolis with a sign I drove by for many years without stopping. Part of the problem was the fairly intense traffic along Interstate 45/the Gulf Freeway. This Harmony Wedding Chapel is on a feeder road off of I45, and one of those times, I finally pulled over and got its weathered old neon sign.

Something about loss, preservation, and obscurity

The drive to McKinney, Texas, turned out to be a bit longer (30-40 minutes; Garmin usually shaves at least 15 minutes off the Google time) than either Google Maps or Garmin told me it would be, so I was sort of dreading the drive back before I'd even arrived. But once I got there, it seemed to have all been worth it. I had a list of thirteen items to locate, tag and bag, the majority being Victorian-style homes. But I became bored by the houses after the third or fourth, which worked out, because I was soon reminded that McKinney has a handful of great, vintage neon signs (gems, really). Besides, old signs are far more interesting than homes built 130-150 years ago...

Randomness around downtown Nac

That's some graffiti/artwork on the Banita Creek Bridge, built in 1941 under the Work Projects Administration. But more about the bridge later.

25 more more neon signs

....or would it be more²?

1.
Houston
I found this one in a weed-covered, cracked cement parking lot, behind a row of abandoned commercial buildings, in a "rough" part of Houston, while looking for a totally different sign (which was gone). The font on this one caught my eye.

25 more neon signs

1.
Pasadena, Texas

Due to the the overwhelming response to the previous....

25 neon signs

1.
Tyler

There is something about a vintage neon sign that just thrills the heck out of me. I've driven a lot of Tejas (and elsewhere) to find them, and I hope to find more. But the very nature of them (vintage) makes them increasingly difficult and rare to find. Add to that factors such as the climate, like it is down along the Gulf of Mexico (where I grew up, down in Galveston). The salty air causes stuff to rapidly rust away, and the occasional hurricanes do their fair share of destroying signs from the past. So, due to my difficulty in locating them, the joy when finding or stumbling upon one is great. These are some of my favorites (out of a set of 336, taken from December 2005 to April 2011).

A Heights sampler

From the Texas Historical Commission's Historic and Architectural Resources of Houston Heights (written in the early 1980s):

One of the first planned suburbs in the state, Houston Heights has retained its architectural and civic identity to an unusual degree. This has been accomplished in spite of its location in one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. The Heights presents a Whitman's Sampler of turn-of-the-century architectural styles. Several notable late-Victorian mansions and substantial early 20th-century public, ecclesiastical, and commercial buildings serve as the anchors of the neighborhood. Nevertheless, the real strength of the Heights rests in its wide array of essentially vernacular, middle-class, and domestic architecture of the period 1893-1932.