Day 33: Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Westwood

I really cranked today to finish up the L.A. stuff. I can't believe what I accomplished in the past few days. The rest of the trip will seem laid-back after this. No more mega cities with zillions of stops per hour. It may be less exciting, but I won't miss the traffic. I really have to really trim things from my itinerary now. Only about ten days left and about half that time will be spent on the interstates hauling it back to New York.

The dogs were prisoners most of the day as Mama was an absolute maniac and there were few places to cut them loose. Poor Nik and Grem were driven crazy by the smells and sights of the ocean as we drove up Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu to Oxnard. I will make it up to them tomorrow somehow.

Just another Streamline Moderne building on the Miracle Mile:



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And just another gorgeous apartment building in Hollywood:



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Perhaps the most famous of all story book houses (the Spadena House in Beverly Hills):



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A mid-century detail that's probably not long for this world. This was originally a waterfall with multi-colored glass pieces. It was originally a bank, now a church, and there is talk of demo-ing the place for something bigger & better.



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I haven't seen these bushes in a couple decades. At least I know what this one is! Bottle brush, for obvious reasons:



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There's really not much weird about "Hollyweird" anymore -- but at least I found this place on Melrose (technically in L.A.). The Max Azria clothes store features an art installation of tree branches shaped to look like curly hair:





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Here's a pair of nice rusty signs in Beverlywood:



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I love all the product paintings in L.A. I don't remember them back home.



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And lastly, I have to include a Sunset Blvd. billboard. This one's pretty sexist but I do love the giant bra add-ons anyway:

Days 31 & 32: The Valley, Downtown, Hollywood

I think I set my own new personal record in the past two days, taking more than 400 photos for the website. I took Saturday night off from Flickr/the blog to visit an aunt and her husband that I hadn't seen in over 20 years. Then, I was too wiped out from insane amounts of city driving and getting stuff up at Flickr last night to put together anything coherent here. So, well rested!, let me get this thing done while the sun is making its way up high enough to not make orange-y photos.

The dogs have been making do with abandoned lots as there haven't been any dog parks in the heart of the city and I haven't wanted to sacrifice valuable shooting time trekking back and forth to Laurel Canyon. As soon as we finish L.A. County (today I hope!), I promise them some good long running.

I've got tons of blog-worthy photos -- where to begin? How about some buildings? One of the things I research and seek out on my roadtrips is storybook homes. You know, the Hansel & Gretel-y buildings with curvy roofs and details meant to make them look old. There's a great book about them here:
http://www.amazon.com/Storybook-Style-Americas-Whimsical-Twenties/dp/0670893854/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

and there are tons of them in L.A. that I'm not going to get to on this trip. I'm resisting starting a new section at my website. I've got all the topics I can handle already. So I don't really know what will become of these photos. Here are a couple from a neat little courtyard in/near Glendale:





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Another thing I seek out to shoot are Egyptian Revival buildings. So far I've resisted creating a section at my website for them, too. Their photos are just sitting on my hard drive for now. Here's an example of an apartment building in Hollywood:





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Here's another striking building from Hollywood. I know I have a little info in my notes somewhere but don't have the time to dig it up right now. Maybe someone else can help me identify this house while I'm off shooting:





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Here's a beautiful old building -- but what's with the shrubs?



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And here are a couple modern buildings. Actually, I'm not sure of the age on this one. It appears to be contemporary but it could be "tarted up" midcentury:



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And this one is much more impressive in person. Yes, that's no optical illusion -- the painted sides of the buildings are really shaped that way.




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Here are a couple more flowering trees that I can't identify:



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The flowers on this beauty have yellow centers:



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I've seen this in a few cities on my trip: groups of novices on Segways. I remember seeing a group of senior citizens on them in -- was it Tucson? How come you never seen experienced, fast-moving people on them? Actually, I did see a police force on them -- was it in San Diego?



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Gremlin finds L.A. endlessly fascinating. The rest of the gang waits for her to bark at the "important stuff" and then get up to check things out.



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A pit stop in downtown L.A. -- the place was actually called Famima which I found appropriate since I was famished. I believe they are a Japanese company expanding to the U.S. (http://www.famima-usa.com/) so they have lots of interesting Japanese items. I had to sample some of the ice creams. Sorry, in my haste to photo and get back to the van before getting a ticket, the upper right item is upside down.



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The root beer was nothing special and I didn't care too much for the eggy things. I had hoped they would have yellow yolks. But they were just vanilla ice cream in a kind of chewy coating. The other goodie was better: like vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone -- only shaped differently:



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I miss seeing these newsstands in Hollywood. In NYC, we just have the little street corner kiosks. But these are much more impressive -- some of the ones in downtown Hollywood are what seems like a block long. Do they exist anywhere outside of L.A.?



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This cute guy, in Glendale I think, was on the roof of an Italian restaurant:



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I wash shooting an old Mobil gas station (the super rare drum type) and the owner had a lot of these vehicles around. He serenaded me with some kind of crazy political, religious, incoherent song as I took my photos:



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I went to shoot another old gas station and a wall made of bottles (which I never did find) in/near Echo Park. There were scary, I mean SCARY, steep hills that had me peeing my pants. I'm glad Sparkle had her brakes done recently. I recommend avoiding Baxter Street at all costs. It might not look so bad in this photo (sorry about the buggy windshield) but really, it was really a white-knuckler.



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Lots of incredible painted wall murals in L.A. -- here are a couple examples:





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OK, so these guys are not "high art" but I still liked them:



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Time for some signs -- far from original condition:









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I'm not sure how old this cute guy in L.A. is. He's at a comic book store:



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And lastly, this impressive sign in the making. I thought they only used vinyl computer-generated signs on big buildings like this now. But from the scaffolding and paint-by-numbers style markings on the wall, it appears they are painting the whole thing:

Day 30: The Valley

I was all over the Valley today, desperately trying to finish that section out. Still a couple hours left for tomorrow though. And then finally onto the meatier parts of L.A. which will take me considerable time: Downtown & south of there, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Westchester. Then I'll do what I can further north for a couple days. But it's now official: no chance for northern CA and I'll have to prioritize the stuff for the long haul home.

I took the dogs to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park today. Huge amount of space for running. Although there is no swimming, this was certainly one of the nicer & biggest parks I've seen. I read that there are often celebrities there with their dogs -- but I didn't notice anybody. Not that I would as I really don't go to movies or watch dramas on TV.

I'm going to keep it short tonight as I'm really beat from staying up extra late last night catching up from my night off. I may get together with some long-lost relatives tomorrow night which might make for a Flickr & Blog-less evening.

On with the photos! This department store had some interesting Mayan and/or Aztec decorations:






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Later in the day, I encountered another interesting building with Mayan and geometric patterns:





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This amusing sign with a giant paper airplane is located near the Van Nuys Airport:



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This midcentury Wells Fargo Bank office tower is giant compared to its surrounding buildings. It's nothing that special otherwise except that there is a huge faded mural on this one side:



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An lastly, an old school stamp shop might just be a personal turn-on. I used to make and sell rubber stamps with a girlfriend for about three years. We had a little business called Detailed Rubber Stamps and did wholesale and retail. I worked my butt off in a dark basement making the stamps in a vulcanizer and cutting/sanding the wooden mounts. Since we were into producing offbeat stuff rather than teddy bears, we barely broke even. Most stamps these days are made cheaply out of photopolymer (plastic) rather than rubber. Stores like this are definitely a vanishing breed:

Days 28 & 29: Commerce, the Beach, the Valley

I had a nice visit last night with a college friend that I haven't seen in over ten years. So now, trying to catch up, I've put a mess of photos over at Flickr and it's time to double-up here. Last I posted, I had taken a tumble and luckily did not break the camera. I, on the other hand, have been hobbling around ever since.

I took the dogs to the Culver City Dog Park yesterday:
http://www.culvercitydogpark.org/main/001_home.cfm

and to the Westminster Off-Leash Dog Park today:
http://www.venicedogpark.org/

Not as much fun as the beach but they're still geting good running in. They've also had non-doggie park romps as well. But I think they're really getting the hang of this lifestyle. They have started not getting up each time I open the car door to take a picture. They're all pretty sleep deprived at this point.

So let's get to the pictures. Forgive me for not including cities for most of these. I do have them buried in my notes somewhere if you want to know where they are. Let's start with some signs. Here's a neat plastic globe:


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I assume this is the Sacramento State Capitol Building on this sign -- although they are all pretty generic aren't they? And why bring it up in Los Angeles?



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A couple Mexican sterotype signs;





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This sweet one is over the entrance to a bar called "The Joker":



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I love this building-as-sign. Pretty nice artwork, no?



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Here's a nice little neon detail on an otherwise now plastic sign:



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There are lots of these hamburger stands around L.A. with busy signage:



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Here are a couple mid-century details from two different buildings:





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Another mystifying shrub -- this one with giant drooping trumpet flowers. Anybody know what this one is called?



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It was kind of depressing to see all the changes and new development in my beloved Santa Monica & Venice. Here's an example of what's happened to Zucky's -- a coffee shop that had been in Santa Monica forever. Now a bank but they incorporated the pylon sign and stonework as a tribute. It's almost more painful to me -- kind of like a taxidermied animal:



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There really is a car culture in Los Angeles. They drive FAST here. In fact, I witnessed a hit-and-run accident today on the Pacific Coast Highway. It seems 3/4 of the cars on the road were built for speed. In Calabasas, it seemed you could buy any high-priced sports car you might dream of owning. Here's a photo from the Lamborghini lot:



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Here's an interesting building that I went to see though it doesn't fit within the confines of my website. The Samitaur ("Stealth") Building is from 1993. There is another building next door (my 3rd photo here, the window shot) that is still under construction (same architect I think). Here's some more about the Samitaur Building:
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/1011/design_1-1.html







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Lastly for the night, here's an eye-catching display in Venice:

Day 27: San Pedro to Commerce

I got through what seemed like hundreds of stops today: Torrance, Carson, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gardena, Hawthorne, Compton, Lynwood, South Gate... But sitting down with my calendar and the stacks of things ahead of me, it looks like Northern CA is going to get short shrift for this trip. Tomorrow should be fun and interesting for me as it will include my old stomping grounds: Venice, Santa Monica, West L.A., etc. I'm very curious to see how much it's changed as I haven't been back there in over ten years.

No beach for the doggies today which was disappointing for them -- esp. since we kept driving by them. I'll have to make it up to them tomorrow. They had to make do with abandoned lots -- not very glamorous but wore them out enough to get through the day. I've never seen Fixie and Nik snoozing together -- both of them are pretty uptight. But I guess this trip is breaking down some boundaries:



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I took a nasty tumble today -- luckily on a nice wide median rather than while crossing a busy street! I guess I was looking at my subject matter and didn't see the little bump in the concrete. I can usually stay upright when I stumble but this one was bad and all I could think about was don't - break - the - camera! One of those episodes where time stands still. I went down hard on my right knee (now pretty swollen), scraped up my left palm, and tore up my right elbow. The camera was in my right hand and I watched and heard a big thunk as the UV filter lens ring hit the ground. I immediately checked to see if the camera was okay -- and everything looked and functioned perfectly fine. Whew, that was a close one. I will be much more careful. The rest of the day as I would run across lanes of moving traffic (hey, I'm from New York - we don't wait for lights!), I'd chant to myself: "pick - up - your - feet!"

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More plant identification is needed. Another lovely flowering shrub that I don't remember seeing before:



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A very unusual-looking flowering tree:





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A nice old bank entrance in San Pedro:



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A perplexing sign in Hawthorne -- I'm glad I wasn't going that direction! I couldn't figure out if the letters were meant to represent street names or if they were graffiti:



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I'd never seen a mid-century Swiss cheese wall before:



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A fading but flickering neon sign in San Pedro:



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A fun one from Harbor City:



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I really thought I'd bump into more old KFC buckets and Norge Balls on this trip. So far, not much luck. This one was broken but I had to stop anyway:



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And just next door was this cute oldie:



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Lastly, this odd McDonald's sign. I've never seen one like this before. I was looking for a Lucky Boy Hamburger Stand and found a modern McDonald's at the address. I snapped this photo out the window anyway (sorry about the quality). Maybe it was made in a more retro-y style to appease the folks that were grieving the loss of Lucky Boy? Or maybe McDonald's is experimenting with some new signage?



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Tomorrow night, I'm going to take a night off for good behavior. Actually, I'm going to get together with a pal from college days and I know I won't have an ounce of energy left for Flickr-ing or blogging. So don't worry that I'm laying dead in a road someplace. I promise to have an extra dose of photos for you Thursday night.

Day 26: Downey to San Pedro

I must've been through more than a dozen cities today. Bellflower, Artesia, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens, Paramount...are the ones that come to mind. Finally, made it to Long Beach which took about half the day. A great off-leash doggie beach in Belmont Shore was a great way to end the day for all of us. Grem disappeared down the beach for quite awhile and I was just about to panic when I saw a black dot on the horizon flying towards us. The Pacific was warm enough today for Nik to get a lot of swimming in. He'd been tortured all day by the salty smell and views of the beach. I think he's starting to understand "later, buddy, not now". Grippie has mastered the art of sleeping in a sitting position:



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I think these bushes might be what I've been smelling the past couple days. I want to say azaleas but I don't think that's it. They're more like cherry trees but in bush form. Can anyone identify them?



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I saw more summer flowers today including these white roses. I understand it's freezing back home in NYC.



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Some other "plant life" caught my eye today: palm tree-shaped cell phone towers. They sure beat the plain old white ones we have back home -- but they always give me a chuckle:




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This one was more natural underneath the metal sheathing but they had to run a bunch of wires up the trunk for some reason:



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This Art Deco building must have been so serene before all the pizza shop signage. Sheesh, couldn't they come up with something just a little more respectful? I love the way the little ballie sits on the point.



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Somehow this pharmacy sign got adapted to "P" something from the Rx. But the building is now empty so who knows what will happen to it next:



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I'd love to know the history of this Long Beach sign:



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This sign hangs above the Tidy Dog Self-Serve Dog Wash in Long Beach. I don't know if the place used to be a laundromat or if this sign was recently installed in a humorous retro sort of way.



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Lastly, this giant baby was standing in front of the Long Beach Museum of Art. He really creeped me out. I had to Google him tonight. I'm still not clear about his significance but here are some additional photos of the "Child":
http://www.lbma.org/child.html

Day 25: Pasadena to Downey

Another wonderful and productive day. Only problem is, I had some trouble getting on-line tonight and now it's after midnight. So let's get right to it!

The dogs got a nice run in Pasadena this morning at the Alice Frost Kennedy Off-Leash Dog Park. It was already hot by the time we got there so I kept bringing them back to the hose & fountain to keep them wet. With the heat, I'm even more motivated to get stuff done and get to the coast. I've basically been working from east to west in the L.A. area. It's hard to come up with any more reasonable way to do it as the area is really just one big sprawl. I have literally been jogging back and forth to the van now when taking photos to try to maximize the number of stops per day. With all the sitting behind the wheel, it's probably a good idea to get a little exercise. People must think I'm either nuts or up to something.

Early in the day in Pasadena, I found a nice little old canopy gas station. I had to admire the wonderful little Mini Coopers and MGs as well. My very first car was an MG Midget and I loved that thing. When it got total-ed in an accident (hit from behind), I begged my parents for another one. Fun little cars but very expensive since they constantly need repairs and parts from England. I finally moved on to reliable and economical VW Bugs and vans.





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I'm not sure if this place in Pasadena was ever part of a chain. The building didn't look familiar or the shapes of the sign. But it had one of those lovely cheese hole sleeves like Denny's did:



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I've seen photos of this sign with the ballies all up on top. Made me sad to see it this way:



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A cute sign at Chroni's Hot Dogs:



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A fun one from East L.A.:



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I don't know if this was always a liquor store or if it was ever a burger joint:



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A lovely Art Deco building suffers a humiliating adaptation. Still kind of amusing though.



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I wonder why know one thought to do this before. Or maybe they have but I've never seen it:



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And you can never have enough arrows:



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And lastly, a variant on the "Scary Chef" statue (http://flickr.com/groups/itug/) that I haven't seen before. And just what is he holding? Candlestick holders? Weird wine glasses?

Day 24: Pomona to Pasadena

A very productive and exhausting day. Some road construction and traffic here and there but I must've hit well over 100 stops from my list today. Tomorrow, should be more of the same. I'm frantic to get through my L.A. area stacks so that I can get back on track for the rest of trip's plans. I can spend about another week on this portion which just might be enough if I keep cranking at this pace.

It's been hot -- highs in the 80s -- in the areas we've been traveling through. And it's only March! When I see the dogs panting, I give in to the AC for awhile. I try to tough out the heat so that I can get the true experience of the place I'm in. I know this much for sure: I could never live in the desert. If I move back here, it will have to be somewhere on/near the coast.

Okay, so we have irises back home, too. But we don't usually see them til Summer. And everywhere I've been for the past couple days, you can smell flowers. Cherries, jasmine, and I don't know what else. It sure beats the smells back in NYC!



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There are a lot more old cars on the roads here. Cars I haven't seen in 20 years or more. Sure, there are the restored classic muscle cars & such. But there are also the beaters that just keep going. I haven't seen a cute little Datsun like this in I don't know how long:



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Another Art Deco supermarket for you:



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And an Art Deco detail from Pasadena (the Armani Exchange store):



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I saw a LOT of mid-century chain restaurants today. Some on my list and some not. This might be one of a chain -- or it might not:



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This would look like it possibly a Chip's or a Griff's, but the A-frame roof slopes down in back so I don't know what it is:



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I was looking for an example of a midcentury "Taco Paco" stand in West Covina. The closest I could come to the address given (slightly off) was this place. But from the signage, it seems it's been Manny's since 1971. According to my notes, the Taco Paco stand was built in 1959, so this could still be it.



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Here's half of a Color Tile sign. You don't see many of these left. When you do, the letters are usually painted over with some clever spelling that fits the sign's squares:



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A fun alcohol theme sign from Pomona. This must've had neon where the plastic parts are now:



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And, lastly, a donut sign variation. Not in the best shape with pieces missing. I don't know if the sign was originally more donut-like or if it always had these little designs:

Day 23: Palm Springs and back

Palm Springs turned out to be sort of a bust for me. Yes, I made the requisite stops at all the big name architects' buildings -- but everything seemed over-restored, mall-like, flat. In fact, the whole town seemed like one big Disney-esque production to me. Pretty little ranch houses. Over-stucco-ed midcentury hotels. No fun. No neon. No rawness. OK -- maybe a few still-great things: the Caliente Tropics Resort, the Musicland Hotel, and a couple nice banks. However, I much prefer any of the scruffy little towns I visited this afternoon. Maybe not to live in but they are loaded with photo-ops, things left in their original or poorly altered states. Little mysteries and surprises every few blocks.

Once we got back from the desert in the early afternoon, I really got rolling. Or maybe it just seemed like it since the towns change names about every 10 blocks. But I did get significantly more photos than usual as well despite the time lost in the desert. Normally, I shoot about 100-150 photos per day -- today was more like 200. I have nearly finished up with the right-hand-side of my L.A. map.









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It will be exciting to start working on the other side of the map. Looking less and less like I'll get to northern CA on this trip. You might notice that the atlas in the photo above is laying across the body of my dog Fixie. She hardly cares about me using her as a table right now. The dogs are all pretty wiped at this point. Here's a shot of the dozers in the back today (hey guys, we're not even halfway done yet!):



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The Energizer Bunny however still finds every town and non-town fascinating:



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A couple desert shots. Just had to stop at the Shields Date Farm gift shop while in Indio. Stocked up on road sugar: Medjool dates stuffed with walnuts. I didn't have time for the video about the private life of the dates though:



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Just west of Palm Springs there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of these wind turbine things. It is kind of amazing and surreal. Sorry about the bug-kill on the windshield:



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I passed a place on I-10 in Redlands that looked like it had a modern but boisterous mini golf -- so I had to get off and turn around. Unfortunately, it (Pharoah's Amusement Park) was closed. I did get a couple shots of stuff near the entrance anyway, including this one:



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San Bernardino had a lot to offer for me. So many little block-long buildings in the past few days with these little mini Art Deco towers. It would be fun to do a book on just little gems & beat-up gems like this:



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Another example later in the day in Pomona. Maybe this was a church? A movie theatre? A fancy store?




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A few signs for you. From San Bernardino -- hard to read but it's the Clover Club:



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The Pala Motel in Pomona:




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The Taco King in Upland:



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The Laundramatic in Ontario:



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A couple days ago I saw these great yellow carlot-style lights -- about six or so in a row -- but I didn't stop and have regretted it since. Been on the lookout for them and found a couple today. Not quite as nice (not close together, not painted brightly) but the same model. Haven't seen these outside of CA.



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This building was probably much tiki-ier at one time:



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And finally, here's a question. What's better (worse): a no-frills boxy new building -- or a retro-fied new building like this one in Pomona?

Day 22: More Orange County & Beyond

I worked my butt off today driving from point to point -- but still barely made a dent in my L.A. area list. I'm going to have to get realistic in about a week and figure out what part of the trip gets the axe. Most likely it'll be Northern & maybe some central CA since I can probably make up for some of that in the Fall. But I don't want to skip Reno.

Riverside really got me frustrated. Horrid traffic going into that town; within that town; as well as getting out. I did get some good stuff while there but hardly worth the effort. I must've been stuck in the area for a good three hours. Part of it was construction, part of it was school traffic (parents picking up kids; buses with those red stop signs), and part of it unknown. Even on the highway there were TONS of cars -- 3pm on a Thursday. What-ever. So it threw my schedule even more off-track.

I short-changed the dogs on exercise a bit but they didn't mind too much. One really good run in the morning for Nik in a park with those "dogs must be on-leash signs". I justify that since no one was there and he was under complete control (following commands from 150 feet away) it didn't count. And after a manic 20 minute all-out exercise session, he seemed pretty quiet and happy for awhile. The other dogs got exercise from barking from inside the van: pissed that he got to be out while they didn't.

Some Anaheim signs -- all adapted and deteriorated. The Sandman sign really makes me sad.


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These old Fotomat kiosks are really a rarity now. A key shop seems like a perfect re-use:



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A crappy picture but I'll include it anyway. Shot from a distance, through the windshield. Feeling lazy and pressed for time. I have only seen these advertising people with giant arrows since I've been in California. They spin these giant signs in circles and it's very eye-catching. I really loved this guy's contrasting boots with the Statue of Liberty costume.



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I thought this was an amusing car wash design. Most likely adapted from the mid-century fins (http://flickr.com/photos/mister_goleta/1394756962/) or something similar. But I could be wrong -- maybe they were always lamps.



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Isn't it always the way? You get yourself set up in the best spot, trying to avoid the sun, the power lines, the cars... and they you raise the camera and some idiot pulls in and parks and ruins everything. Well, I'd been meaning to photo these giant food on trucks things. So this will have to be my old school / new school comparison shot. The market letters here are all outlined in neon.



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At a mini golf in Riverside today, I had to pass through an arcade and this game caught my eye. I don't know if the object of the game is to save or sink the Titanic. But there were all kinds of lights and I was almost tempted to play it. But I'm sure I would've sucked as I know nothing about how to play these things. And my lists beckoned.



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In Banning, a very sweet, well-kept courtyard motor inn with private garages:



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Also in Banning, a nicely painted tribute to Pat Siva. I can't find anything about her at Google, other than that she is a real estate agent and the Stagecaosh Days' parade Grand Marshall. So maybe that's not her after all doing the bareback trick.

Day 21: Orange County

I covered a lot of ground today (never enough) but took a lot of time-outs for the dogs. Huntington Beach has a mile of beach coastline just for dogs so we just had to go there:
http://www.dogbeach.org/

I normally don't bring the camera with me into these dogs parks & beaches since I'm afraid I'll drop it or get it slimed up with greasy dog treats. So here, at least, is a photo of a building next to the Costa Mesa Bark Park (http://www.cmbarkpark.org/) which was a lot of fun. The artwork identifies each of the local dogs by name.



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So everybody got a lot of running in. Nik went into the ocean a bit but then got frightened by some big waves (maybe 3-4 footers) and we waited for his ballie to return by itself. Grem didn't understand tides at all and got submerged a bit. Fixie flirted and got petted with all the people that would have her. And Grip stayed close to me for tricks and handouts (gourmet-quality cheddar today that I'm a little reluctant to share).

Nik isn't the cuddling kind but Grem always acts like he's her boyfriend and he tolerates it. She just goes over and flops down against him like they have been lovers for years (she's been with us three months). They do play together -- but only when he wants to. Anyway, here's a passenger seat photo of Nik & Grem after today's big beach adventure. I guess Nik was still a bit cold from the water and was enjoying having her there.



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On with the roadside stuff!

The Alibaba Motel in Costa Mesa has a huge gold dome and neat details:



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The Yost Theatre in Santa Ana was being restored while I was there today:





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I paid a visit to the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. It lived up to its reputation of amazing-ness:





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Vodie's Wheel Alignment in Garden Grove had something I had never seen before: a giant pit with these lifts that you (they?) drive cars onto so they can work on them from below. Kind of like an oil change place but with more pit than ground floor. It seems a little scary to me.



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The Grove Motel in Garden Grove has a big fun sign. I love the silly little arrow at the right. But what of those white poles -- what might they have supported? And who knows what the original name of this place was?



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In Stanton, the Tahiti Motel sign looks like it's been reworked a few times. But I do like the star on top (and so does this pigeon).





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The Benkey Pool Center in Anaheim has another star/sputnik on top. I couldn't figure out if there might have been lights in those tubes.





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Time for a little nature break. California is more beautiful than I remembered. I'm SO ready to move back here -- but as long as I have that good-paying job and that cheap apartment, I guess I'll be staying put in NYC.







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Now, these I don't remember and I've seen a number of them on this trip. What the heck are they? I don't think they're dead -- just pruned back and will regrow. But what do they look like then?



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I love this little dairy store signage:



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The Sky Palm Motel in Orange retains most of its classic look. I'm sure the signage was neon originally but at least they have retained the shapes. Much better than a box sign. The roof-as-canopy design is tremendous.



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And, lastly, I found this guy in a store window very amusing. I had never seen a mannequin with tattoos before. When I looked more closely, there was clearly a stocking-like piece that fits over the arm so it resembles a tattoo. How clever!

Day 20: San Diego & northward

Another glorious day for taking pictures. The dogs got to dip their toes in the Pacific at the Doggie Beach in San Diego. There are 38 acres of sand & beach just for dogs. Lots of interesting kelp and stuff on the shore that my dogs hadn't seen before. There are all kinds of foreign and wonderful smells for them on this trip. I know they must be glad to be in a sticker-free state again. Nik spends most of the day trembling and whining because he can smell the ocean. All my dogs are crazy about beaches but he's way over the top. Whenever I pull over to shoot something and there's shoreline visible, he starts screaming because he's sure we're all getting out. Very sad and funny at the same time.

I was so busy shooting "real" stuff for the website today that I didn't get many things for the blog. Let's roll 'em:

A recent sculpture by James Hubbell entitled "Pacific Portal" in Shelter Island (San Diego):



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Today, I noticed flowers and trees that I haven't seen in more than a decade (my last visit). All stuff that I grew up with and felt very sentimental about. Pepper trees, myoporum, night-blooming jasmine, iceplant, and of course the California Poppy. There were also these big spreads of purple flowers everywhere that I don't remember. Can anyone identify them?





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A nice Moderne building in Escondido. I don't know anything about it but it deserved to be photo-ed:



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I think this is the tallest liquor store sign I've ever seen (from Escondido):



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It's often hard to tell whether something is old or just made to look that way. This seems especially true in California where there are so many lingering old buildings that have been adapted. Here are three shots of a neat building in San Diego that I think is probably 1960s/1970s.







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And last one for the night: I love this contrast and interaction of the signage at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Esconido. They have sort of a Western-themed exterior -- but then there's this Sputnik on the roof which I assume was left there from the previous tenant.

Day 19: San Diego-ish

The day was mostly spent in San Diego -- unless you count the nearly half-day spent in Tijuana. Oy. I went there to photo two things, no big deal, right? Turns out my maps weren't detailed enough. My directions too vague. And my Spanish, limited, to say the least. The Muffler Man was supposed to be just over the border -- but no, he's way, way deep in the City, on the other side of the river. And El Sombrero is on a teensy one way street, that most people don't know about. One guy sent me WAY up a mountain. Getting back from there got me almost back in line to cross the border. So I had to do some quick thinking and put Sparkle's AWD to the test -- hopping a curb and crossing between some plastic pylons. Whew! No damage to the undercarriage and no ticket from the police.

Once I finally got the photos, I hopped in line for the border. That's where the real fun began -- not! It was two hours of crawling along and being approached by more than 100 street vendors. I still have a sore throat from yelling at my barking dogs to SHUT UP! At least I got through an L.A. architecture guidebook that I brought with me on the trip and have added a few more things to my list of things to see.

I only took a couple bloggy photos when I was in Tijuana. I would've taken more but I was getting pretty stressed out and impatient with the whole situation. Here'a a hotel converted into a tire shop:



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And not too far from the border, a giant Jesus statue dominates a hill overlooking the highway. I took him from quite a distance and was surprised he wasn't blurrier. I don't know his name or the church... in fact, I think I was already lost by this point:



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Back in the States, this sign from Chula Vista (Broadway Liquor):



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This billboard from La Mesa:



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Art Deco & Streamline Moderne abound already on Day 1 of California. I saw several old supermarkets -- this was the nicest of them:



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Not in any guidebook and looking a little rough at this point:



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This one I do know something about: designed by Walter Dorwin Teague (more famous for designing those classic green & white Texaco icebox gas stations) around 1937. It was originally the Gustafson's Furniture Store. I'd been told there was an old Jack in the Box next door that I was eager to see. But it was gone: replaced with a modern simulation of this building. I guess I should've taken a photo of the "twins" together -- but it was too offensive and disappointing to me at the time:



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And lastly, this building I found to be just too adorable. It would be fun to live in a little castle with a rounded doorway.

Day 18: AZ & (finally) CA

We made it! I got through most of the remainder of my AZ list. Then, after a big drive across the desert and over the mountains, we arrived in the San Diego area after dark. A lot of stuff to shoot here tomorrow. Including another (hopefully) brief trip back into Mexico to shoot a couple things in Tijuana.

The weather forecasters were wrong again. A beautiful day in Phoenix and for most of the day as we moved westward. Went to the Chaparral Dog Park in Scottsdale first thing in the morning and got everybody good and tired for awhile. An awesome place:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chaparral-dog-park-scottsdale

I was shooting a mini golf in Scottsdale before it opened and saw lots of these wild rabbits. It seemed so sad that all these rabbits are being booted out of their habitats as the city expands ever outward into the desert. But on the other hand, these guys probably like having grass and easier-to-find grub around.



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Taking some pictures of an apartment building in Scottsdale, I noticed these oranges literally falling off the tree and decided to try one. More bitter than sweet. Grip and Fix were not at all interested in trying it. Nik made some faces when he ate his. And Grem just swallowed without question. I don't think she ever chews anything so probably never even tasted the thing. I was going to hold onto the remainder as a room freshener for the van. But I had to surrender it when crossing into California.



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I haven't had the time or energy to research this one but it appears to be a retro-y (made to look old) affair. Scottsdale is loaded with lots of interesting architecture.






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Scottsdale also has lots of these strangely contained rocks. I'm not sure what the significance of these are:



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Mesa has an annual outdoor art installation. Lots of fun statues of animals and people doing things. This was my favorite of the ones I got a chance to see:



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This little midcentury building in Phoenix must've had an entrance in front under the freestanding canopy originally:



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True diners are extremely rare outside the Northeast since that's where most of them were manufactured. This Phoenix building is a simulation -- and apparently, part of a chain:
http://www.5anddiner.com/



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I saw lots of recycled buildings and signage today. It's nice to see the pylons left alone even when the building below is subdivided into a million pieces:



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These two buildings are probably still identifiable -- but I don't know what they originally were used for. Perhaps the building at the right was the motel's attached restaurant?







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This one was probably not part of a chain -- but a neat A-frame nonetheless:



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I like the masculinity and hugeness of this big steakhouse sign:



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And lastly, as I prepared to settle in for the night in El Cajon -- there it was. A sign of positive things to come I think. We have arrived in Denny's-land! Although this location didn't have the spikey ball on top of the sign, it did have the boomerang roof.

Day 17: Arizona

I didn't make as much progress as I thought I would -- shooting lots of wonderful stuff and having a great time and that's what matters. Still, I don't want to cut into my California time. Two things I went after in Tucson were way out of town and wasted at least a couple hours. One was a dud & barely worth photo-ing (a Swiss chalet motor court); the other (a bottle house) turned out to be on private property and closed up tight with nothing visible whatsoever. Ah well. An afternoon romp at the Bark Park in Chandler that was supposed to be 15 minutes, turned into an hour because the dogs were having such a good time. That's what vacations are for, right? It was time to indulge my passengers who have put up with two-and-a-half weeks of my madness.

Weather glorious again -- I'm not complaining! I hear we may get some rain here in Phoenix tomorrow. I noticed a tire was a little low and stopped someplace to get looked it at. Sure enough: an embedded screw. That pitstop took about a half hour. I'm a fanatic about noticing anything up with the van: tiny noises, tire pressure, anything dripping, monitoring gauges constantly while driving, etc. I don't want to get stuck anywhere but, particularly, not in the desert. Yes, pretty to look at, but not where you want to get stranded. (photo taken between tucson and phoenix where we might have been stranded)



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While they seem to be smashing up 76 ball signs in other parts of the country, I'm happy to report that in Tucson, different gas companies are just repainting them. In fact, in addition to these "ballies", I noticed several stations that repainted the big flat disc signs as well.





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From Tucson, here's a neat starburst-y sign and its building (which looks vaguely familiar but I can't figure out what it was originally). I've never seen this style sign though.





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Also, in Tucson, my eye was caught by the mid-century rippling canopy at first. But what was really intriguing were the figures on the roof. It looks like there may have been more of them at one time. Does anyone know the story about this place?







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I dropped in on this place for a quick visit: "The Garden of Gethsemane in Tucson is the work of artist Felix Lucero, who was wounded in WWI and vowed that if he recovered, he would create religious sculptures. In the garden can be seen his images of Christ at the Last Supper, on the Cross and with the Holy Family. Across Congress Street is Tucson's largest tree. The Garden of Gethsemane has been a Tucson landmark since 1945 and is maintained by the Knights of Columbus."



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I stopped in Picacho to see Nickerson Farms restaurant, which is right next to I-10. I knew it was long-closed but wanted to see if the Indian Maiden was still there. However, it seemed I got there too late. However, when I looked at this photo tonight, the legs don't seem to match and now I wonder if there was yet another statue that I missed or that was destroyed:
http://www.pbase.com/bearpaw/image/53441601




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I thought about going a little further up the road to see the restaurant itself but the gravel road looked somewhat littered with metal and trash and after my little tire incident, I decided not to go up there.



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A splendid little Art Deco house in Tucson. I know L.A. will be loaded with them but right now they look so sweet:



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And lastly, from Tucson, a couple great iconic signs that show their age. I love this diving woman variation.

Day 16: New Mexico & Arizona

I spent way more time today in NM than expected. Much longer drives between stuff than anticipated. Asking locals for directions when I had bum addresses (or none at all). Driving was stressful as well: dust storms with warning signs "Drive with Extreme Caution: May Be Zero Visibility". Luckily, that never happened. But the winds were intense and you had to keep strong hold of the steering wheel. And this was all day long. I imagine Sparkle's not all that aerodynamic when the wind is blowing against her sides. The wonderful sun continued but I found myself taking three shots of everything and hoping that at least one wouldn't be blurry from the wind gusting at me. I started bracing myself against poles, walls, anything I could find in hopes of being steadier.

Oh, and one other thing that held us up in NM. In Lordsburg, which is truly a dusty, desert, Western type town, Gremlin decided to bolt and it was a good 20 minutes to capture her. I thought it would be safe to cut her loose in this fenced school-yard-y area. Her recall has been so good lately. Happy and quick. And I've been working with cheddar cheese which is pretty much her favorite treat. The place seemed pretty secure all around. But somehow, she found her way out and was just blasting around in the desert scrubby bushes. I had to follow in the van as she must've covered a half mile. She becomes like a feral dog when she does this. Running willy-nilly, panting, and acting like she doesn't even know me when she sees me or hears me. I have to be careful how I approach her -- slow, kneeling down, praising her like mad (when I really want to kill her). Anyhow, that's IT -- the little shit is on the long-line for good now. I'm going to ask my training pals for suggestions. I have never had a dog like this before.

Enough talk! On the way out of Hatch, NM, I noticed this one. I haven't seen any other Quail Express gas stations so I imagine this is probably an independent operation. The quail painting was lovely.



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This great vintage motorhome was getting some major work done in Deming, NM. I had to look up the BrinkMobile on-line and the concept and photos are pretty cool:
http://www.brinkmobile.com/





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It seems the cactus just gets weirder and scarier the further south you go. Here are three examples from Columbus, NM which is right at the Mexican border. I have no idea what any of them are called. Anybody?







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Bisbee, AZ is copper mining country. A cute little town with old buildings and artsy folks but then you get a little south and you see the hillsides ripped apart from the mining. Here's a pretty rather than gruesome shot of the red hills.



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Here's a shot of a place in Lordsburg. I love the mural and the signage overkill:

Day 15: More New Mexico

Another beautiful and productive day. Late in the afternoon, I even found a bona fide doggie park in Albuquerque to cap things for them. Big and well-fenced so Grem got to be FREE of her long-line and play with the big local dogs and run like the wind. Fixie found new humans to pet her and coo over her. Grip retrieved a few balls but mostly sniffed and hunted for crumbs. Nik & I played ballie til he had to lie down in a puddle of water.

Late now -- so let's move right along.

A couple neat cleaners & laundry signs today -- this one in Portales (I would've shot it from the other side to avoid the sun but it didn't have any colored paint):




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This one in Clovis. I've never seen such a big laundromat sign!



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Both Portales and Clovis have F-111 bombers as their town mascots. Wow. I'm certainly no expert on aircraft but I assume this is some sort of precursor to today's Stealth Bomber. This is the one in Portales:



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Sutton's Bakery in Clovis is a sweet little place, literally. I uploaded an exterior shot over at Flickr tonight. But what's inside is actually more interesting. They have wonderful cake decoration display suggestions. Here are a couple:





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and I had to get a dozen of what seems to be one of their specialties: thumbprint cookies. They come in about 12 different colors (I was told they weren't different flavors, except the chocolate, which is of course what I got).



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Everywhere I go on this trip, I see these great little drive-up motor banks (no such thing in NYC). This is a pretty nice mid-century example from Clovis:



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Now, for some more signs. Here's an almost unidentifiable one in Clovis:



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These neon K-Mart signs used to be everywhere but are now pretty rare:



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At the end of the day in Socorro, I came across this nicely unrestored painted Owl Cigar sign. The last photo is taken from the other side of the building (into the sun, sorry) which also shows a Bull Durham ad.

Day 14: Onward to New Mexico

I finished up about a dozen stops in El Paso & finally moved on to New Mexico. The weather was glorious and I've got lots of blue skies and puffy white clouds in today's photos. Even though it wasn't that hot today, it felt so dry. I had to play ballie with Nik on pavement and gravel. Any time I found what looked like grass, it would be full of stickers and he'd run 10 feet and start to hobble. Even Grip who HATES her feet touched is happy to let me help her out with sticker removal. Looking forward to California grass!

No tickets or other incidents to report so let's move on to the photos.

A detective agency that really takes itself seriously in El Paso:



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This was really hard to photo so it will be my art-y shot of the day. Jack Key Motor Co., a car dealership in Las Cruces, uses these giant strings of balloons to catch motorists' attention. It's a clever idea because you really can't help but notice them and they probably can't be regulated as signage.



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Time for a snack in Las Cruces. Caliches frozen custard is non-fat, non-dairy and tastes just fine. I had the chocolate with walnuts and bananas (my two favorite toppings).



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Ruidoso was quite a change from the desert I've been in for the past few days. Pine trees and chilly. Even some snow visible on the mountains just above town. This chalet-like Shell gas station is pretty neat.



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Also in Ruidoso, this mariachi guy was on the roof of Chileo's Mexican Restaurant. I'd say he was close to life-sized:



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I've seen a few of these Southwest style water machines since crossing the border into NM. This one was in Roswell:



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Yes, Roswell. I came for the neon signs and a few other things I swear! But, hey, if one of these souvenir shops had been open when I got here, I'm sure I would've been tempted to pick up a few alien items.

A Honda dealer:



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OK, just one more sign for good measure. The Mayo Motel sign in Roswell is all plastic and boring now but they at least kept this little diving woman & pool detail:

Day 13: More Western TX

It was a busy, beautiful day. Started out early with a goldmine of stuff in Odessa, TX. Mid-day was lots of driving through desert between destinations. And early evening, more frantic picture-taking in El Paso where we've stopped for the evening. A bit more here and then onward to New Mexico (finally).

Gotta love the 80mph speed limit in western TX. That really helped me out with some long hauls today. But when they say 80, they mean it. I got stopped for doing 83 and was issued a "warning" (another souvenir to hang on the wall at home).

Another oil change this morning (I'm religious about them) which means we've passed the 6,000 point on this trip already. And Sparkle turned over a new milestone: 170,000 miles.

The dogs got lots of snoozing in today during our desert drives. The ground is dry and stickery and my two seniors don't like walking on it. When they're off-leash with the van door open, Fixie pees and goes right back in. She's the biggest but the wuss of the family.

OK -- here come the photos. A bunch of signs so let's do them first:

Two from Big Spring:

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A potato-themed restaurant in Midland. How I wish it had been open as I definitely would've supported them!



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The Midland Inn. I don't know if this motel had a different name originally that might explain the kangaroo:



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From Odessa, an adapted sign, probably many times over, that must've revolved:



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Another sign of mysterious origins in Odessa -- love that curve-y arrow:



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Now, I don't smoke, never have, not even once. But I'm overly fond of cigarette signs. I've never seen an ashtray depiction before (sorry I had to shoot into the sun -- and the other side was pretty broken up). This one's from Odessa:



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A giant ciggie pack sign from Fort Stockton:



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A plastic sign in El Paso. I'd love to know if it's always looked like this or if it originally had neon components:



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OK -- now for some non-sign things. I had to stop at a Southern Maid Donuts and buy a half dozen to help sustain them (and me!). These were some of the most colorful donuts I've ever seen and it was hard to choose.



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I posted a sign photo from Kimbrough's Super Service in Odessa over at the Flickr account tonight. But I had to take this photo of the former station itself. I've not seen white porcelain pumps like this before:



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Meeting this guy was one of the high points of my day. I had just arrived in Fort Stockton and was taking the business route into the small town en route to see the giant statue of the roadrunner. I pulled over for a terrific old motor court (the Comanche Motel -- also a photo over at Flickr) and saw this guy hopping around. I was trying to get close to take a photo without scaring him -- the dogs were barking berserkly at him from the van. He seemed very curious about them -- not really that worried. The owner came out and explained that this guy pretty much lives at the place and come up real close whenever they're working. When they rake, it stirs up the bugs and he loves that. So he's always keeping an eye on what people are doing. I thought it was so strange the I came to town for the statue -- and then saw the real thing for the first time.



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And lastly for tonight, a cute little food stand (I think) in a park in Van Horn. I think it's a little small to have really been a streetcar. It just seems so adorable and incongruous in this desert scene.

Day 12: Western TX

Today, I fell in love. No, not with a midcentury building or another rescue dog or some grand theatre. I am now addicted to "ranch gates". I wrote down the locations of each of these but I hope you'll forgive me not including them since it's 1 am and I should be resting for tomorrow's next big photo-shoot. I'm going resist the temptation to start a new section at my website for these guys. Surely, there must be books or websites about them already. (If so, please let me know as I need to know!)



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This one came out blurry (shot in pouring rain) but at least I got a detail shot as well:





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The day started off in Devine with flash flood warnings, thunder & lightning, and torrential pouring rain. I thought I might have to sit the day out in a hotel. That's what a sensible person would have done. It was scary driving through barren landscapes with no cell phone service. But the day got better as we went westward. By mid-afternoon, the skies were just incredible (forgive a few bugs on the windshield):



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I ventured across the border to Mexico to shoot a Muffler Man. Getting across was sure easy enough. But getting back was a bit of an ordeal. I had my passport and my dogs' papers with me but the agents still made me feel like I was lucky to get back in. The dogs had to stand in a kennel near the van while the agent went through it for illegal aliens, drugs, fruit & vegetables... And then the questions... I should've just lied and said I was visiting a relative. But, no, I had to say I went to take a picture of a statue & that just seemed too fishy I guess. And I was going to California via south TX and Mexico? My honesty has always gotten me into trouble.

I was in and out of Mexico so quick that I really only took photos of the Muffler Man. I was pretty paranoid that I didn't have Mexican car insurance (which I think I've read you really should have or god knows what will happen to you). And then the road signs were in Spanish (which I only speak about 20 words of). And the streets were full of giants puddles from the rainstorm). Plus I was a bit worried about getting lost with a quarter tank of gas and no map.

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So, let's end with a few sights from Del Rio. A town that despite smelling of overpowering cow poop (at least that's what I think it was), still had a lot of surprises:

Day 11: Southern & Central TX

Be careful what you wish for! It was hot today -- in the 80s I think. Of course, we were skirting the Mexican border for most of the day so I guess that was part of it. I even turned the AC on in the van: something I really only do when the dogs start panting hard. Poor Grip still has a heavy winter coat on. They say it helps insulate but I have my doubts. She was much more uncomfortable than the other naked members of my family.

Vast distances covered today between stops. We've reached the sandy, dusty, dry part of the state that's for sure. Most small towns looked bad off economically. Downtowns just scraping by or totally deserted (however, it was Sunday so most things were closed I guess).

Here's a long-closed theatre in Harlingen:



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A neat Stremline Moderne building in Harlingen -- I have no idea what it housed originally:



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The remains of a sign in McAllen. I love the different shapes and colors of the lightbulbs. And the blue & white Streamline-y building against the much-appreciated blue & white sky.



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There's also a Streamline-y J.C. Penney store in McAllen:



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I love the little perched windows on the side of that building:



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Another example of old-fashioned display windows in Alice:



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Also in Alice, these street lights looked exceptionally old to me:





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Bougainvillea, right?



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Let's wrap up with three signs. This one stands on a vacant lot. The building next door sure doesn't look like it might've been a bus station:



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Certainly a sign of the times -- Lonnie's, having lost its neon, is surrounded by new development. I fear plans for a Sonic Drive-in or Burger King are already in the works.



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As I was pulling off the highway to settle in for the night in Devine, I saw this nice plastic sign:

Day 10: Houston to the southern tip

Now we're talking: sunny all day & t-shirt weather. They say 80 tomorrow! Hearing that it was rainy and cold back in NY made it seem all the nicer. Covered a lot of miles today. Houston to Harlingen in itself is 330 miles. Add on sidetrips off the highway. That means I didn't take as many photos as usual but I'm getting back on schedule and am set up nicely to take a lot of photos tomorrow. I have never been in South Texas so this is exciting for me.

I found a spot of beach for the dogs to play in Corpus Christi. Nik got to play in the Gulf which wasn't too cold for him to swim. Fixie got some of those nasty goatshead stickers in her feet and was not happy. Grip found a dead seagull. Grem had fun barking at the live ones overhead. She would jump straight up in the air as if she might catch one if she tried hard enough. Pretty funny.
OK -- on with the show.

A couple not worthy of the website but deserving honorable inclusion here:

An old used-ta-be theatre in West Columbia:



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A cute ice cream stand in Beeville:



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Quite an ATM machine! (Corpus Christi):



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And at the same bank:



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Time for a regional diversion -- I've been seeing these guys around. I think they are some sort of yucca but I'm not sure. I asked a few locals and they didn't know either.



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We had these cactus in my backyard when I grew up in Southern California -- but I can't remember what they're called:



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I'm pretty sure these are Texas Bluebonnets, right?




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Miami Beach? No, Corpus Christi!




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I had a great time in this city which has a rich mix of architectural styles. I have no idea what this building was originally but you gotta love the bright paint:



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I came upon this car dealership that features two retro elements: a huge silly sign and a diner-esque gigantic office. Both pretty tacky but I still found them entertaining.





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I managed to sneak in a stop in Raymondville as the sun was setting. I wish I'd had more time to check the little town out -- but I did grab a couple quick shots of these two interesting buildings:

a Streamline Moderne affair (theatre? dept. store?):



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I love the grandiose details on this little cutie:

Day 9: Mostly Houston

I forgot just how huge Houston is and it seemed to take forever making my 20 or so stops. Also just getting to Houston took longer than anticipated. Even despite speeding and getting my first ticket of the trip: 81 in a 65 = $200. Ouch. The last sign that I saw was 70 -- most of the interstates in TX have that speed limit. But I guess I was just close enough to Houston to rate a lower restriction. That cop wrote me up in record time and was right on to the next "customer" before I even pulled away. Ah well, part of the cost-of-living on the road. I usually get one speeding ticket per major trip which is well worth it. If I obeyed the letter of the law, I'd probably only get to half the things I want to shoot. Nevertheless, I'll be a little lighter on the gas pedal for awhile.

Weather was lovely for the second day in a row. Only I was stuck in the car way too much to put it to good use. I'm really going to have to scale back on TX stops at this point so I can arrive in CA with enough time to make the distance driven worth it. Hopefully, by next weekend.

The dogs got treated to an outstanding off-leash dog park today: the Harris County Dog Park. We've been to Millie Bush Dog Park in Houston before and this was just as great. Huge open grassy space, water for swimming (still too cold really), stuff to climb on, other nice dogs to run with. It was good to let Grem off her 50' tether for awhile and her recall is getting much better.

http://www.houstondogpark.org/
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4768749.html

On with today's pictures!

I made a few stops en route to Houston. The little town of Hallettsville had some fun & nice signs:



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I've been noticing just about every small town in TX has these sidewalk steps. What's the deal with that? Is there more flash flooding in TX than say PA? I don't recall noticing these in the Northeast.



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I'm not sure what business this Rubber Ducky is associated with. There was a Drury Inn behind him and a rental car company. I know Comfort Inn uses rubber ducks in their advertising (and leaves small ones in their bathrooms which Nik always finds and decapitates). But there was no sign of a Comfort Inn around (unless Drury Inn took possession of the hotel). That might have been awhile ago and explain Ducky's semi-flat tires. I don't know if he got dragged around in parades or what. Quite a mystery.



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These suspended traffic signals in Houston freak me out. They really blow around in the wind and I'm worried one will drop on my roof or worse on my windshield while I'm passing under them:



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A couple "art installations" in Houston within about a block of each other:

The Flower Man:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXHOUflowerman.html



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and "Field of Vision" with giant eyeballs on pedestals:



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And lastly, this little bit of specialness from the day. An abandoned sign on an empty lot. Long may it continue to survive!

Day 8: More TX: Austin, San Antonio & elsewhere

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The caption on this sign in Austin expresses my feeling exactly. It was another lousy weather day. More rain -- and when it stopped finally in the afternoon, there were wild strong winds. From trying to keep water off the lens to trying to keep my hands steady enough not to blur the photos. This trip is a photographer's boot camp!

Still desperately trying to get on schedule. I'll be skipping enough TX stuff on my list to easily create another week-long trip. Hopefully, next year. Although I've been here at least three times before, it's a damned big state to cover and I'm always finding out about more stuff to see.

Austin's a great town for signage, converted gas stations, oh, and music I guess! There are lots of oversized, literal modern signs, as well as nice neon oldies.



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How's this for a City Hall?



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And a great "food truck":



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Austin has an annual art car parade -- and surely this must be one of the participants:
http://www.austinartcar.com/



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The dogs are always on alert -- especially in the cities -- for birds, motorcycles, men in uniform, people perceived to be approaching the van, cats, dogs, squirrels... all deserving to be manic-ly barked at. Grip is usually stationed in my lap and keeps an eye on the left side of the world.



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There's much to love in San Antonio. The canals, the architecture, the history... The tourists head for the Alamo and there's great stuff to see downtown. But there are lots of other wonderful things on the fringes of the city that merit having a vehicle to get around in. Like these bus shelters:



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and funky old buildings like this former store or showroom:



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and signage galore:



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these San Antonio signs gave me a good chuckle at the end of the day:

Day 7: More Northeast-ish Texas

It was a stunning day: super weather and great subject matter. I was banging through my list and still wasn't making great progress. Traffic, bigger distances than estimated between stuff. And now with the day lost due to rain in Arkansas, I'm about two days behind where I'd like to be. Tomorrow, I'll have to really prioritize and skip stuff -- which is always painful to do. The forecast for tomorrow is for lots of rain and thunderstorms -- a bummer since I'll probably be shooting "stuff that matters".

Someday, I'm going to park the van in a quiet shady spot or find someone to babysit the dogs while I do Dallas on foot. There is so much fantastic midcentury & other stuff downtown and I miss so much even driving slow in the van. I could probably stay a week and still not do a halfway thorough job. Same probably goes for any really big city. Maybe when I retire and don't have to get back to the job by a certain date, I can do more off-list exploring.

Here are some random shots of buildings & details from downtown Dallas:



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And now for some signage & such:

This giant 8-ball in Fort Worth looks pretty old and has some nice crudeness to it. Doesn't appear to be a modern plastic thing.



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the windmill on top of this sign spins and rotates; in Sansom Park, on Jackboro Highway;



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a nice combination Streamline Moderne & rooftop signage -- also in Sansom Park on Jackboro Highway:



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and lastly, a cute guy from Dallas:

Day 6: Northeast Texas

A very productive and sunny day today! I felt so bad last night leaving Sparkle outside in the freezing rain and snow esp. after all the hellish driving I've been putting her through each day. This was the view from the toasty warm hotel room.



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The snowstorm turned out to be no big deal. Maybe an inch here and there in Greenville. Once we got a bit further north, there were maybe 2-3 inches. However, it must have been a bad night to be driving as I saw maybe a hundred cars throughout the day abandoned on the highways. Why they didn't get towed I don't know. Not accidents, just stuck on grassy shoulders, some turned the wrong way. It was kind of eerie.

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Here's Gremlin's new favorite sofa. Nik doesn't seem to mind.



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Here's an interesting midcentury church -- not nice enough for my website but I had to photo it anyway. Reminds me of origami.



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As I was making a 5-point-turn in the the church parking lot (Sparkle's not particuarly good in tight places), the guy who I assumed to be the preacher came out to lock up and go. He waved to me. Everyone is so friendly here in TX. More so than I remember anywhere else. Everyone you pass says good morning, how you doin, etc. The EZ-Mart cashier called me hon. Their attitude and the sun made it an especially positive day.

I am far from an artist but I have found it's one of the best ways to find something when I've got a bum address (or none at all). The convenience store clerk had no idea what I was looking for when I was describing the spaceship house, UFO house... but when I did my Futuro sketch on a business card, she knew instantly where it was. For comparison purposes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/2311879732/



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The kids contribute their own artwork to our trips:



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I needed to see the Gainesville Muffler Men since another Big John was added after my last visit. While I was there, Glen Goode came out & insisted on taking my picture with the giants. So I have a family portrait for you here: me with two dogs in my arms and two on the ground. Now you probably think I'm two feet tall and my dogs are 2" tall next to these giants.



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So I insisted on getting a photo of Glenn Goode as well -- he's the guy who restored these giant statues.



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I had so many stellar things to photo today that I really didn't take many "filler" photos. I do have this one plastic sign for you though. I haven't seen this rocket-style spark plug before.

Day 5: Arkansas & (finally) Texas

It was brutal today. It POURED, all day, every minute, torrential. It was challenging, no, ridiculous, trying to take photos today. But I did what I could. The results aren't too shabby but if you look closely, you'll see little lines of rain and puddles on the ground. I didn't have raingear so I would get soaked every time I got out of the car. Constantly drying off the poor camera. And now, just an hour east of Dallas, TX in Greenville, at 11:30pm, it's snowing! Swirling huge flakes for hours now but the ground temperature so far is too warm to stick. Supposedly, there will be sun tomorrow.

Since I got a sense of the lousy weather early, I decided to hit some more things in Arkansas on my "so-so list". Those are things that I would not ordinarily go out of my way to see unless I have time (which normally never happens). The stuff in NE TX that I want to shoot would be nice to get in the sun so I deliberately let myself fall a day behind schedule in hopes of better conditions. And as it turned out, it was fun to spend more time in Arkansas after all and I got plenty of worthwhile stuff.

Here are some of today's sights.

I don't know what this type of farm equipment is called -- threshers? -- but they are very visually pleasing:



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Texarkana is great fun. Half Texas, Half Arkansas. Lots of nice signs and a variety of architecture. This one is on the Arkansas side of Stateline Avenue:



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This place is on the Texas side of town. When is someone at Flickr going to start a Bail Bonds Signs group?



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This building has some nice old world touches. Sorry about the rain smear over "Chicks".






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Not quite worthy of my website -- but deserving honorable mention -- although many folks would deem these mid-century buildings ghastly.

a bank from Texarkana, AR (note the cars are lined up from the tellers stationed in booths beneath the building; and a cool spiral staircase in a glass box)



a former "Motor Bank" from Magnolia, AR



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a fun plastic facade in Clarksville, TX:



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Some other misc. stuff.

An Egyptian Revival Masonic Temple in El Dorado, AR:



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Oil discoveries in the 1920s transformed El Dorado into a boomtown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado,_Arkansas



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Some building re-uses are better than others. This one in Paris, TX is particularly gruesome:

Day 4: More Arkansas

It was nice in the morning but then the gray set in. Got dark early and now it's pouring like mad at midnight as I write this. Took tons of photos today. I know someone said there's not that much roadside in Arkansas and I hope I proved them wrong! I'll spare you doggie pix today since I have so many others to choose from. Let's get to it!

It seems inevitable that whenever I'm in a fairly big city on a weekend, there's some sort of running event. Little Rock today was no exception. A total drag when I'm trying to hit a downtown area quickly. I don't have time for strolling around. I've got to get from Points A-L and with a well-plotted map, the van's the fastest way -- until all the roads are blocked. I didn't see hardly any running but sure a LOT of standing around. So I had to be a pushy New Yorker, "scuse me, scuse me!" and get to my stops.



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I took tons of sign photos today. I put a bunch at Flickr and have lots more for the website. Here are my "rejects" -- still pretty nice!

A cone from the Yellow Jacket Drive-in in Sheridan:



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A golfer from Magic Hills Golf in Hot Springs:



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a neat liquor store sign in Hot Springs:



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Damn! I'm usually so good with my notes. I'll have to check on this one for tomorrow. I pretty sure this former theatre is in Hot Springs.



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Hot Springs is naturally very water-oriented. Lots of great and interesting architecture including this stunner:



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Also in Hot Springs: a nice painted wall sign that hasn't been "restored" to death:



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A fun one from Hot Springs:



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The Surgeon General probably prohibits making signs like this nowadays. Although this one looks fairly modern.



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Spring has almost sprung here in Arkansas -- I've been seeing daffodils and some cherry trees. I've been resisting photo-ing flowers thus far -- but couldn't resist this one. This is at the Central Park restaurant in Hot Springs: look carefully, those aren't tulips but rocks!



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Heading out of Hot Springs, here's one of those funky uses for geodesic domes: this time, incorporated into a church:



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Of course, I'm crazy about Sinclair stations because I'm always hoping they'll have a dinosaur. And they are still a novelty to me since they didn't have them in CA where I grew up and they aren't in the Northeast where I live now. I got all excited at the prospect of gas-ing up with these silvery old pumps in Crows -- but then noticed the plastic bags on the handles. Hope it's just temporary.



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A wonderful corner drug store in Clarksville (yes, still open):



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A wonderful old fire engine on display in Mountainburg:



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An Egyptian Revival / Art Deco Masonic Temple in Fort Smith:





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And, lastly, I envy the high school kids that live in Alma, the home of the Airedales. Actually, I went to Buena High and we had the Bulldog as our mascot but that is far too common. Airedales seem so much wussier. Not that I'm not crazy about all Terriers mind you! How I wish I could gas up at the Rat Terrier Express and could shop at the MinPin Mart.

Day 3: Tennessee & Arkansas

A pretty productive day with some boring interstate treks between destinations. The sun was out for the most part which gave my photos a boost. The weather has definitely changed -- down to my t-shirt for the first time in what feels like six months. Looks like some more sunny days ahead. I discovered yesterday that a headlight was out and took care of that today.

The dogs got two major outings today in addition to their numerous pitstops. In the morning, a church with a huge soccer field / picnic area. And then in Memphis, we went to check out Shelby Farms which has a huge offleash area for dogs with several lakes for them to swim in. The girls waded for tossed cookies while Nik was thrilled to thrash & splash with his Jolly Ball despite the water being pretty icy still.
http://www.shelbyfarmsoffleash.org/

On with the pictures!

The World Overcomers Church appears to be mid-century -- but it's too ugly by my standards to include at my website so I'll put a photo of it here. What really makes this place special is the gigantic Statue of Liberty they have erected on the corner.





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One of the things I finally got around to seeing on this trip was the guitar-shaped pool at the Days Inn in Memphis. This place is just down the block from Graceland after all.



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And I had been meaning to shoot the little astronaut sign at Atomic Pest in Memphis. I was too distracted by the giant mouse on the roof the last time and forgot about the sign:
http://www.agilitynut.com/critters/mice.html



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I went to Marion, AR to check out a pet cemetery that was part of the Crittenden Memorial Park Cemetery. But the plaques were pretty dull and not worth shooting. No photos, no carved vertical gravemarkers. But right next to "Pet Land" was a special "Baby Land" section which was incredibly sad.



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In Brinkley, AR there was this auto parts place that I suspect is a former theatre. Awfully elaborate for car parts and the curved structure and blade sign look awfully much like a marquee. Does anyone know the story of this building?



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This is a neat little adapted sign in North Little Rock, AR. Unfortunately, the photos came out kinda blurry. I don't know if it was from shooting at sunset or just shakey hands from worrying about the van getting sideswiped in the bad location I parked her in.




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And lastly, alls well that ends well... these two girls are veteran travelers and know just when to sneak in sleeptime on the road. Grip, the oldest dog on the left, has been to over 40 states now. It seems silly that with my big van to stretch out in, most of the time, all the dogs want to sleep in the front.