NO ROOM AT THE INN

 

More Route 66 neon. It would not occur to me to travel anywhere with an overnight stay without booking a hotel online in advance. It didn't used to be so. I remember a family road trip in my early teens up through New Hampshire to Quebec City. My father, who was, um, a bit of a character, drove up to the door of the Chateau Frontenac, expecting to put us up in style. Je suis désolé, monsieur, mais nous n'avons pas de chambres disponibles. Then we drove around for what seemed like a long time before ending up at Helen's Motel (sic., in English), which I recall being a bit of a dump but the kids loved it because they had a big trampoline. Vacancy.                  

ROUTE 66 NEON

 

Possibly signs that appeared along old US Route 66, or maybe just neon from a bye-gone era. Now the displays are all LEDs and Route 66 has been replaced by sections on the Interstate Highway system. More from the Missouri History Museum.                    

WOULD YOU ENTER?

Another detail at the City Museum. The neon sign may have been part of an old amusement park but it sends a mixed message about what may lie beyond.                   

STL DPB IN NEW YORK - AFTER THE RAIN

Am I ever home? Well, in a sense, this is home, my place of origin. Starting a five day street photography workshop today and there couldn't be a better place. This is on West 79th Street, just down the block from the hotel where the group is staying. Today we're going to deepest  Brooklyn. First stop Brighton Beach, largely Ukrainian and Russian, and then down to Coney Island. I haven't been there since I was a kid.                

Big Boy

More signs from the neon art exhibit at Laumeier Sculpture Park. I don't  remember these restaurants and signs when I was growing up in the Northeast but I sure do from the time I hit the Midwest. They were sometimes called Bob's Big Boy. No relation but, like this guy, I was a lot heavier back then. (I'm about 70 pounds lighter that at the time of our wedding.)      

This a very old sign. Note the character: cut-away coat, vest and bow tie - formal evening wear. And spats! Now, if only he could do something about his hair and teeth. They give him a baby-like look..                                                                                  

Freezer Fresh

Those are two words I don't expect to see together. If you buy frozen salmon at the supermarket, is it fresh?

This is from the current indoor exhibit at Laumeier Sculpture Park. It is about the restored old neon signs and neon sculpture of David Hutson. I suppose the big sign is about ice cream, although it's hard to be sure. It's certainly not acceptable by today's standards.The small sign in the back is part of Hutson's expression of Claes Oldenburg's artistic philosophy.        

Sort Of CDP Theme Day - Silhouette (Lack Of Buddha Nature)

It's the first of the month, City Daily Photo theme day. The October 1 topic is silhouettes. Well, being a really busy guy and all that, I didn't get around to actually shooting a silhouette anytime recently. Could have dug through the archives, of course, but an opportunity dropped into my lap yesterday.

I was walking around Grand Boulevard, shooting Dancing In the Street, which we'll see the rest of the week. I noticed what seemed to be a tiny art gallery in the building next to the huge Fox Theater. No signage, no evident entrance. There was white neon lettering on an interior wall spelling out happiness is expensive, sort of in Bruce Nauman style.

It was fascinating, despite absurdity of the statement. Maybe it was meant to provoke, like Jenny Holzer's work. So I downloaded my shot, made a color negative of it, fiddled with it in Photoshop and then turned it monochrome. Sort of like a silhouette, don't you think? Close enough?