Does Vintage commercial signage do it for you?

[jon daly]

I do like highway department and other public signage, but I think this gets my motor running more.



Lakeland, FL 1974.

Courtesy: http://www.gassigns.org/

I don't see that many signs like that anymore, but there is one the next town over that I swear has been there since this plaza was built in 1962.

[slorydn1]

I do miss the old school Holiday Inn signs for some reason.

[jon daly]

That Holiday Inn sign is Googie! It has a shape that was reminiscent of the Space Age optimism of that era.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture

There are some designs from the Post-WWII era that fit certain structures better; like the icebox gas station and its porcelain look as opposed to the Eliot Noyes Mobil design ( http://lomo.architectureburger.com/?p=779 ,) but I like me some Googie.

[jeffandnicole]

That Holiday Inn sign is Googie! It has a shape that was reminiscent of the Space Age optimism of that era.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture

There are some designs from the Post-WWII era that fit certain structures better; like the icebox gas station and its porcelain look as opposed to the Eliot Noyes Mobil design ( http://lomo.architectureburger.com/?p=779 ,) but I like me some Googie.

Wildwood, NJ has numerous examples from this era, known down there as Doo Wop.  Modern businesses are encouraged whenever possible to use this style, such as in this newer sign for TD Bank https://goo.gl/maps/2KhpXHae71A2 , or this example for Wawa which changed their entire logo and color-scheme when they built this building: https://goo.gl/maps/Q4LyAn78TXo

[slorydn1]

I guess I just like the way one can tell what the business is just by the shape/colors/lights of the sign without being close enough to read it. The 70's style McDonald's signs, the Union76 ball, the Holiday Inn signs (really all the chain hotels of that era) fit that mold.

[SP Cook]

I'm sure the Holiday Inn signs cost a bit, and did not look great in situations other than they stereotypical off the exit ramp suburban scenario, but when HI went to just another rectangular panel in just another shadow box sign, it gave up a unique ad gimmick.

A modernized version would still work.

[jon daly]

I like the old Sunoco logo in that pic better than the new one. Trying to imply forward motion by slanting the text seems like a case of subtraction by addition.

[jon daly]

That Holiday Inn sign is Googie! It has a shape that was reminiscent of the Space Age optimism of that era.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture

There are some designs from the Post-WWII era that fit certain structures better; like the icebox gas station and its porcelain look as opposed to the Eliot Noyes Mobil design ( http://lomo.architectureburger.com/?p=779 ,) but I like me some Googie.

Wildwood, NJ has numerous examples from this era, known down there as Doo Wop.  Modern businesses are encouraged whenever possible to use this style, such as in this newer sign for TD Bank https://goo.gl/maps/2KhpXHae71A2 , or this example for Wawa which changed their entire logo and color-scheme when they built this building: https://goo.gl/maps/Q4LyAn78TXo

I've heard about Wildwood and would like to visit it someday.

[roadman]

Local vintage commercial signing for long-gone establishments is currently on display in Boston:

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/05/25/greenway-old-business-neon-signs

[jon daly]

State Line Potato Chips!


How long will those be up? This might be worth a day trip for me.

[inkyatari]

Nice Zayre sign!  That was before my memories.

Speaking of memories, who remembers this one?  I always loved the original aesthetic of the sign and building.

[Rothman]

State Line Potato Chips!


How long will those be up? This might be worth a day trip for me.

Friend of mine designed the updated logo for State Line in the early 1990s.

[jeffandnicole]

Zoning rules and signage limitations take away a lot of fund from signs like this.  When signage can only be so many feet off the ground and be no more than a certain number of square feet, it's just easier to use basic shapes and print the logo within that shape.

[roadman]

State Line Potato Chips!


How long will those be up? This might be worth a day trip for me.

Unfortunately, the Rose Kennedy Greenway site doesn't indicate how long the signs will be in place.  The best info I can find (from a media report) is that the exhibit will be in place at least through the early fall.

[jon daly]

inkyatari: I think that's the look that Sonic tries to evoke (and fairly succesfully.) My wife and I stopped at one for the first time last week. There aren't many in southern New England, so we had never stopped by one before.

[jon daly]

State Line Potato Chips!


How long will those be up? This might be worth a day trip for me.

Friend of mine designed the updated logo for State Line in the early 1990s.

Was there any reason the company ditched the obelisk in the logo?

Before:



After:

[ET21]

I'm too young to go far back, but I miss this relic of growing up in the 90s
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=807&ei=DaZYW7q5CILMjwSi45aICQ&q=amoco&oq=amoco&gs_l=img.3..0l9j0i10k1.831.1450.0.1692.5.5.0.0.0.0.64.241.5.5.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.5.238....0.pKs6z702-Z4#imgrc=NaIiEhpwfSZx5M:

[jon daly]

There is an American sign in the background of the picture in the original post. They were rebranded to Amoco at some point and the logo is very similar to the logo you linked.

Getting back to inkyatari, I don't recall that Zayre logo, either. The Exxon one in that pic was relatively new in 1974. It was created by a famous designer named Raymond Loewy. It's not bad, but I prefer the Esso logo that it replaced..

[Rothman]

State Line Potato Chips!


How long will those be up? This might be worth a day trip for me.

Friend of mine designed the updated logo for State Line in the early 1990s.

Was there any reason the company ditched the obelisk in the logo?

Before:



After:

He'd know, but I don't.

[roadman]

The Exxon one in that pic was relatively new in 1974. It was created by a famous designer named Raymond Loewy. It's not bad, but I prefer the Esso logo that it replaced..

Before the formal re-branding was implemented nationwide, Exxon experimented with different logos in a few "prototype" cities, Manchester NH (where my grandmother lived) being one of them.  One of the alternate logos was a red oval with EXXON in white, and the other alternate was similar to the design that was ultimately adopted, but was an oval (like the ESSO logo) instead of a square.

[jon daly]

I once linked an image of Loewy's sketchbook from the Library of Congress. Alas, it doesn't show alternate shapes or color schemes.

[jon daly]

Local vintage commercial signing for long-gone establishments is currently on display in Boston:

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/05/25/greenway-old-business-neon-signs

A co-worker, who wouldn't be surprised that I haunt forums like this (but doesn't know that I do,) texted me a pic last night of the State Line sign. He can read me like Dr. Seuss.