TexasEscapes.comTexas Escapes Online Magazine: Travel and History
Columns: History, Humor, Topical and Opinion
Over 1800 Texas Towns & Ghost Towns
NEW : : TEXAS TOWNS : : GHOST TOWNS : : TEXAS HOTELS : : FEATURES : : COLUMNS : : ARCHITECTURE : : IMAGES : : SITE MAP : : SEARCH SITE
HOME
SEARCH SITE
ARCHIVES
RESERVATIONS
Texas Hotels
Hotels
Cars
Air
Cruises
 
 Texas : Images : Old Neon
Jewelers

Neon Signs

OLD NEON
A collection of old neon signs in Texas

Texas Old Neon Signs

  • Alamo Heights 3-10-08
  • Alpine - Granada
  • Austin - Boot
  • Austin, - Frozen Custard
  • Beaumont - Jefferson
  • Beaumont - Rosemont Hotel
  • Beeville 4-1-07
  • Benavides - Frigidaire
  • Big Spring - Cafe
  • Bremond - Cafe
  • Bridge City - Cleaners
  • Cafe
  • Campbellton - Cafe Beer
  • Coolidge
  • Crockett - Arnold Cotton
  • Cuero - Jewelers 8-3-08
  • Eagle Pass - Aztec
  • Eagle Pass - Cafe
  • Edna - Grand Motel
  • Edna - Liquor
  • Fort Worth - Radio Station Marquee 12-18-06
  • Fort Worth - Firestone
  • Fort Worth - Red Goose Shoe Sign
  • Grand Saline - Rexall Drugs 1-18-08
  • Greenville - Texan Theater
  • Harlingen - Tourista Courts
  • Hearne - Funeral Home
  • Hearne - Rexall Drugs
  • Houston - Arrow
  • Houston - Repair
  • Houston - Robbins
  • Houston - Icehouse
  • Houston - Yale
  • Jacksonville
  • Kilgore - Longhorn Drugs
  • Longview 6-9-08
  • Madisonville - Cars
  • Matador - Bob's Oil Well Cafe 6-9-07
  • Mathis 2-1-07
  • McAllen - City of Palm
  • Mercedes - Hotel Air Conditioned
  • Pecos - Shoes 11-1-08
  • Putnam 8-25-08
  • Rio Grande Valley, Today
  • Rosenburg - Burger
  • San Antonio - Aztec Theatre
  • San Antonio - Bar America
  • San Antonio - Cactus Hotel
  • San Antonio - Earl Abel's Restaurant 9-19-07
  • San Antonio - Mexican Manhattan
  • San Benito - Odgees
  • San Benito - Robert E. Lee Hotel
  • Sonora - West Texas Utilities
  • Stanton - Ford Tractor
  • Tyler - Jimmy's Cafe 3-3-08
  • Tyler - Old Fellows
  • Van Horn 8-30-08
  • Waco - Alico
  • Weimar Motel - Weimar
  • Wharton - Tee Pee
  • Winnie - Pharmacy

    See Texas Signs
    		•
    OLD NEON
    by Seymour Saenz

    Cheap and tawdry, neon couldn't scream any louder unless it was blinking. And when it was, it was timed to the human pulse. The unworldly colors matched the covers of science fiction books in drugstore racks or the fingernail polish of teenage girls.

    The gas bubbled in juke boxes - resembling boiling anti-freeze or pink lava. It hissed over melting asphalt parking lots. The signs said Liquor - Eat - and Bar and Grill - (but 9 times out of 10 there was no grill).

    The signs that said Hotel were more disturbing than menacing. They blinked through windows of cheap rooms in film noir, providing colored insomnia for characters haunted by the past.

    Just once we'd like to see the hero (or anti-hero) ask for a room away from the sign.

    Even in Hitchcock's black and white Psycho the Bates Motel had a neon sign.

    While neon is currently enjoying a comeback, it's now as sterile and safe as a Disney movie. Convenience stores and gas stations with their scores of neon beer signs now resemble lighting showrooms.

    John Travolta under a Lone Star Beer sign isn't quite as threatening as Robert Mitchum under Blatz neon.

    Here's our collection of some faded temptations - just watch where you step if you happen to be barefoot.


    © John Troesser
    July 2001
    "Miami Beach is where old neon goes to die." - Lenny Bruce
    HOTELS
    Traveling Texas? Book Your Hotel Here & Save
    Texas Escapes
    Online Magazine
     
    HOME | TEXAS ESCAPES ONLINE MAGAZINE | TEXAS HOTELS
    TEXAS TOWN LIST | TEXAS GHOST TOWNS | TEXAS COUNTIES
    Texas Hill Country | East Texas | Central Texas North | Central Texas South | West Texas | Texas Panhandle | South Texas | Texas Gulf Coast
    TRIPS | STATES PARKS | RIVERS | LAKES | DRIVES | MAPS

    TEXAS FEATURES
    Ghosts | People | Historic Trees | Cemeteries | Small Town Sagas | WWII | History | Black History | Rooms with a Past | Music | Animals | Books
    COLUMNS : History, Humor, Topical and Opinion

    TEXAS ARCHITECTURE | IMAGES
    Courthouses | Jails | Churches | Gas Stations | Schoolhouses | Bridges | Theaters | Monuments/Statues | Depots | Water Towers | Post Offices | Grain Elevators | Lodges | Museums | Stores | Banks | Gargoyles | Cornerstones | Pitted Dates | Drive-by Architecture | Old Neon | Murals | Signs | Ghost Signs | Then and Now
    Vintage Photos

    TRAVEL RESERVATIONS | HOTELS | USA | MEXICO

    Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Recommend Us | Contributors | Staff | Contact TE
    Website Content Copyright ©1998-2008. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved
    This page last modified: November 1, 2008