Last September, after getting laid off from my job, I did what every American is programmed to do in times of existential crisis — hit the open road. Unsure of my future, I decided to drive south from my San Francisco home to visit friends in Los Angeles. I had plenty of time before starting my next chapter, so I decided to take the scenic route: California Highway 1, on the stretches known as the Cabrillo Highway and the Pacific Coast Highway.
For nature, go to Big Sur. For some fantastic vintage signage, keep heading south on the PCH.
Not long into my road trip, I learned that you can take the woman out of type, but you can’t take type out of the woman. Of course the majestic ocean and soaring forests of the Central Coast left me breathless, but it was the retro signage that intrigued me more as I drove through small hamlets whose 1950s glory days were cut short by the interstate system.
Despite frequent trips to Southern California, I had never explored the area between Big Sur and Los Angeles and didn’t know what awaited me. A quick lunch stop in San Luis Obispo on the second day of my trip, clued me into keeping my eye out for some groovy roadside letters.
If you need to grab an Archie comic or a new twister board in San Luis Obispo, I’m guessing you can get it here.
The next day proved that “one woman’s trash is another’s treasure”. Driving through the quiet farm town of Guadalupe, I pulled over twice in the town’s three block stretch to snap pictures of a landscape that very sadly could disappear.
Though boarded up, the beautiful neon of Guadalupe, California’s main street cinema still stands. Sadly, the marquee references a social issue affecting many small communities in America.
I really should make a gallery of the ubiquitous Gold Medal Flour ghost signs I’ve spotted in my travels. The actual tree reflects the green border that once embellished this sign and check out that crazy ampersand-like script E smushed in the upper left corner.
Further down the highway, in the military town of Lompoc, I squeed at the roadside signage. The next week, as I drove back north, I parked in this tiny city and went sign-sightseeing.The locals definitely looked at me as if I was a tad off.
The sign that started my weird obsession with Lompoc. This enthusiastic fella screamed “Hi! Pull over and look at the frickin’ goldmine of signage in this town you’d never even really heard anything about.”
Perhaps this is where the Jetsons stay when in Lompoc. The ‘O’ on the star sign reflects the funky geometric shapes.
Another classic theatre still intact (yay), currently unused for its original purpose, but with a non-profit looking to restore it to its original glory. Hopeful that neon still comes on at night.
That “Modern”! I would be stoked to see that yellow neon lit up.
This music-note sign displays remnants of modification over the years, with only the “dancing” remaining in neon. Heartbreaking to see these slowly disappear.
Hard to get a good angle of this sign, but I appreciate how the artist shaped the neon text to the decorative bowl!
A rare treat to see a drive-in movie theatre still standing. Sadly it looks as though plans to restore this one fell through last year. I fear this ghost sign, along with the entire complex, won’t last long.
My destination of Long Beach seemed to have done a good job of recently restoring some of its vintage architecture and accompanying signage, a hope I have for the rest of California’s coastal towns.
The restored Art Theatre in Long Beach, California is the only one left of 50 classic theaters that once stood in this town. Just think of those lost letters.
Heading back north after a weekend in Los Angeles (which would warrant a whole other post…seriously, it’s a sign geek’s dream town), additional stops in Pismo Beach and Morro Bay satiated my touristy hunger for fun typography and whimsical roadtripper signage before returning home to San Francisco
The Shell Beach Inn in Pismo Beach seems like the perfect getaway for 1950s family fun or a lover’s retreat.
The Shell Shop in Morro Bay may “excell” in shells, but they also have a pretty good sign, that was probably a neon masterpiece once upon a time.
Another plastic sign in the tourist burg of Morro Bay, with just a touch of neon. The lettering on this is super far out.
I wished I had more time to walk around all the towns on my trip, spotting details like the “office” and “private” sign, but traveling not only through space, but through time.
I truly hope that others share my interest and joy in old signs and lettering and that perhaps future generations will appreciate it, and preserve it, as well.
This post is part of Greetings from, a series in which Alphabettes share typographic curiosities from around the world. Look out for a passport stamp in the photos to spot posts from the series, or read them all here.