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Neon Signs

OLD NEON
A collection of old neon signs in Texas

Texas Old Neon Series 2 12-4-11

Texas Old Neon Series I 10-18-10

Austin Old Neon 9-24-10

The Texas Theatre by Dana Goolsby 6-4-11
After nearly a century of tragedy and neglect, and a host of closings and re-openings, the Texas Theatre, crown jewel of Palestine, has been salvaged and reborn.

Texas Old Neon Signs

Alamo Heights

Alpine - Granada

Anson - Palace Theatre 10-20-10

Austin Neon Feature 9-24-10

Ballinger - Texas Theatre 11-4-10

Beaumont - Jefferson

Beaumont - Rosemont Hotel

Beeville

Benavides - Frigidaire

Big Spring - Cafe

Bremond - Cafe

Bridge City - Cleaners

Cafe

Campbellton - Cafe Beer

Clear Springs 8-24-11

Coolidge

Cooper

Crockett - Arnold Cotton

Cuero - Jewelers

Dimmitt - Carlile Theatre 7-23-10

Follett - Motel 9-3-10

Fort Worth - Radio Station Marquee

Fort Worth - Firestone

Fort Worth - Red Goose Shoe Sign

Friona

Galveston - Purity Ice Cream

Grand Saline - Rexall Drugs

Greenville - Texan Theater

Harlingen - Tourista Courts

Hearne - Funeral Home

Hearne - Rexall Drugs

Kilgore - Longhorn Drugs

Littlefield 8-3-10

Longview

Madisonville - Cars

Matador - Bob's Oil Well Cafe

Mathis

McAllen - City of Palm

Mercedes - Hotel Air Conditioned

Odessa - Ector Theatre 5-9-11

Palestine - Texas Theatre 6-4-11

Pecos - Shoes

Port Arthur 11-23-10

Putnam

Rio Grande Valley, Today

Rosenburg - Burger

Rule

San Antonio - Aztec Theatre

San Antonio - Bar America

San Antonio - Cactus Hotel

San Antonio - Earl Abel's Restaurant

San Antonio - Mexican Manhattan

San Benito - Odgees

San Benito - Robert E. Lee Hotel

Sierra Blanca 10-3-11

Sonora - West Texas Utilities

Stanton - Ford Tractor

Texarkana 7-7-10

Weimar Motel - Weimar

Wharton - Tee Pee

Wichita Falls

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

"Miami Beach is where old neon goes to die." - Lenny Bruce

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Neon Signs

OLD NEON A collection of old neon signs in Texas

Texas Old Neon Signs

OLD NEON

OLD NEON
A collection of old neon signs in Texas