July 20, 2024 • 41 mins
Brent Oldbury joins the show as we talk about his introduction into photographing signs, architecture, and the treasure trove of signs still along Colfax in Denver despite the city's best attempts.
You can follow Brent at:
https://www.instagram.com/Brent_Oldbury
You can check out his work and how to get prints at:
Brent Oldbury (brentoldburyphotography.com)
You can follow Brent at:
https://www.instagram.com/Brent_Oldbury
You can check out his work and how to get prints at:
Brent Oldbury (brentoldburyphotography.com)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
Welcome everybody to another episode of Internationalsign Finders. It has been chaotic ground
here, let's just put it.Let's just put it simple. With the
hurricane happening and I broke my toeand may have horned some ligaments of my
foot. It's been a while pastfew days, and tonight we have another
guest from the lovely area of Denver, Colorado. He has a wonderful website
(00:40):
that he is dedicated to signs andmaybe he sells some visprints there if he
does hit it up, and wewill have it leaked up in our show
notes at the end of when everything'ssaid and done, I've got all compiled,
I'll get up on the show notes. And also he's an architect by
trade. Is that correct, Brent? That's right? Yep. Cool.
(01:02):
So tonight our guest is Brent Oldberry. Welcome to the show. Brent.
Thanks truth. Yeah, so gladto have you here. Yeah, glad
to have you here. It's beena wild while past few weeks, just
getting just getting in and at histoday even and I'm I'm recording from home.
(01:23):
But so once you introduce yourself andthen after that we will get into
maybe some signs that kind of tiedyou into the side hunting community. They
kind of gave you the bug thatbit you. Sure, so yeah,
I mean, yep, Brettleberry.I we've been in southeast Texas, spent
a lot of time in Houston,probably, but almost twenty years in two
(01:46):
different steads there in Houston, andI've been in Denver the past five plus
years. And honestly, the hurricanesone of the ress I moved out of
the Houston area. The South,Yeah, the Gulf Coast area. So
yeah, I don't blame you.The thing is, I grew up in
(02:07):
eastern North Carolina and we had afew hurricanes come through there. Like one
time, we had a few hurricaneshit and drop about thirty five inches of
rain and it flooded like they've neverseen before, almost like Harvey. Yeah,
Harvey was just about the last rowfor us. Yeah, and that's
(02:28):
when we moved here. We movedhere a month before Harvey hit. Yeah,
Like we were supposed to close inour house and then Harvey hits,
and in a weird way, itwas serendipitous because our house is South Carolina
didn't close. Yeah, it wasweird. So yeah, welcome. And
(02:50):
so one thing is I wish Icould see more. The algorithm on Instagram
sometimes isn't the greatest, and Idon't get to see people like you and
yours. Signs hit my beat awhole lot. Unfortunately, I wish they
did, because you have some greatpictures on your Instagram page. You're welcome,
definitely welcome. How long have youbeen taking pictures of signs? And
(03:15):
and after that we'll finally get tothe maybe the one sign or an event
or whatever it was that kind ofled you into taking pictures of signs.
So yeah, I looked back throughnot just Mystery but my splitter and it
goes back further than my Instagram.Oh wow, although play on my foot
(03:38):
today. I think maybe they deletedmy photos. I'm not paying anymore.
Oh geez, Yeah, no,Bige, I've got I kind of say
somewhere. But going back to thatthough, I I kind of tracked down
kind of the first sign that Iphotographed, and that was twenty seventeen.
(03:58):
Yeah, that happened to be inin Jasper, Texas. And I think
at that point I was just gettinginto Durphy. Uh I hadn't evened I
hadn't even bought a uh a DSLRcamera that once used to bottle cannon power
shot shoot and UH had a buddythere in using that. We'd go out,
(04:25):
uh you know on weekends on Saturdays. It went out to some smaller
town, found the per free issuestar even further and uh and we got
to Jazzer one time. Uh,you know, for that same reason to
believed county seats because I also atthe photograph Hunty courthouses. Texas has some
(04:48):
fantastic county courrehouses. Kid. Andyeah, so while we're there, uh,
I saw this sign, uh anold moot tell fall. Yeah,
and uh that was a little bitof a backstory on that because when I
(05:09):
was a kid in Southeast Texas,my my grandparents lived up at Lake did
a Bend. Uh, So webuilt their visits quite a bit, and
uh Jasper was just about the halfwaymore and so some so on the especially
if we were coming back at youknow after dark, Uh we hit we
did Jasper. I see that travelerssignal ended up, and I knew we
(05:30):
were just halfway all that point,okay as a kid, so like,
yeah, I saw that sign hadthat connection to it when I was a
kid, and photographed it and uh, and as I was kind of kind
of getting into photography in general thereand Social Flicker just kind of discovered every
communities a different group. Skiel whowas kind of focused on photographing like certain
(05:54):
things, and science is one ofthose that I just really just was attracted
to those photos and just just howjust how beautiful the science could be.
Whether they're well capped or whether they'rein disrepair, they get both ways.
Both ways they can be really greatsubjects for photography. And it's like that,
(06:16):
yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, And that's such an interesting thing
because like the Travelers Hotel, I'msorry I interrupted you. Sorry of course,
but it's it's still in a prettydecent shape, but the neon is
starting to fall off and it makesinteresting shapes. Of course you don't.
(06:43):
One part of me is like,no, please don't fall into disrepair.
Other parts like, ooh, whatcould this look like? You know?
It sounds like the Larry's hot Dogsign. Was it in Denver? I've
been seeing it a lot lately.I think they've redone it. It might
be in California, know them,know my luck, but they've been showing
it in like super rusty Patina withjust barely any Neon tubes left, and
(07:12):
they've showed it restored and it's it'skind of a cool before and after mix.
Yeah. Unfortunately, the Travers MotelSize one owner with his sie oh
another sign hunter fominated on my myFlicker post of that said it was no
(07:32):
longer there and when well, Ithuted after the motel was closed and half
born down already anyway, so okay, I was happy to know that last
Longs did. Yeah, it's almostlike the Triple D Hotel and Motel in
Wichita Falls. When I went by, there's even I mean that arrow has
to be thirty ft tall, twentythirty feet tall, and I think it's
(07:56):
finally they finally tore it all down. So it's one of those treasures that
you treasure while you can't and itlives on in memories and photos for sure.
Yeah. So history, do youuh, do you feel like that
when you go out and take picturesthat you're capturing bits of history to share
(08:18):
with others, Because I admit thatmaybe that that's kind of why I do
my my page is there isn't reallya historical document saying these are all the
neon signs in Houston or were,because there were tons of awesome neon back
in the fifties and sixties and seventies. It's all gone away. And when
I got here, I noticed therewasn't a whole lot of neon compared to
(08:41):
like Denver or Salt Lake or evena little like Tucu Carri. Tuco Carrey
is a treasure trove of neon.And He's just like, yeah, we
had some old stuff and we toreit all down, right, and what
I've heard, and it makes alot of sense that uh, you know,
to and carry and a lot ofthose little towns along the overroute sixty
(09:05):
six. Yeah, so many goodneon signs laut there because that dry climate
there helps me. Yeah. Well, Darren, Houston is so humid that
I could see that mainenans of aside. This would just be be a
real hassle. Yeah, there's arend new Ojos Locos, uh near where
(09:28):
I lived. Uh, they've alreadyhad to repair the main sign at least
two or three times the work tobe one hundred percent. Yeah, it's
a crazy You see, when peoplethink of humidity, they think maybe North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,which are humid, but Houston's a different
level. I group in humidity.This is a swamp absolute well they call
(09:52):
it Bayou City. They mean it, that's right. Yeah. So that
brings to the end of our firstsegment of International Signfire. When we come
back, we'll get it to alittle bit of Rint's architectural photography, some
more of his sign photography, andmaybe into some more stories and such that
we can swap. You're listening toInternational sign Finders. Welcome back to International
(10:35):
sign Finders. Glad you're with us. We have the amazing Brent Oldburry with
us. Go and follow him onInstagram. It's Brent Underscore Old Berry.
Is that right, that's right?Yeah, cool, So Brent Underscore or
old Berry. I can't speak today. Yeah, it's been a wild day.
Uh yeah, I won't get ittold. And I think you're doing
(10:58):
great for using this close at Santafor hurricane exactly well. And also haven't
had my adderall in a couple ofdays. So oh business, just making
sentences. It's tough, but uhwell, we'll see if those excuses for
later on when I really screw thingsup. But uh, you say that
you're into architecture as well, andif you go to Brint's page, you'll
(11:20):
see some awesome mid century Modern designbuildings from across Southeast Texas, across uh,
you know, I think you've evengone up into Colorado as well with
your MCMs. What is it aboutMCM design buildings that that means so much
(11:41):
to you? And then we'll getinto the courthouses, because I mean going
up to eighty seven, got Chilicothee, Clarendon, there's another sea town,
I can't remember what it is upon two eighty seven, and there's some
really cool old courthouses from like themid eighteen hundreds that are still up and
running. What is it about thosebuildings? So for me, mids you
(12:03):
know, mids Centurius I And ifyou go to my uh the architect section
that was that, there's like asubsection called small town n CM. And
yeah, I was at arch pictureschool, uh four to seven. Uh,
And what I started I started reallypay attention to, you know,
(12:24):
Billies Moore is that drive around thestate. Uh. You know, I
had a brother lived out Chania lateor San Antonio at that point, So
I go and just travel around thestate a lot, like you know Texans
tend to do. I started toknow like smaller tasks would have by these
mystry modern buildings mm hmm. Butyou would see that eating that they built
(12:46):
for me the last ten years wasreally no design to They're all very basic,
lowest common denominator. Yeah, alot of it. You know,
you might just metal metal buildings,creciator of metal buildings. And it just
l that me think, like,what was it about those decades mainly nineteen
(13:09):
fifties, nineteen sixties, sometimes thereearly is the forties that that seemed like
even in small towns, people therewere really proud of their progressive architecture.
Yeah, And and I feel likethat's something that's yeah, I don't really
get too political, but you knowkind of our right, uh division,
(13:33):
you know, in the political climate, you know, typically smaller towns,
rural areas lean more conservative, andyou just don't that type of community doesn't
seem to support progressive architecture, right. So yeah, it just maybe maybe
curious about what was going on inthese towns and that in this period that
(13:54):
they were so so proud of buildingpublic buildings that that were progressive. Yeah,
And so that's on top of that, I just I just love them
seem design. It's the kind ofthe the low sung nature of it,
the horizon horizontality, kind of thesliding planes. Yeah, you know,
(14:18):
flat to low roofs and butterfly rugs, just that. And you know,
I listened to one of your earlierepos, earlier episodes earlier, and you
talked about Goo architecture and m CMis just like the it's like the gateway
drill of Google, right, yeah, exactly, And and then certainly with
(14:46):
it, with it, with theGoo architecture typically that's you know, roadside
hotels and diners and that sort ofthing, and so they've got to have
size to advertise their business. Andso that MC slash Googy architecture just just
kind of kind of exist hand inhand with these size that we all know.
(15:07):
And there was all what they callDoogie architecture something vernacular. It was
basically kind of a backhanded compliment onwhat Googie was because it was accessible.
It was accessible to the masses.Like as I was talking with Oh,
I think the Sandwich Life, Ithink we were talking about that, you
(15:33):
know, falling water and Frank LloydWright, I mean, the only really
accessible Frank Lloyd Right architecture that couldthink of is Lake Jackson, Texas,
because Frank Lloyd Wright actually helped designLake Jackson. From what I understand,
I had a coworker from Lake Jacksonand kind of you know, and you
have ted, you have rose likethis way, that way, other way,
(15:56):
center way and things and fun thingslike that. Anyway, but it
was accessible. Googie was it,you know, highbrow stuck. The first
Googie was a coffee shop called Googie's. Then he had Norms and Mills and
Bob's Big Boy. So it's allvery accessible and I know it's gonna get
(16:22):
The thing is after we stopped talking, don't come to me well what it
was called, but you know,and MCM was made for the masses as
well in a lot of ways,like those batwing gas stations that you'll sometimes
find if they haven't ripped down thebat wing yet, and banks and like
(16:44):
you have Thomas Jefferson Middle School infor Arthur. Yeah, and it's such
an interest. It's such a jetsand style type of building. What is
that? It's this only patent,I mean just the I had the structural
(17:07):
experimentation of that, the roofs there, right, It's it's not just you
build columns and then then place beamsacross that, and then you put the
roof on top of that. Likedoing like that, You've got a huge
concrete uh base at each corner,and then these are beams that come off
(17:29):
of those and connected to the oppositeside, and then there's like this complex
geometry where those come together when youdraw them out into uh you know,
and the barrel vaults and almost it'snot it's not easy to design and plant
something like that, especially when youthink about the technology they were working with
(17:51):
at the time. Yeah, andand yeah, I just I'm just so
proud that that sounds like for otherhalf things like that. Yeah, and
so what and just a little trivianote that so that was also so before
that was Thomas Schiffs from millspe ToomasJefferson High School. Uh huh, which
(18:12):
is the high school where Jazz Joppand Jimmy Johnson went went went to school.
Were they at school together? Ibelieve? So that's oh man,
that's so strange. Yeah, sarendipitous, yeah in a way. But uh
so what you what was your conclusionor did you come to a conclusion as
(18:33):
to why the two towns of gontof mine right now are Palestine, Texas,
which their downtown is amazingly mid centurymodern. Well I'll added the third
one Tucop Cherry, Uh, NewMexico, and then you throw in uh
Livingston, Texas, Leviston, Texasdowntown is amazing. Uh. These little
(18:55):
towns have these amazing like mid centuryYeah, some of them really boxing,
but there's there's a beauty to theboxingess of some of these buildings downtown.
Oh for sure. Yeah. Ihit luks In one day and just shot
a shot a ton of buildings there. And was it Gilliard's Oh yeah,
(19:18):
that is that is that sign isno longer there. Unfortunate. Oh sad
to hear. I was counting onlast night that that were no longer there.
That do up so that that makesthem it? Yeah, and luckily
Galloway, the Galloway sign is stillthere. But the motel has gone through
two floods within a week. Uhwhat I went through there? That stinks.
(19:45):
Yeah, you know I was.I drove by that. That's I
believe I had my camera. Idid not stop. That was kind of
running out of daylight. Yeah,getting over to give her to another location.
Yeah, I hear you, butthat will bring us to the end
of our second segment of International SignFinders. When we come back, we'll
(20:07):
get into a project that Rent didthat you try to get a sign added
into it, and we'll see ifthat actually happened. Get it tuned.
Here to International Sign Finders. Welcomeback to International Sign Finders. Our third
(20:37):
segment with Brent Oldbury, and we'retalking about miss century modern architecture. I
actually found out the term they hadfor Googie. It was called vulgar vernacular.
That's what the architecture schools called it. Unfortunately, but you know what,
we'll we will own the vulgarness that'ssouth past. So we're here at
(21:00):
Brett Oldbury and we were talking abouttaking pictures of signs in small towns like
Livingston, Palestine, who can carrycompared to Houston, still small town before
New Mexico is a nice sized town. Is bigger than what I grew up
in. My little town's two hundredpeople now in North Carolina. But now
(21:21):
we're going to get it to someof the architectural projects that Britain himself has
gotten into. Now, you werekind of teasing me about a architecture project
that you're trying to get a signbuilt with or into what's the backstory of
that. Oh yeah, this wasthis would have been back in twenty fourteen,
(21:45):
twenty fifteen. I was working outon it with a archestra firm there
in Houston. And we're designed inthe replacement high school or the old b
High School. Okay West said ofHouston h during construction, Uh that I
got caught up with the Confederate Navy. Uh kind of furor and they renamed
(22:11):
this called a Wisdom Ice. Butuh we when we started it was was
delete the old Lee High School.Uh and uh not necessarily miss but very
sleek and modern design. Uh.And we wanted to you know, in
all the hi s Houston in defenseCholester schools that would being at the time
(22:33):
that they all they all needed usa sign also a sign out, and
we really tried to make our specialand uh made a really sleep design.
Uh yeah, didn't include neo,but we we kind of put some some
back lighting and a hidden back lightingand we kind of set that out to
(22:56):
some Uh there's some of the signcompanies in town and they just didn't probably
know what to do. But becauseyou're so used to doing the same old,
same old Yeah, at all thestores and gas stations and you literally
do now. So it took usa few iterations to get them on board
(23:21):
what we're trying to do. Andof course, you know, we didn't
fully understand the uh kah, theins and outs of design to sign building
a sign. So they got temwhat we did and they came up with
something pretty similar that was gonna workthat we were really proud of. And
yeah, the price had came backfrom that about thirty thousand, uh,
(23:45):
which when you're talking about school budgetsfor building, it's a little pricey for
a for a I mean it's justfor a sign out front. And uh,
but are the project man measure forthe for the school district kind of
held on to make it. Thesign such a great sign and it's such
(24:06):
a such an important school for forWest Houston. We want to do something
special board of them, but unfortunately, in the end get the same old
lollipop style sign that every other yeahsince school set up. Uh you drive
by there, uh Fildroff just southof Brisman. Uh, you know you'll
(24:29):
see you'll see the sad side thel a ed marquee underneath it. That's
Wisdom High School, Yes, WisdomIce on Beverly Hill Street. I'll have
to take a look at that becauseuh, Hillcroft still has a little bit
of Yeah there's some cool little likesigns of stuff up Hillcroft, like the
(24:53):
old Uh there's flaheta flat it's onHillcroft. Uh uh just north of there,
and uh there's there's some neat littlethings there. I'll have to check
that sign out. But yeah,I know, I know what you're talking
about. Like his traveler around toHouston. You see sometimes you'll see a
light You're like, is that one? Is that one? And you go,
(25:15):
there's a it's a school sign that'strying so hard. They're just trying
so hard. But uh, yeah, that's so interesting. Have you ever
had run into I just wonder,you know, having talked to some sign
people, I just wish that AriaSigns and Houston's sign Boss, I wonder
(25:41):
what they could have done with that, because Houston's sign Boss has learned how
to take not the individual light littlelight LEDs which are horrific. And uh
there's said Doggos Mexican restaurant over andwhat and Spa branch east and they put
(26:03):
they have like the chain letters withthe led lights. You're like, Oh
no, that's it's a trast andreally sadness the state of uh yet signs
And yeah, it's just that conveniusstores and restaurants like that. Yeah,
and that's the reason why I byfind a there's handy Mart number fifty four
(26:26):
there in Golfton, I think it'sGolfton or South part of Sharkstown. They
still have me on. I've goneand gotten that at least two or three
times, because you know, whenyou see a sign like that's still low
Wing, You're like, I don'tcare how many times I've gotten it.
I still got to get it inlike brute Landia. It's not lit up,
(26:49):
but it's in some disrepair, butit's still a cool historical sign that
I love to take pictures of.That's is what you'll see a bunch of
multi pulls on my way on myInstagram paying try to get it. But
uh yeah, So what part ofwhat parts of Houston did you work in
(27:10):
when you're working architecture or did youwork all over it? Yeah? So
I I had that one project outthere on the West Side, or I've
got two projects in the met Centerthat I worked on. Oh yeah,
that's cool. The the New DebateHigh School, Okay, and that what
(27:34):
used to be the the Bank ofAmerica tower. Uh where a main and
all of those. Okay, SoI don't know if you were you well
you were, Yeah, apparently youwere here yet the hurricane Ike fan through.
Yeah, it blew some of themarble panels off the side of the
size of that building. It's fora while and in Texas, A and
(27:56):
M bought it and put a medicalschool in there. Uh, the fear
as that before we re renovated thatfrom mid century office tower to uh to
med medical school. Because I knowwhat, I know what building you're you're
talking about, because I've had totake my daughter down to the Texas Children's
(28:18):
Texas Children's Hospital down there and uhin the medical center, and that's a
big freaking building. I don't know. Uh, there's there's a few that
are bigger than it, but theycome out after that. They've added several
more towers. They're adding several towersnow. But yeah, it was as
like a seventeen story uh office towerthat this right on the corner. Yeah,
(28:45):
yeah, there's some there's still afew leftover. Things in a medical
center, especially the blue tile signs. There's a few, uh a few
little neighborhoods that still keep their bluetile signs, and it warms my heart
whenever I go through there. It'sand those are going by the wayside as
well. There such a pride aboutthose in you said, now, let's
(29:07):
you'll see you like people kind ofcreate logos, Yeah, saying Steve Houston.
They'll do that utile, futile style. And I actually work for a
guy who creates those and will installthem on your curb side if you let,
if you want him to. Ohwow, Yeah, he used to
run a garage company. I didthe social media for him and then we
(29:30):
just lost track of each other.He actually bought me my computer, so
I'd have to say thanks to him. Thank you, Eric. If you
need it back, we'll talk aboutthat. But that'll bring us to the
end of our third segment of Internationalsign Finders. When we come back,
we'll talk more with Britt about someof his uh fucking list places he wants
(29:52):
to go to. Maybe whatever elsewe want to shoot the dust about or
shoot the shinabout. I don't knowwhat's a better term for that. Shoot
the shoot the breeze. I don'tknow shoot the breeze. That's it.
Yeah, I always forget shoot thebreeze. I only know it as the
other one here. That's right.Someone's got to give me a check.
(30:17):
Brent, thank you so much.But when we come back, we'll get
into that and maybe a little bitmore. You're listening to International sign Finders.
(30:40):
Welcome back to International sign Finders.Glad you're still with us. We
have the one and only Brent oldBerry with us. Go and check him
out. His Instagram handle is BrentUnderscore old Berry. That's old b u
r y H. And also I'llhave links up in the show notes on
how you can get to his website. You can check out some of its
princes and stuff like that, andjust see all the amazing things that he
(31:04):
has taken pictures of. Now,one of the things I love to finish
off with in my shows is arepeople's bucket lists. But before we do
that, let's talk about the signsyou found in Denver. Denver's got an
amazing neon culture there, and Italked to Quirky and Todd a few weeks
ago and they are working on restoringa lot of these old signs. And
(31:27):
one of the quirkiest things about Denveris you'll see like the Bunny Motel.
I forget what it's called off thetop of my head. Right now,
are you gonta caught the blue Bunny? Now? Yeah, the Blue Bunny
and the sign is owned by someoneelse and it's leased out to the motel,
(31:49):
which makes no sense to me,but it's done. And a lot
of it is grandfather Dad that theycan keep the signs, which yeah said,
that is a different story than wehave had telled uh old olden telled
whatever on a different day. Now, the signs there in Denver for you,
(32:10):
I, me and the English languagehave a love hate relationship. Let's
just be honest. Now, foryou and the science in Denver, what
what is that? How's that foryou? As a sign enthusiast. I
mean I lived up here and Ihad no clue what I was what I
was stepping into, right, Yeah, just so many great signs everywhere,
(32:31):
And like I said earlier, likeit's it's the drier climate here, so
I guess they you know, they'rethey're preserved a little better and they're not
as not as hard to maintain.Ah, but yeah, I got here.
I'm like, this's going on?Why does this be great? Signs?
That started some research on the internetand I started learning about full Fax
(32:52):
Avenue, which basically was the mainmain route through town before they built the
interstate highwaysis yeah, I said,you know, before they built I seventy
through Denver East West. Uh andI mean here, you know, we
kind of break it down to EastColfax and West Boat facts, but basically
(33:14):
the whole wholly through that that streetand uh, it's supposedly the longest street
in America. I don't know howyou how you prove something like that that
that's the plane. Uh. Itwas just wide with these you know,
mid century mot you know motels,and uh, you know, because that
(33:38):
was kind of there was the gatewayto the Rockies, right. So people
go on vacations that come in comethrough Denver and they need place to stay
before they make the chugger across themountains or you know, up into up
to the skiers ritual or whatever.And uh so just just blocks and blocks,
miles and miles of just these themotels, right just and uh and
(34:04):
they all had these great neons areand I had no no clue how how
many of the lost. Uh it'sthere's you know who does Maybe maybe two
thirds of them are gone point,but there's still a lot left. And
uh and there's an Instagram account Ithink it's just called cold Fax Museum.
(34:29):
Check that out. They kind ofkeep track of when size get taken down
and that that I think they advocatefor for saving you know, where they
get, you know, storing themsomewhere, restoring them I think get taken
out for whatever reason. It's thatthat's that's a good resource they're working for
for cold Fax signs. Yeah.Uh, but that's not the only place
in town. I mean just it'sit's they're everywhere. And not to kind
(34:54):
of delay this too long, butone other thing that I really love about
Denver Science is the liquor store side. Yeah. There are so just some
great liquor store sides, and obviouslythose are not being well made to uh
you see these great sidneys. Wow, this ms to be a really great
(35:15):
liquor store. And you go inand it's just the doubling and the other
licker stores like that. At somepoint the owners at at we're making up
money. They invested in a greatbeyond side for their stores and uh and
which is such a contrast to theHouston liquor stores because Houston liquor stores just
(35:37):
had that red arrow that said liquorunless it's Specs. Specs is a different
breed. Were there tons of littleliquor stores around Houston that just have this
red arrow? They used to haveneon on and some of them still do.
It's it's where I know when there'soff of Dixie Drive or near Dixie
Drive there in uh Golf Crest downsouth the South Flue. But yeah,
(36:04):
you had this plain red arrow thatsaid liquor and it points to liquor store.
But you're right, like up atFort Hollins, I took a picture
one. Oh, of course Ihave to look through my photos. But
it was an amazing liquor store sign. I mean, he couldn't beat it
with a stick. It was sogreat. So now let's get into No,
(36:29):
it's Big Bunny. I just lookedit up. It's the Big Bunny
Motel. Yeah, they have thebackstory of that. I wonder if they
were like trying to base it offBugs Bunny. They were forced to change
the name. Yeah, I readthat originally it was they called the Bugs
Bunny Motel, and Warner Brothers actuallygot word of that made them change it.
(36:51):
Yeah, it sounds about right.Yeah. And then you get closer
to Disney and you have the PeterPan Motel and they didn't make them change
that. But I think that mightbe something that was in the public domain
for a long time and Disney wouldhave looked really bad if they would have
made him change it. Oh,speak of Peter Band Motel. There was
a Peter Band Motel on South Maineand really, yes, so the whole
(37:17):
stress between the South Loop all theway up to like where South Maine across
Kirby was all of those missidaries tightmotels and they're all, well, oh
you're not kidding, Yeah, yeah, I've seen some of them, like
Dido's and a few other motels.There. Used to be like a Tiki
(37:38):
motel as well in town and allthat was along was it ninety Highway ninety
And now most of it's like themuseum is not the museum district, but
the medical center going down into likeSouth Maine and all that is just interstate
(38:00):
now right. It is sad.So with a few remaining minutes, what
are some places that you'd like togo to. Oh gosh, So I
did do a road trip, uhduring the pandemic out the Grand Canyon.
So we we hit kind of someof some of the towns along the old
(38:22):
Roup sixty six. I guess mybuckets would be it do that again,
but have the time to stop fullyexplore and photograph those sign we you know,
we we didn't have that kind oftime on that trip. Yeah,
I got a few and then westopped and uh stay to night in Flagstaff
(38:45):
and Arizona, and there's great signsthere. But yeah, I just just
to take that stretch of while interstateyou know, I guess from from Albuquerque
west and everywhere there's a there's asign or a roadside of a traction that
(39:07):
that disrepair. That's that's that's youknow, a perfect ruin. Really,
I just be able to stop andphotograph those those locations that that would be
my bucket list. Yeah, thatis a great bucke list, because I
wish I could have stopped in Grants, uh, right there on the bottom
(39:29):
of the Navajo Nation, because wetook the Highway north and that is a
bumpy stretcher road. It's up toFarmington. But uh yeah, I I
hear you. I'd love to stopin Grants and all the like Santa Rosa,
San John, all those crazy littletowns, even just to take time
(39:50):
in Albuquerque. Albuquerque's got some amazingstuff like the Monterey del Lido. Uh
there's a few other like Mexican restaurantsin that little air you downtown. My
wife wasn't too happy that I tookus downtown Albuquerque. Yeah. So so
that will bring us to the endof our show. It goes by so
(40:12):
fast, it's it's wild. Thankyou so much for being on the show
once again. And what are whatare your websites or places that you'd like
to plug that we can get grownonto the show notes at the end.
Uh yeah, just yeahs Instagram.I'm like you said, film, I
was already Brent underscore old Berry andthen uh just rent old Bray Photography dot
(40:34):
com. That's that's my website.Uh that start of this guy's a pandemic
hobby and uh yeah, so Iwe're good at that. It's not maintaining
as well that light you're at thispoint, but all the photos are there
and there and divide up in thedifferent categories of what I like to like
to shoot, so I can promiseat least two people visiting. That's all
(40:57):
I can promise right now. HopefullyI'm not overselling myself. But once again,
thanks so much Brett for joining us, and until next time, get
out there, have fun, takelots of photos, share him with us,
Follow Brett, he is criminally underfollowed. I think you'd have one hundred
and ninety five right now. Let'ssee if we can get him up over
(41:20):
the two hundred mar Yeah, that'dbe nice. Yeah, exactly. Hit
the ground running and have fun.Until next time, Happy sign finding everybody,
Welcome everybody to another episode of Internationalsign Finders. It has been chaotic ground
here, let's just put it.Let's just put it simple. With the
hurricane happening and I broke my toeand may have horned some ligaments of my
foot. It's been a while pastfew days, and tonight we have another
guest from the lovely area of Denver, Colorado. He has a wonderful website
(00:40):
that he is dedicated to signs andmaybe he sells some visprints there if he
does hit it up, and wewill have it leaked up in our show
notes at the end of when everything'ssaid and done, I've got all compiled,
I'll get up on the show notes. And also he's an architect by
trade. Is that correct, Brent? That's right? Yep. Cool.
(01:02):
So tonight our guest is Brent Oldberry. Welcome to the show. Brent.
Thanks truth. Yeah, so gladto have you here. Yeah, glad
to have you here. It's beena wild while past few weeks, just
getting just getting in and at histoday even and I'm I'm recording from home.
(01:23):
But so once you introduce yourself andthen after that we will get into
maybe some signs that kind of tiedyou into the side hunting community. They
kind of gave you the bug thatbit you. Sure, so yeah,
I mean, yep, Brettleberry.I we've been in southeast Texas, spent
a lot of time in Houston,probably, but almost twenty years in two
(01:46):
different steads there in Houston, andI've been in Denver the past five plus
years. And honestly, the hurricanesone of the ress I moved out of
the Houston area. The South,Yeah, the Gulf Coast area. So
yeah, I don't blame you.The thing is, I grew up in
(02:07):
eastern North Carolina and we had afew hurricanes come through there. Like one
time, we had a few hurricaneshit and drop about thirty five inches of
rain and it flooded like they've neverseen before, almost like Harvey. Yeah,
Harvey was just about the last rowfor us. Yeah, and that's
(02:28):
when we moved here. We movedhere a month before Harvey hit. Yeah,
Like we were supposed to close inour house and then Harvey hits,
and in a weird way, itwas serendipitous because our house is South Carolina
didn't close. Yeah, it wasweird. So yeah, welcome. And
(02:50):
so one thing is I wish Icould see more. The algorithm on Instagram
sometimes isn't the greatest, and Idon't get to see people like you and
yours. Signs hit my beat awhole lot. Unfortunately, I wish they
did, because you have some greatpictures on your Instagram page. You're welcome,
definitely welcome. How long have youbeen taking pictures of signs? And
(03:15):
and after that we'll finally get tothe maybe the one sign or an event
or whatever it was that kind ofled you into taking pictures of signs.
So yeah, I looked back throughnot just Mystery but my splitter and it
goes back further than my Instagram.Oh wow, although play on my foot
(03:38):
today. I think maybe they deletedmy photos. I'm not paying anymore.
Oh geez, Yeah, no,Bige, I've got I kind of say
somewhere. But going back to thatthough, I I kind of tracked down
kind of the first sign that Iphotographed, and that was twenty seventeen.
(03:58):
Yeah, that happened to be inin Jasper, Texas. And I think
at that point I was just gettinginto Durphy. Uh I hadn't evened I
hadn't even bought a uh a DSLRcamera that once used to bottle cannon power
shot shoot and UH had a buddythere in using that. We'd go out,
(04:25):
uh you know on weekends on Saturdays. It went out to some smaller
town, found the per free issuestar even further and uh and we got
to Jazzer one time. Uh,you know, for that same reason to
believed county seats because I also atthe photograph Hunty courthouses. Texas has some
(04:48):
fantastic county courrehouses. Kid. Andyeah, so while we're there, uh,
I saw this sign, uh anold moot tell fall. Yeah,
and uh that was a little bitof a backstory on that because when I
(05:09):
was a kid in Southeast Texas,my my grandparents lived up at Lake did
a Bend. Uh, So webuilt their visits quite a bit, and
uh Jasper was just about the halfwaymore and so some so on the especially
if we were coming back at youknow after dark, Uh we hit we
did Jasper. I see that travelerssignal ended up, and I knew we
(05:30):
were just halfway all that point,okay as a kid, so like,
yeah, I saw that sign hadthat connection to it when I was a
kid, and photographed it and uh, and as I was kind of kind
of getting into photography in general thereand Social Flicker just kind of discovered every
communities a different group. Skiel whowas kind of focused on photographing like certain
(05:54):
things, and science is one ofthose that I just really just was attracted
to those photos and just just howjust how beautiful the science could be.
Whether they're well capped or whether they'rein disrepair, they get both ways.
Both ways they can be really greatsubjects for photography. And it's like that,
(06:16):
yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, And that's such an interesting thing
because like the Travelers Hotel, I'msorry I interrupted you. Sorry of course,
but it's it's still in a prettydecent shape, but the neon is
starting to fall off and it makesinteresting shapes. Of course you don't.
(06:43):
One part of me is like,no, please don't fall into disrepair.
Other parts like, ooh, whatcould this look like? You know?
It sounds like the Larry's hot Dogsign. Was it in Denver? I've
been seeing it a lot lately.I think they've redone it. It might
be in California, know them,know my luck, but they've been showing
it in like super rusty Patina withjust barely any Neon tubes left, and
(07:12):
they've showed it restored and it's it'skind of a cool before and after mix.
Yeah. Unfortunately, the Travers MotelSize one owner with his sie oh
another sign hunter fominated on my myFlicker post of that said it was no
(07:32):
longer there and when well, Ithuted after the motel was closed and half
born down already anyway, so okay, I was happy to know that last
Longs did. Yeah, it's almostlike the Triple D Hotel and Motel in
Wichita Falls. When I went by, there's even I mean that arrow has
to be thirty ft tall, twentythirty feet tall, and I think it's
(07:56):
finally they finally tore it all down. So it's one of those treasures that
you treasure while you can't and itlives on in memories and photos for sure.
Yeah. So history, do youuh, do you feel like that
when you go out and take picturesthat you're capturing bits of history to share
(08:18):
with others, Because I admit thatmaybe that that's kind of why I do
my my page is there isn't reallya historical document saying these are all the
neon signs in Houston or were,because there were tons of awesome neon back
in the fifties and sixties and seventies. It's all gone away. And when
I got here, I noticed therewasn't a whole lot of neon compared to
(08:41):
like Denver or Salt Lake or evena little like Tucu Carri. Tuco Carrey
is a treasure trove of neon.And He's just like, yeah, we
had some old stuff and we toreit all down, right, and what
I've heard, and it makes alot of sense that uh, you know,
to and carry and a lot ofthose little towns along the overroute sixty
(09:05):
six. Yeah, so many goodneon signs laut there because that dry climate
there helps me. Yeah. Well, Darren, Houston is so humid that
I could see that mainenans of aside. This would just be be a
real hassle. Yeah, there's arend new Ojos Locos, uh near where
(09:28):
I lived. Uh, they've alreadyhad to repair the main sign at least
two or three times the work tobe one hundred percent. Yeah, it's
a crazy You see, when peoplethink of humidity, they think maybe North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,which are humid, but Houston's a different
level. I group in humidity.This is a swamp absolute well they call
(09:52):
it Bayou City. They mean it, that's right. Yeah. So that
brings to the end of our firstsegment of International Signfire. When we come
back, we'll get it to alittle bit of Rint's architectural photography, some
more of his sign photography, andmaybe into some more stories and such that
we can swap. You're listening toInternational sign Finders. Welcome back to International
(10:35):
sign Finders. Glad you're with us. We have the amazing Brent Oldburry with
us. Go and follow him onInstagram. It's Brent Underscore Old Berry.
Is that right, that's right?Yeah, cool, So Brent Underscore or
old Berry. I can't speak today. Yeah, it's been a wild day.
Uh yeah, I won't get ittold. And I think you're doing
(10:58):
great for using this close at Santafor hurricane exactly well. And also haven't
had my adderall in a couple ofdays. So oh business, just making
sentences. It's tough, but uhwell, we'll see if those excuses for
later on when I really screw thingsup. But uh, you say that
you're into architecture as well, andif you go to Brint's page, you'll
(11:20):
see some awesome mid century Modern designbuildings from across Southeast Texas, across uh,
you know, I think you've evengone up into Colorado as well with
your MCMs. What is it aboutMCM design buildings that that means so much
(11:41):
to you? And then we'll getinto the courthouses, because I mean going
up to eighty seven, got Chilicothee, Clarendon, there's another sea town,
I can't remember what it is upon two eighty seven, and there's some
really cool old courthouses from like themid eighteen hundreds that are still up and
running. What is it about thosebuildings? So for me, mids you
(12:03):
know, mids Centurius I And ifyou go to my uh the architect section
that was that, there's like asubsection called small town n CM. And
yeah, I was at arch pictureschool, uh four to seven. Uh,
And what I started I started reallypay attention to, you know,
(12:24):
Billies Moore is that drive around thestate. Uh. You know, I
had a brother lived out Chania lateor San Antonio at that point, So
I go and just travel around thestate a lot, like you know Texans
tend to do. I started toknow like smaller tasks would have by these
mystry modern buildings mm hmm. Butyou would see that eating that they built
(12:46):
for me the last ten years wasreally no design to They're all very basic,
lowest common denominator. Yeah, alot of it. You know,
you might just metal metal buildings,creciator of metal buildings. And it just
l that me think, like,what was it about those decades mainly nineteen
(13:09):
fifties, nineteen sixties, sometimes thereearly is the forties that that seemed like
even in small towns, people therewere really proud of their progressive architecture.
Yeah, And and I feel likethat's something that's yeah, I don't really
get too political, but you knowkind of our right, uh division,
(13:33):
you know, in the political climate, you know, typically smaller towns,
rural areas lean more conservative, andyou just don't that type of community doesn't
seem to support progressive architecture, right. So yeah, it just maybe maybe
curious about what was going on inthese towns and that in this period that
(13:54):
they were so so proud of buildingpublic buildings that that were progressive. Yeah,
And so that's on top of that, I just I just love them
seem design. It's the kind ofthe the low sung nature of it,
the horizon horizontality, kind of thesliding planes. Yeah, you know,
(14:18):
flat to low roofs and butterfly rugs, just that. And you know,
I listened to one of your earlierepos, earlier episodes earlier, and you
talked about Goo architecture and m CMis just like the it's like the gateway
drill of Google, right, yeah, exactly, And and then certainly with
(14:46):
it, with it, with theGoo architecture typically that's you know, roadside
hotels and diners and that sort ofthing, and so they've got to have
size to advertise their business. Andso that MC slash Googy architecture just just
kind of kind of exist hand inhand with these size that we all know.
(15:07):
And there was all what they callDoogie architecture something vernacular. It was
basically kind of a backhanded compliment onwhat Googie was because it was accessible.
It was accessible to the masses.Like as I was talking with Oh,
I think the Sandwich Life, Ithink we were talking about that, you
(15:33):
know, falling water and Frank LloydWright, I mean, the only really
accessible Frank Lloyd Right architecture that couldthink of is Lake Jackson, Texas,
because Frank Lloyd Wright actually helped designLake Jackson. From what I understand,
I had a coworker from Lake Jacksonand kind of you know, and you
have ted, you have rose likethis way, that way, other way,
(15:56):
center way and things and fun thingslike that. Anyway, but it
was accessible. Googie was it,you know, highbrow stuck. The first
Googie was a coffee shop called Googie's. Then he had Norms and Mills and
Bob's Big Boy. So it's allvery accessible and I know it's gonna get
(16:22):
The thing is after we stopped talking, don't come to me well what it
was called, but you know,and MCM was made for the masses as
well in a lot of ways,like those batwing gas stations that you'll sometimes
find if they haven't ripped down thebat wing yet, and banks and like
(16:44):
you have Thomas Jefferson Middle School infor Arthur. Yeah, and it's such
an interest. It's such a jetsand style type of building. What is
that? It's this only patent,I mean just the I had the structural
(17:07):
experimentation of that, the roofs there, right, It's it's not just you
build columns and then then place beamsacross that, and then you put the
roof on top of that. Likedoing like that, You've got a huge
concrete uh base at each corner,and then these are beams that come off
(17:29):
of those and connected to the oppositeside, and then there's like this complex
geometry where those come together when youdraw them out into uh you know,
and the barrel vaults and almost it'snot it's not easy to design and plant
something like that, especially when youthink about the technology they were working with
(17:51):
at the time. Yeah, andand yeah, I just I'm just so
proud that that sounds like for otherhalf things like that. Yeah, and
so what and just a little trivianote that so that was also so before
that was Thomas Schiffs from millspe ToomasJefferson High School. Uh huh, which
(18:12):
is the high school where Jazz Joppand Jimmy Johnson went went went to school.
Were they at school together? Ibelieve? So that's oh man,
that's so strange. Yeah, sarendipitous, yeah in a way. But uh
so what you what was your conclusionor did you come to a conclusion as
(18:33):
to why the two towns of gontof mine right now are Palestine, Texas,
which their downtown is amazingly mid centurymodern. Well I'll added the third
one Tucop Cherry, Uh, NewMexico, and then you throw in uh
Livingston, Texas, Leviston, Texasdowntown is amazing. Uh. These little
(18:55):
towns have these amazing like mid centuryYeah, some of them really boxing,
but there's there's a beauty to theboxingess of some of these buildings downtown.
Oh for sure. Yeah. Ihit luks In one day and just shot
a shot a ton of buildings there. And was it Gilliard's Oh yeah,
(19:18):
that is that is that sign isno longer there. Unfortunate. Oh sad
to hear. I was counting onlast night that that were no longer there.
That do up so that that makesthem it? Yeah, and luckily
Galloway, the Galloway sign is stillthere. But the motel has gone through
two floods within a week. Uhwhat I went through there? That stinks.
(19:45):
Yeah, you know I was.I drove by that. That's I
believe I had my camera. Idid not stop. That was kind of
running out of daylight. Yeah,getting over to give her to another location.
Yeah, I hear you, butthat will bring us to the end
of our second segment of International SignFinders. When we come back, we'll
(20:07):
get into a project that Rent didthat you try to get a sign added
into it, and we'll see ifthat actually happened. Get it tuned.
Here to International Sign Finders. Welcomeback to International Sign Finders. Our third
(20:37):
segment with Brent Oldbury, and we'retalking about miss century modern architecture. I
actually found out the term they hadfor Googie. It was called vulgar vernacular.
That's what the architecture schools called it. Unfortunately, but you know what,
we'll we will own the vulgarness that'ssouth past. So we're here at
(21:00):
Brett Oldbury and we were talking abouttaking pictures of signs in small towns like
Livingston, Palestine, who can carrycompared to Houston, still small town before
New Mexico is a nice sized town. Is bigger than what I grew up
in. My little town's two hundredpeople now in North Carolina. But now
(21:21):
we're going to get it to someof the architectural projects that Britain himself has
gotten into. Now, you werekind of teasing me about a architecture project
that you're trying to get a signbuilt with or into what's the backstory of
that. Oh yeah, this wasthis would have been back in twenty fourteen,
(21:45):
twenty fifteen. I was working outon it with a archestra firm there
in Houston. And we're designed inthe replacement high school or the old b
High School. Okay West said ofHouston h during construction, Uh that I
got caught up with the Confederate Navy. Uh kind of furor and they renamed
(22:11):
this called a Wisdom Ice. Butuh we when we started it was was
delete the old Lee High School.Uh and uh not necessarily miss but very
sleek and modern design. Uh.And we wanted to you know, in
all the hi s Houston in defenseCholester schools that would being at the time
(22:33):
that they all they all needed usa sign also a sign out, and
we really tried to make our specialand uh made a really sleep design.
Uh yeah, didn't include neo,but we we kind of put some some
back lighting and a hidden back lightingand we kind of set that out to
(22:56):
some Uh there's some of the signcompanies in town and they just didn't probably
know what to do. But becauseyou're so used to doing the same old,
same old Yeah, at all thestores and gas stations and you literally
do now. So it took usa few iterations to get them on board
(23:21):
what we're trying to do. Andof course, you know, we didn't
fully understand the uh kah, theins and outs of design to sign building
a sign. So they got temwhat we did and they came up with
something pretty similar that was gonna workthat we were really proud of. And
yeah, the price had came backfrom that about thirty thousand, uh,
(23:45):
which when you're talking about school budgetsfor building, it's a little pricey for
a for a I mean it's justfor a sign out front. And uh,
but are the project man measure forthe for the school district kind of
held on to make it. Thesign such a great sign and it's such
(24:06):
a such an important school for forWest Houston. We want to do something
special board of them, but unfortunately, in the end get the same old
lollipop style sign that every other yeahsince school set up. Uh you drive
by there, uh Fildroff just southof Brisman. Uh, you know you'll
(24:29):
see you'll see the sad side thel a ed marquee underneath it. That's
Wisdom High School, Yes, WisdomIce on Beverly Hill Street. I'll have
to take a look at that becauseuh, Hillcroft still has a little bit
of Yeah there's some cool little likesigns of stuff up Hillcroft, like the
(24:53):
old Uh there's flaheta flat it's onHillcroft. Uh uh just north of there,
and uh there's there's some neat littlethings there. I'll have to check
that sign out. But yeah,I know, I know what you're talking
about. Like his traveler around toHouston. You see sometimes you'll see a
light You're like, is that one? Is that one? And you go,
(25:15):
there's a it's a school sign that'strying so hard. They're just trying
so hard. But uh, yeah, that's so interesting. Have you ever
had run into I just wonder,you know, having talked to some sign
people, I just wish that AriaSigns and Houston's sign Boss, I wonder
(25:41):
what they could have done with that, because Houston's sign Boss has learned how
to take not the individual light littlelight LEDs which are horrific. And uh
there's said Doggos Mexican restaurant over andwhat and Spa branch east and they put
(26:03):
they have like the chain letters withthe led lights. You're like, Oh
no, that's it's a trast andreally sadness the state of uh yet signs
And yeah, it's just that conveniusstores and restaurants like that. Yeah,
and that's the reason why I byfind a there's handy Mart number fifty four
(26:26):
there in Golfton, I think it'sGolfton or South part of Sharkstown. They
still have me on. I've goneand gotten that at least two or three
times, because you know, whenyou see a sign like that's still low
Wing, You're like, I don'tcare how many times I've gotten it.
I still got to get it inlike brute Landia. It's not lit up,
(26:49):
but it's in some disrepair, butit's still a cool historical sign that
I love to take pictures of.That's is what you'll see a bunch of
multi pulls on my way on myInstagram paying try to get it. But
uh yeah, So what part ofwhat parts of Houston did you work in
(27:10):
when you're working architecture or did youwork all over it? Yeah? So
I I had that one project outthere on the West Side, or I've
got two projects in the met Centerthat I worked on. Oh yeah,
that's cool. The the New DebateHigh School, Okay, and that what
(27:34):
used to be the the Bank ofAmerica tower. Uh where a main and
all of those. Okay, SoI don't know if you were you well
you were, Yeah, apparently youwere here yet the hurricane Ike fan through.
Yeah, it blew some of themarble panels off the side of the
size of that building. It's fora while and in Texas, A and
(27:56):
M bought it and put a medicalschool in there. Uh, the fear
as that before we re renovated thatfrom mid century office tower to uh to
med medical school. Because I knowwhat, I know what building you're you're
talking about, because I've had totake my daughter down to the Texas Children's
(28:18):
Texas Children's Hospital down there and uhin the medical center, and that's a
big freaking building. I don't know. Uh, there's there's a few that
are bigger than it, but theycome out after that. They've added several
more towers. They're adding several towersnow. But yeah, it was as
like a seventeen story uh office towerthat this right on the corner. Yeah,
(28:45):
yeah, there's some there's still afew leftover. Things in a medical
center, especially the blue tile signs. There's a few, uh a few
little neighborhoods that still keep their bluetile signs, and it warms my heart
whenever I go through there. It'sand those are going by the wayside as
well. There such a pride aboutthose in you said, now, let's
(29:07):
you'll see you like people kind ofcreate logos, Yeah, saying Steve Houston.
They'll do that utile, futile style. And I actually work for a
guy who creates those and will installthem on your curb side if you let,
if you want him to. Ohwow, Yeah, he used to
run a garage company. I didthe social media for him and then we
(29:30):
just lost track of each other.He actually bought me my computer, so
I'd have to say thanks to him. Thank you, Eric. If you
need it back, we'll talk aboutthat. But that'll bring us to the
end of our third segment of Internationalsign Finders. When we come back,
we'll talk more with Britt about someof his uh fucking list places he wants
(29:52):
to go to. Maybe whatever elsewe want to shoot the dust about or
shoot the shinabout. I don't knowwhat's a better term for that. Shoot
the shoot the breeze. I don'tknow shoot the breeze. That's it.
Yeah, I always forget shoot thebreeze. I only know it as the
other one here. That's right.Someone's got to give me a check.
(30:17):
Brent, thank you so much.But when we come back, we'll get
into that and maybe a little bitmore. You're listening to International sign Finders.
(30:40):
Welcome back to International sign Finders.Glad you're still with us. We
have the one and only Brent oldBerry with us. Go and check him
out. His Instagram handle is BrentUnderscore old Berry. That's old b u
r y H. And also I'llhave links up in the show notes on
how you can get to his website. You can check out some of its
princes and stuff like that, andjust see all the amazing things that he
(31:04):
has taken pictures of. Now,one of the things I love to finish
off with in my shows is arepeople's bucket lists. But before we do
that, let's talk about the signsyou found in Denver. Denver's got an
amazing neon culture there, and Italked to Quirky and Todd a few weeks
ago and they are working on restoringa lot of these old signs. And
(31:27):
one of the quirkiest things about Denveris you'll see like the Bunny Motel.
I forget what it's called off thetop of my head. Right now,
are you gonta caught the blue Bunny? Now? Yeah, the Blue Bunny
and the sign is owned by someoneelse and it's leased out to the motel,
(31:49):
which makes no sense to me,but it's done. And a lot
of it is grandfather Dad that theycan keep the signs, which yeah said,
that is a different story than wehave had telled uh old olden telled
whatever on a different day. Now, the signs there in Denver for you,
(32:10):
I, me and the English languagehave a love hate relationship. Let's
just be honest. Now, foryou and the science in Denver, what
what is that? How's that foryou? As a sign enthusiast. I
mean I lived up here and Ihad no clue what I was what I
was stepping into, right, Yeah, just so many great signs everywhere,
(32:31):
And like I said earlier, likeit's it's the drier climate here, so
I guess they you know, they'rethey're preserved a little better and they're not
as not as hard to maintain.Ah, but yeah, I got here.
I'm like, this's going on?Why does this be great? Signs?
That started some research on the internetand I started learning about full Fax
(32:52):
Avenue, which basically was the mainmain route through town before they built the
interstate highwaysis yeah, I said,you know, before they built I seventy
through Denver East West. Uh andI mean here, you know, we
kind of break it down to EastColfax and West Boat facts, but basically
(33:14):
the whole wholly through that that streetand uh, it's supposedly the longest street
in America. I don't know howyou how you prove something like that that
that's the plane. Uh. Itwas just wide with these you know,
mid century mot you know motels,and uh, you know, because that
(33:38):
was kind of there was the gatewayto the Rockies, right. So people
go on vacations that come in comethrough Denver and they need place to stay
before they make the chugger across themountains or you know, up into up
to the skiers ritual or whatever.And uh so just just blocks and blocks,
miles and miles of just these themotels, right just and uh and
(34:04):
they all had these great neons areand I had no no clue how how
many of the lost. Uh it'sthere's you know who does Maybe maybe two
thirds of them are gone point,but there's still a lot left. And
uh and there's an Instagram account Ithink it's just called cold Fax Museum.
(34:29):
Check that out. They kind ofkeep track of when size get taken down
and that that I think they advocatefor for saving you know, where they
get, you know, storing themsomewhere, restoring them I think get taken
out for whatever reason. It's thatthat's that's a good resource they're working for
for cold Fax signs. Yeah.Uh, but that's not the only place
in town. I mean just it'sit's they're everywhere. And not to kind
(34:54):
of delay this too long, butone other thing that I really love about
Denver Science is the liquor store side. Yeah. There are so just some
great liquor store sides, and obviouslythose are not being well made to uh
you see these great sidneys. Wow, this ms to be a really great
(35:15):
liquor store. And you go inand it's just the doubling and the other
licker stores like that. At somepoint the owners at at we're making up
money. They invested in a greatbeyond side for their stores and uh and
which is such a contrast to theHouston liquor stores because Houston liquor stores just
(35:37):
had that red arrow that said liquorunless it's Specs. Specs is a different
breed. Were there tons of littleliquor stores around Houston that just have this
red arrow? They used to haveneon on and some of them still do.
It's it's where I know when there'soff of Dixie Drive or near Dixie
Drive there in uh Golf Crest downsouth the South Flue. But yeah,
(36:04):
you had this plain red arrow thatsaid liquor and it points to liquor store.
But you're right, like up atFort Hollins, I took a picture
one. Oh, of course Ihave to look through my photos. But
it was an amazing liquor store sign. I mean, he couldn't beat it
with a stick. It was sogreat. So now let's get into No,
(36:29):
it's Big Bunny. I just lookedit up. It's the Big Bunny
Motel. Yeah, they have thebackstory of that. I wonder if they
were like trying to base it offBugs Bunny. They were forced to change
the name. Yeah, I readthat originally it was they called the Bugs
Bunny Motel, and Warner Brothers actuallygot word of that made them change it.
(36:51):
Yeah, it sounds about right.Yeah. And then you get closer
to Disney and you have the PeterPan Motel and they didn't make them change
that. But I think that mightbe something that was in the public domain
for a long time and Disney wouldhave looked really bad if they would have
made him change it. Oh,speak of Peter Band Motel. There was
a Peter Band Motel on South Maineand really, yes, so the whole
(37:17):
stress between the South Loop all theway up to like where South Maine across
Kirby was all of those missidaries tightmotels and they're all, well, oh
you're not kidding, Yeah, yeah, I've seen some of them, like
Dido's and a few other motels.There. Used to be like a Tiki
(37:38):
motel as well in town and allthat was along was it ninety Highway ninety
And now most of it's like themuseum is not the museum district, but
the medical center going down into likeSouth Maine and all that is just interstate
(38:00):
now right. It is sad.So with a few remaining minutes, what
are some places that you'd like togo to. Oh gosh, So I
did do a road trip, uhduring the pandemic out the Grand Canyon.
So we we hit kind of someof some of the towns along the old
(38:22):
Roup sixty six. I guess mybuckets would be it do that again,
but have the time to stop fullyexplore and photograph those sign we you know,
we we didn't have that kind oftime on that trip. Yeah,
I got a few and then westopped and uh stay to night in Flagstaff
(38:45):
and Arizona, and there's great signsthere. But yeah, I just just
to take that stretch of while interstateyou know, I guess from from Albuquerque
west and everywhere there's a there's asign or a roadside of a traction that
(39:07):
that disrepair. That's that's that's youknow, a perfect ruin. Really,
I just be able to stop andphotograph those those locations that that would be
my bucket list. Yeah, thatis a great bucke list, because I
wish I could have stopped in Grants, uh, right there on the bottom
(39:29):
of the Navajo Nation, because wetook the Highway north and that is a
bumpy stretcher road. It's up toFarmington. But uh yeah, I I
hear you. I'd love to stopin Grants and all the like Santa Rosa,
San John, all those crazy littletowns, even just to take time
(39:50):
in Albuquerque. Albuquerque's got some amazingstuff like the Monterey del Lido. Uh
there's a few other like Mexican restaurantsin that little air you downtown. My
wife wasn't too happy that I tookus downtown Albuquerque. Yeah. So so
that will bring us to the endof our show. It goes by so
(40:12):
fast, it's it's wild. Thankyou so much for being on the show
once again. And what are whatare your websites or places that you'd like
to plug that we can get grownonto the show notes at the end.
Uh yeah, just yeahs Instagram.I'm like you said, film, I
was already Brent underscore old Berry andthen uh just rent old Bray Photography dot
(40:34):
com. That's that's my website.Uh that start of this guy's a pandemic
hobby and uh yeah, so Iwe're good at that. It's not maintaining
as well that light you're at thispoint, but all the photos are there
and there and divide up in thedifferent categories of what I like to like
to shoot, so I can promiseat least two people visiting. That's all
(40:57):
I can promise right now. HopefullyI'm not overselling myself. But once again,
thanks so much Brett for joining us, and until next time, get
out there, have fun, takelots of photos, share him with us,
Follow Brett, he is criminally underfollowed. I think you'd have one hundred
and ninety five right now. Let'ssee if we can get him up over
(41:20):
the two hundred mar Yeah, that'dbe nice. Yeah, exactly. Hit
the ground running and have fun.Until next time, Happy sign finding everybody,
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