July 27, 2024 • 50 mins
Rob, @kcsignchaser, joins the podcast and we talk about the allure of Kansas City (both sides) and the great treasures of small towns, old time theatres, and BBQ signs.
You can follow Rob at:
https://instagram.com/kcsignchaser
You can follow Rob at:
https://instagram.com/kcsignchaser
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Episode Transcript
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(00:19):
You've got it locked into International Signfinders. I'm your hoast Ravernati. Blad you're
with us. Another week of signfinding has come and gone, and hopefully
you're able to get out and findsome awesome signs and share them with us.
Do that, share with all ofus. Either tag me International Signfinders
or whatever you need to do,tag the rest of the crew with like
(00:39):
everything underscore signage. We'll find it, we'll see it, and we'll love
it. It doesn't matter if youhave one hundred or one hundred thousand followers,
we still want to see your stuff. And tonight we're heading back to
the Midwest, to Missouri, andwe're going to talk to a guy who
loves does hunt signs there in CanvasCity and areas around about. He goes
(01:02):
by Casey sign Chaser. Is thatright, Rob? That's it? Yeah?
All right, Rob Latimer, Welcometo the show. Rob, Thanks
Drew. Glad to be here.Yeah, glad you're with us. It's
been it's been a wild month,let's just put it that way. I
mean, we've talked about some otherthings that have happened recently in my life,
but I know here at Neuston we'vehad the hurricane. I mean,
(01:23):
you've had like political events of takingplex tests. I just I just want
July to just calm down. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Maybe
it's about to move for twenty twentyfive, but with everything going on.
But I'm with you. Yeah,I hear you, So make you do
yourself to the to the folks outthere. You actually gave us some great
(01:47):
news about the Italian gardens. Wemay get into that later on. Yeah.
Yet, Yeah, introduce yourself,Rob. Yeah, I'm gonna drab
Alatimer and live in Kansas City onthe Kansas side. Okay, But I've
I'm a graphic designer by trade.I've worked at Homework Cards for years and
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years and that's coming to an end. But I've also I'm a camera collectors
and that kind of plays into thissign chasing mind. It's an opportunity for
me to grab one of my oldercameras and and shoot signs, and so
I tend to travel with a couplebags of cameras and my iPhone and digital
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camera. Oddly enough, most ofthe pictures I post are from my iPhone
just because it's that's that's how Iinteract with Instagram, So it just makes
it so easy. You become prettyadept at editing with it. And the
other thing I've noticed with the iPhoneis it does a great job with Neo
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at night. Oh yeah, youknow, I shoot those pictures. I
look at my can digital camera andI'm like, I'm using iPhone photos.
So anyway, that's kind of howI roll. You know. I started
shooting signs that when I was atwork because I got a Olopus O three
camera. And again, I workedat Hallmark. I was a greeting card
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artist, a lettering artist, andso I wouldn't go out at lunch just
because I needed to get away frommy office, away from the computer.
And uh, you know, Iworked with a gentleman named Jerry Labato who
loves signs, who rescued signs,and so he kind of piqued my interest
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and it became kind of a lunchtimekind of a creative renewal, you know,
got me away from my office mycomputer, gave me a time to
think about maybe what I was workingon in brainstorm a little bit while I
was out driving. But it justit got me out to areas of Kansas
City that I had never really spenta lot of time in and I recently
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scanned a lot of my slides thatI took back around two thousand when I
was doing that, and it's beenfun to visit those old signs and then
also sad to realize how many ofthose signs are not up anymore. Yeah,
we've been lucky enough. In KansasCity. I think I'm reading the
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Neon Queen talked a little bit aboutthe Leaning Museum that's coming here in Kansas
City. Nick Vedros is the president, and I've been lucky enough to meet
him and talk with him a bitand see some of the signs in storage
and some of them as they're beingrestored. And it's just cool to see
some of those signs that I photographedtwenty four years ago in his possession getting
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ready to be posted in this newentertainment development that's starting in Kansas City.
So hopefully maybe by the end ofthe year early next year, this new
development called pen Way Commons, Ithink, okay, in wait Point,
it's it's opening up and it's goingto be near just west of Kansas City's
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Union Station, and he's going tohave a neon alley a little bit like
they have maybe in Pueblo and posta lot of these kind of a lot
of historical in the city signs thathave been removed. And he's a not
for profit so he's you know,getting people to help donate before it's restore
some of these ownings. So it'sgonna be exciting to see that come to
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fruition here in the next within thenext year, maybe the end of this
year. Hey, hell for your'scrossed. So how many I mean size
does he have in his collections sofar? The boy I haven't seen the
latest. I want to say he'sgot maybe neighborhood of eighty maybe ninety,
oh wow, And I know he'sgot I think the last time I saw
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it was like sixty seven. Sixtyseven of them have been restored. So
yeah, it's it's pretty cool thatis that is definitely doing the Lord's work.
Really is. He's He's just agreat guys. A lot of passions
you kind of met through signs,and I've been lucky enough to go to
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a number of events and he's invitedme to when they were removing a sign
and once so I got to seeup close just this sign that I've photographed
for a long time. It wasthe Broadway Hardware store, okay in Kansas
City, And so it was kindof interesting. You see why some of
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these signs need to come down whenyou get these big tall It was like
a two three story long can,vertical can, and as it came down,
you saw the rust holes in thebottom. You know, with age,
those signs start coming apart. Watergets in them and they just start
rusting. So you know, alot of these signs are brought down just
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for safety sake. So oh yeah, he's restored that sign and looking forward
to seeing it pack up. ImmuneWhen I was talking to Lisa Tennant,
who does she not only takes picturesof Neon signs, she paints neon signs.
She died watercolors. Oh wow,She's amazing. And not only will
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you find like you know, oldyou know, gadgetry within the neon signs,
sometimes you'll find new residents like birdsand stuff love we oh yeah,
make their way in there. Now. What was the first sign that kind
of helped you catch the book?You talked about it being there at Hallmark.
Maybe you said it in my ADHDmind just went elsewhere. I haven't,
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you know, I've been thinking alot about that over the last two
monch I just recently did an articlewith the Kansas City Star about my sign
hunting. But on them, Iwould say, there's a couple and there's
one that's kind of near and dear, and I think that one's more of
a subconscious thing. I moved toKansas City with my family in nineteen sixty
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five, okay, and we livedin a hotel for the first two two
and a half weeks called the WhiteHaven and Motor Lodge. And I've posted
that sign a number of times.And you know, I had my fourth
birthday party in that hotel. Andas I've posted this sign, you know,
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I've had so many people that Iknow in Kansas City that I've said,
oh, I lived there for youknow, when we moved there,
it obviously was a place where realestate agents parked new residents until they could
find them a place to stay.So I think that sign is one.
It's just it's been in my lifefor a long time. I get post
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in the same neighborhood as it.It's now living in the Johnson County Heritage
Museum, and it's just a beautiful, big, glorious sign. It's been
restored so that's one that i'd sayis the first one. The other one
that really got me excited is theTiko Time Jewelry store in Joplin Thory,
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and it's no longer up and Ihave kind of a pruddy film photograph of
it that I've posted, and Ithink, you know, part of it
was me being a graphic designer,and you know, in the late eighties
early nineties, there was this,you know, big trend of having that
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oh in between a bunch of wordsand kind of the fifties advertising characters and
guys that you still see in signstoday. So I just remember photographing that
sign and just kind of has abig arrow on it, and you know,
it was pretty rusty and crusty whenI shot it. So loved that
(10:01):
patina. But that was, Ithink one of the signs that was like
this is pretty cool. But itwas in Joplin. There were a lot
of great signs. Wilders and Joplinfabulous sign one of my favorites. And
you know, we used to goto visit grandparents and there were two grand
parents that lived there and you goto the back one and their apartment wasn't
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upset at about eighty five degrees andI just had to get out so I
lived. Good car. You candrive around a little bit to cool off.
But anyway, so Joplin was fun, still fun. Still some good
signs there. And one thing Ilove about the White Haven and it's been
I've been introduced to it several timeson people's fiends or arena, the Neon
Queen or you and the eccentric thateccentric like blob am I day that it's
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so mid centric. Just oh yeah, so we're stereotypical mid century shapes.
That has to be one. Andit's such a focal point because you know,
you talk about graphic arts. Onething I've been taught. I've been
taught is have a focal point.Yeah. No, it's not necessarily like
a vocal focal point, but it'sthat circle that brings you around to all
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the parts of the sign that makesyou know, it brings character to the
sign. Yeah, absolutely. Youknow That's what draws me in is the
design of the sign. I'm reallyI'm drawn into the can behind the lettering
that the arrows are going around andhow it's you know, the color,
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the shapes, how dynamic is itand that's what really excites me, and
that's what really draws me in.There's a lot of you know, I
drive around sometimes and see just abasic rectangle with a line of Neon lettering
in it, and maybe a blocksands serve behind that line. And sometimes
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I don't even photograph him. Iwas just like, it's nothing there for
me. Yeah. Really, I'mdrawn into these big, wonderful or small
wonderfully designed signings that piqued my interest. I think the other thing I'm drawn
to or signs that just have fun, interesting names. I think I sent
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you the milk jug. Oh thatis amazing. Favorite signs in Kansas City.
It's actually an Independence And that signwas quite an experience because I was
looking for it for like two years. My friend who kind of got me
into signs, Jerry It, toldme about it and he told me it's
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on this street or this street.And I kept driving through and I never
saw it. And I was finallyleaving the Independence Square and I was driving
west. I had always driven onthis street going east, and it was
by this big tree. Oh.Yes, driving last time you find any
side and I just, you know, just a little simple script V in
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the milk bottle at the top,and then you learn the history that it
was, you know, a theydid gambling in the back. I guess
it's just a cool or rumor thatthere was a book act that you could
place your beds nudge nuts, winkwink. In Kansas City, we have
a little we have a little mafiastuff going on. So you look about
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those kind of things. Oh wow, I'm learning new stuff about Kansas City
every day. Yeah, yeah,yeah. There's a there's a a sign
in Lexington, Missouri. It's ina bar today and it's called the Peckerwood
Club and there's a little hole inthe wall brick bar along the highway,
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and it evidently was a safe spotwhere nate go and meet and not have
to worry about running into trouble.It was kind of like, there's no
guns pulled in this place, soit was a safe place if they could
go and meet. And so anyway, it's cool that that sign has been
saved and is in a bar indowntown Lexington, Missouri. So there's all
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kinds of stuff around that you learnand yeah, well that'll bring us to
the end. What is an interestingend to one of our segments okay,
and yeah, so we'll come tothe inn of segment one when we get
back. We'll get it to someof the places that Rob likes to go
visit, maybe some other really coolsigns that you should go see while you're
in case And which is the betterside Missouri or Kansas. You're listening to
(14:43):
International sign Finders. Welcome back toInternational sign Finders. Glad you're still with
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this. We have the amazing RobLatimer with this Casey sign Chaser. Go
and find him on Instagram, Instagramat AC sign Chasers. So that's uh,
Gilo, Charlie sign chaser or whatever. Just go find him, follow
him. Like his stuff. Itis more than worth it, So go
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and find him. So as Ikind of ask before I could get an
answer, which is the better side? Well, we'll get it to which
is the better side for sign finding? But which is the better side?
Kasas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri. I'll just start off with
some biolists in this one. Yeah, might as well. You know what
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I think we're signed absolutely Kansas City, Missouri. Okay, let's say it's
the bigger city k c K aswe call it. Had some had some
great signs. I'm trying to remember. There's a couple of signs in k
c K today. There's a greatbank in Kansas City, Kansas and and
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maybe a couple other little signs hereand there. But certainly in case Mo
there's you know, you've got theWesternado sign, the Camburgers, and it
just goes on and on. Uptowntheater, it's got in the Jazz District
eighteens, and Vine there's a greattheater that I'm totally blanking on the name
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of it, the Gym. Okay. So yeah, I mean, there
are certainly more signs in case ink c K. But I tell you
what, though, the k cK bank sign at night is fabulous.
It's it's a wonderful sign. Ithink you're I think you and Marine are
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making Kansas City a bucket list placefor me. Yeah, because on my
bucket list, I've got tons ofplaces. One of them is Wisconsin,
just the whole state of Wisconsin andprobably throwing Michigan as well. Some little
towns here there through like South Dakota, Wyoming. There's all those little towns
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of Wyoming seem to have something inKansas City. Just what you have shared
with me there in case k CACMOindependence. I've seen some really cool stuff.
And so your sign travels you weretalking about, You're trying to get
over to Springfield, Missouri, right, what's so? What's so? What's
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the big raw? The Springfield itself? I haven't been. In twenty seventeen,
I started doing day trips, okay. My goal was to hit as
many little towns as I could withinthe day. And when I've done,
you know, I still need Ihaven't gotten to Wichita Hens this yet.
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I need to do that. ButSpringfield is the other close. It's maybe
two and a half three hours away, and they've got some great you know,
it's Route sixty six. They've gotsome great on hotels. The rest
Haven sign is wonderful, yes,and and it's mainly I haven't been there
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yet, and you know, cool, so I've done. You know,
when when I first started doing thisin twenty seventeen, I kind of would
go to the internet, I plugin a city and I'd look at the
photos. Now I wasn't doing architecturalroadside architecture yet today I do roadside architecture.
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Then I go and I'll just startzipping around and Google maps, streeting
you looking around, Oh yeah,and signs and you know, sometimes I
feel like I can spend a wholenight just zooming around a town and what's
there. But yeah, for me, it's just it's kind of one of
the last day trips I feel likeI can do. I may try to
jump up to Lebanon, Missouri,which is up I forty four a little
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bit and it's it's got the MungerMoss Hotel. Oh yeah, you can
tell the Munger Moss and the RestHaven and are probably two old holiday end
signs. Maybe I'm not quite sure. Yeah, but they're really nice signs
and still let at night and hotelsare still working. So yeah, there's
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so that's that's the big draw there. But but yeah, ever Jane will
let us know. Uh because everyonce in a while, like you ever
listen debor Jane Rhode arch Rosete architecturedot com, she is to the show
and uh dose, I make alot of mistakes on the show, obviously,
oh she and she lovingly gives methe information that I need to make
(19:57):
me a stronger host. Still forgetit unfortunately, and uh, I know
that she will have the information aboutthe Munger Moss and the rest Haven.
Yeah, and she'll get that toI mean, I'll pass it on to
you as yell. But yeah,they do look like old Holiday in motels,
Okay, yeah, or at leastmade by the same sign company with
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the holiday in form probably. Imean they're just slightly different. But anyway,
that's yeah, that's kind of thenext place I want to go.
I had a great trip up through, just touched in Minnesota, went across
in Wisconsin, and you're right,Wisconsin's wonderful. I went, I am.
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I also have gotten into the jewelbox banks by Lewis Solivan, Yes,
and they are just stunning. Theyare just eye candy. And the
first one I ran into I thinkI sent you the picture of in Iowa
and say, Grenell. Yeah,it's a Granella. Yeah, and it's
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just stunning. And that was onethat I think I had. I thought
I had pinned it and I kindof forgot about it, and then I
was just driving through Grenell and happenedonto it and I was just like wow,
And I think I love that decorativedesign that Sullivan did and all the
detail work. But I drove upto Ohatona, Minnesota, Okay, just
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absolutely stunning, and that one Iactually got to go inside. The interior
is just amazing. If you evergo see that bay, go during the
week when you cook because of theinterior, the light ssconsin. It's just
amazing. But then I drove acrossfrom a Watna, I hit Winona,
Minnesota, look at another bank,not Lois Sullivan. But then I drove
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across to Barriboo, Wisconsin, whichhad the Ringling Theater, and I think
there was a floor furniture store signingand oh cool. The funniest thing I
remember about that part of my tripas I got in there right at night
and I was tired from driving allday from Kansas City, and I kind
of got into my hotel and Ithought, well, I'm gonna go see
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if this theater has its neon onit. And it was a Monday night.
I was not assuming it was goingto be on. And I turned
down the street and sure enough,the nith was on, and I put
my blaker to park right in frontof it across the street, and right
as I put my blanker on,the neon went off. Well, and
I was I was so tired,I was just I just sat there,
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just shook my head and put areverse. She left. I even saw
the guy locking the door and walkingout. I was like, I'm not
going to get out and chase himdown and make him go back in.
But then from there I drove acrossout to another Joel Box Bank and Columbus
went through Cordage, Wisconsin. Therewas a sign or two there, and
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then stopping Kenosha on my way too. Okay, now has some great o
big is Kenosha? I hear Kenoshaevery so often. Isn't it about fifty
one hundred thousand people? I couldn'ttell you. It's not. It's not
a huge town. There's a bitof a sprawl. But I mean there
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were two great You know, thethings I noticed about Wisconsin and Chicago are
all the bake cery. There areso many bakers. Oh yeah, so
there was a great bakery in Ithink I sent one to you. You
probably did, but you know.And then there was that coffee pot.
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It was a just a coffee shop, I guess. And I there was
a couple of workers outside and andI said, oh, this is such
a great sign, and they saidthe owners found it in the attic will.
I took new owners had just recentlytaken over this coffee shop and they
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found it in the attic and pulledit out put it back up, So
that was fun. Good for them. Well, that'll bring us to the
inn of ourse Sega segment. AndI did find out the population of Kenosha.
It's just under ninety eight thousand people. A fairly decent sized town or
city where doesn't become a city andit becomes a town. I have no
idea me either, maybe be ahundred and eight nineteen thousand, I don't
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know. Yeah, you know what, I bet you the Sandwich life will
probably tell me. There you go, stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah,
So that'll bring us to our theend of our Sega segment. When
we get back, we'll talk aboutoh Chicago, Oh Chicago a little bit.
Yeah, we'll talk about Chicago andalso the little towns you talked about
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doing day trips around like Kasus,Sat to all the little towns and just
the allure of those little towns,and we'll talk about that when we get
back. You're listening to International Signfinders, So welcome back to International sign Finders.
(25:32):
We have Casey sin Chaser, RobLatimer with us, and we just
finish up talking about his little roadtrips going up through Wisconsin. I will
find that the jewel box banks,and oh my gosh, those are I
mean, if you're thinking of whatKing Solomon's temple might have looked like,
in my mind, a modern dayversion will probably be the old jewel box
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banks. They're just they just remindme of something like that. That's just
me. So we've talked about Wisconsin, Kenosha, ninety eight thousand people going
over to Minnesota, Iowa, touchingon Springfield, Missouri, stuff like that.
Now Chicago, Chicago is chock fullof greasures that should be on everybody's
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bucket list on me. So youwant to talk about Chicago. So what's
the big thing about Chicago? Well, a million signs for one. Yeah,
you know, I've gone to Chicago, I don't know five six times
over my life, a lot ofbusiness trips. What I realized that I've
never driven in Chicago, and Iwas alimitated, and you know, I
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finally just decided I just got togo. So, you know, like
I said, I went up throughMinnesota, cross Wisconsin and came down south
to Chicago and and I stay.I had friends that stay love this hotel
in the Gold Coast, which isjust north of the Miracle Mile and ort
to Chicago towards towards the Lake.And it was just amazing because it was
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all these brownstones that were just beautiful. Yeah, and I did a tour
of a Lewis Sullivan and a FrankLloyd Wright home that's in the Gold Coast.
Oh wow. So that was reallycool free tour over line. I
got over the fact that I hadto pay seventy dollars a night to park
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my car, and it was worthit. I just said, this is
agent, I'm just going to payit. So after I did the tour
of the home, I took acab down to Central Camera store. I
wanted to go, Yes, yeah, I'm a camera collector. So that
sign and the fact that it surviveda riot, I just wanted. I
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had to photograph that sign. Iheard some rumors that it may be closing
soon post pandemic. So I didthat and then I walked all the way.
I had walked all around all thesebrownstones in the morning, and then
I walked back from the Central Cameraall the way back to my Hope totel.
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Ended up walking about seven miles thatday on a Newly steps in Newly
sused ankle that I have, soit was out dead when I got back.
But you know, there's just somany signs downtown. The La South
Forest Central Camera is wonderful. Andand then the next day I drove just
(28:37):
up north and I probably photographed maybeonly a third of the signs that I
had penned my post rain in themorning, so I was kind of dragging
my feet, and then at lunch, I was like, hey, I
gotta get moving. So you know, the Philadelphia church sign from Margie's Candies.
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You know, it was just allgood stuff, all the wonderful signs,
and there are so many more thatI have left to shoot. Driving
home, I stopped. The otherbig sign that was a draw for me
in Chicago was PD's Bungalow Lounge.Yeah there's that name. Yeah, Ryan
is wonderful. And again there werea couple bakeries. I stopped at one
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to get some treats to drive home. So it was just a fun trip.
I had heard the Mayor of Chicagoon a little recording of a radio
show he did, and he wastalking about and this will tie into some
of the smaller towns as well.He was talking about how in Chicago,
I guess you can leave an oldsign up, but if you take it
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down to repair it, they won'tlet you put it back up. This
the way it is in Denver,and I think also in San Francisco.
Yeah, and so he is tryingto change to that, okay, because
he views, you know, thethese iconic signs as landmarks. He says
they help identify what neighborhooding here is. So I haven't heard whether he has
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made that happen or not, butI ran into the same thing another one.
So moving to some of these smallertowns, small towns Injunction City,
Kansas is a fun little down lines. And I had a daughter that I
went to K State and my daughterwent to K State and I had a
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dad's weekend and she had a call. So she's like, Dad, I
want to sleep, Ben, gohave fun. Can you do something.
I was like, yeah, sure, And I had to get a hotel
and Junction City because they were allbooked in Manhattan, Kansas. But so
I was taking pictures he signed.There was a great sign there that the
next time I went back it wasgone. And I'll visit. I was
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actually going to shoot signs in JunctionCity. They have a great bank sign
and I was down at Dell Motorsand Dell Motors it was just a partnership
and his sign is new and notso good. But I was taking pictures
of the front of the place anda salesman came out asking what I was
doing. And so one of thethings I'm finding it's great if you can
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take the opportunity to talk to people. Yeah, their signs. You learned
so much and and so he's like, come on in. We got some
nee on inside. So they hada great at Taxi sign inside. But
I got to talk to Dell andthis guy had he'd been on American Pickers.
He had a car collection, hehad this crazy car custom car showroom.
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But he was telling me too thatInjunction City it's city code that if
the sign on your building doesn't reflectyour business, that you had to remove
the sign. And that's why thatNo, I can't I'm blanking Silver Star
Dancing and Club or something like that. Yes, it's in my feed somewhere,
but he said that sign is actuallyinside the new restaurant and now they
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have this like a coyote grill onthis pariffic outside. But you know,
Junction City has some great signs.Manhattan, Kansas, which is where I
went to college, they have sometheater called the ware Them, which is
just a beautiful sign. You sentme a photo of that. It is
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a gorgeous sporty high It is justyeah, I love and for me,
I love the lettering. If youlook at the where the center stroke going
up goes above the top of theletters, and then that same letter is
flipped for the M on the bottom. So it's just neat. It's just
you know, somebody that knew whatthey were doing with the typography on that
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sign. But there's a Chef cafeand then there's a Vista Hamburger sign in
You're Falling. You know, there'sso many small towns, great ben Kansas
finally there and they have a greattheater in a couple signs. There's one
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sign that I absolutely love and wantto I want to save. And it's
in Stafford, Kansas and it's theCurtis Cafe and it's it's full apart,
you know, it's rusting and theI when I was there, I talked
a woman was walking by and Iasked her a question about the sign,
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and she goes, oh, stopthat guy right there, and there's a
guy driving a pickup truck. Shewaved him down and I talked to him.
I guess the owners are in theireighties and it's closed. They don't
know what's going to happen to it. I just I wish I could get
you know. I talked to Nickat the Louis Neon and he'sam you know,
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he's not for profit. So thecost to hire a sign company to
remove it, ship it back toKansas City and then it would take extensive
frustration, and yeah, it wouldbe a pretty pricing. But you know,
between the little towns all the theaters. You've talked a lot about the
theaters, and you know, Ithink the communities just take pride and they're
if they have a theater, yeah, make pride. And those signs tend
(34:15):
to fare pretty well. So wereally, you know, put the money
into Augusta, Kansas has a greatsign. Oh dang, I put there's
the Plaza sign that I sent you. It'sbury And both those, the Augusta
Theater and the Plaza Theater and Lamarwere designed by the same architect. He
(34:39):
was from the Joplin area and veryart deco. And oh yeah, when
I photographed that plaza sign, II went there to try to catch it
at the blue hour, but Iwas a little early, so I photographed
it. Then I went and haddinner, and then I was going to
come back on my way back hometo see if maybe the neon was turned
(35:00):
on. It wasn't, but therewas car parked out front, and I
went ahead and started taking just afew more pictures, and then this family
came out and it was the owners, and so they turned me for me.
They took me in, showed methe design of the interior to the
architect and painted like tapestries cool ranalong the side of this theater, and
(35:23):
you know, the city had cometogether to help restore this theater. And
it's just beautiful architectural design, artdeco. Yeah, it's it's absolutely beautiful.
Uh. Just the way that isit backlit neon Like it has like
the big black letters, but itwas like it has the neon backlights it.
(35:45):
Yeah, and then there there's someglass that's kind of lit from behind,
you know. And he was talkinghalf of the marquee, the lower
Marquee is out, he said me, and he goes, it's just so
hard keeping the things up with els, worms and whatnot, and he said,
it's just so expensive and so hardto find somebody to fix something.
(36:07):
I will I'll have to stop youright there because we're almost out of time
for this this call. But whenwe come back, we'll get into more
about the Plaza at some other signsand then get into some of Rob's bucket
list. You're listening to International SignFinders. You've got it tuned into International
(36:39):
sign Finders. I'm your host,raverd Anthony. We just got the one
and only Rob Latimer with us,and I had to unfortunately cut them off
before the end of our third segment. When we start the four segment and
we're getting into the Plaza, Marquee, the Plaza theater and also his sister
theater, Marquee Now the Plaza.It's got a lotty unique features that it
(37:02):
looks like somebody to day cut builtit, but it was almost like it
was forethought of, like fifty sixty, seventy eighty years ago. Yeah,
yeah, it's the design. Theguy was a master. He's from Webb
City, Missouri, and which isright next to Joplin, and I heard
(37:29):
a little bit that he might havedone a theater in Springfield, but I'm
not sure that's true aftering that theatera little more. But the theater in
Augusta, Kansas is much cleaner.It's got just a very light green facade
with gree Art DECOEE lettering above.But it's pretty cool as well, and
(37:53):
that's kind of that town has afew couple signs, so yeah, just
cool stuff. You know, thetheaters are are becoming. One of the
first thing is I'm starting a trip, the first thing I checked, what's
there? Is there a theater there? Because that makes it worth it?
(38:15):
You know. I recently or notrecently, but within the last year or
two, did a trip where Ijust went north from Dayton, Ohio up
and there was just that little driveall the way up to Lima or li
Limu, Ohio just had some greatsigns and it had one of those Joel
(38:36):
box banks in Sydney, Ohio.You know, just so many towns now
do they have a theater, Andif they have a theater, they're worth
going to, you know. Yeah, And one thing I've noticed in my
travels across Texas up through Oklahoma,Kansas, Nebraska. All of them,
(39:00):
even little towns you would never think, right they're oh dunk little town's e'd
sick because I come from a podunklittle town that doesn't have anything like this.
Yeah, but the next town overdoes. But even they have something
unique like Chickashe, Oklahoma. Myaunt lives in Chickashe, and the Washata
Theater is amazing. Yeah, I'veseen pictures of that one. Yeah,
(39:24):
it's like a gross between Art Decoand mid century modern. It just has
a flavor to it. Yeah.I went to h Shawnee, Oklahoma,
which is just southeast of Oklahoma City. They have two theaters. They have
that wornbeck and then another I thinkit was a ritz, very nice.
(39:44):
And then they had another thing Ilove to shoot. They had Somebody's Pig
Pig Stand barbecue restaurant. Yeah,and you know, barbecue restaurants can be
a lot of fun as well,and certainly coming from Kansas City, you
know it's always good to stop ata barbecue restaurant. So yeah, like
(40:05):
in North Carolina, the ones thatcracked me up in North Carolina and South
Carolina are the happy pigs that areeating barbecue. Yeah, yeah, it's
it's very Hannibal Lecter esque, butin a porky type of way. When
I when I post my barbecue signs, I generally started with pig or no
(40:25):
pig. Yeah, I think abarbecue restaurant should have a pig on it,
or the sign should have a pigon it. I agree very much,
agreeing way. But anyway, Yeah, so we'll get it to the
question. I love asking your bucketlist. Now. You talked about you
know, Spragel, Missouri. Youwant to go there? You have been
there yet? All the little townsin between those, those are kind of
(40:49):
bucket lists, unattended bucket lists,I guess you could say, yeah,
But for me, kind of aregret bucket list item that I was able
to catch is where coming south fromChickashet back to Houston, and we went
along the two eighty seven corridor justoutside of Fort Worth, and there is
this diner called Yesterday's Cafe, andI've been dying to shoot it, dying
(41:15):
to shoot it, and my wifeeven one time we're going up to Utah,
was like, hey, you cantake a picture of it. Now
we got to get up the road. I regiveted that, so I was
able. On our way back,we stopped it indicator and I got the
picture. Okay, so that's kindof my regret bucket list back getting stuff.
But for you, where's some ofyour bucket list items or bucketless places?
(41:38):
Well, I've got a couple thatI would put high on the list,
but you know, I'm I'm livingby myself now, so I've got
I can go, and you know, I think for me right now,
everything is not a day trip anymore. So the first place that I or
the place I'll probably go next isDenver and dining end of to photograph the
(42:00):
satire lounge. Yeah, that signfrom a design standpoint, the vertical satire
with the arrow that we use inand out down. It's just a fun
sign. And then there's you know, probably another twenty five signs in Denver
to photograph as well on one streeton one street right and you know what
(42:22):
isn't a Bluebird theater something like that? Looks really cool. So a number
of signs there and my next repI think I'm gonna head to Denver for
a couple of days, then drivesouth to Pueblo. Oh yeah, shoot,
the sign alley and then drive backfrom the southwest corner of Kansas through
(42:46):
Dodge City and Garden City. Butthat's that's maybe the next big trip.
I still need to make it toTulsa, need to make it to Memphis.
Yeah, but my probably top bucketlist's most favorite sign is the Frolic
(43:06):
Room in LA And I just,yeah, to me, that sign with
the style of lettering the scribbt Frolicwith the crossbar of the F coming across
and then starting the room, andthen you got that spray of neon tubes
behind it. I just, tome, that's just a stunning sign.
I sometimes think I'm just gonna hopon the plane, fly take a picture
(43:30):
of that, wait for night andthen maybe just catch the Red Eye.
Oh yeah, I just want togo. And the Pantagious Theater is right
next door, so so that wouldwork too. But I know, once
you get to LA, there's justyou know, a million signs you want
to photograph. So yeah, Icall I call Southern California the Shangri Law
of meon. Yeah. Oh,I'd probably say a Shagar law would be
(43:52):
Old Hong Kong. Unfortunately, Yeahgoes down and put them up with led
Yeah. Oh, ellast I was. I was photographing. There's a President
Hotel in downtown Kansas City, beautifulhotel, and they have a drum room
bar, and there's a nice signon the front for that, and I
(44:15):
just read, you know, there'sso many there's I don't know a handful
of people in Kansas City shooting signs. And yes, Brian with an I
who's the other guy? Anyway,I noticed there was a signing on the
other side of the building that Ihadn't photographed, and it was a drum
(44:36):
room signed And I just drove upto it a week or two ago and
I snapped a couple of pictures,got my car and drove home. Because
it was a new sign. Itwasn't annoy The drum room sign on the
corner front corner of the hotel isan old, cool sign, but this
one was new. It had neonfor drum but everything else was just plastic
can letters. That's kind of stuffthat sometimes you get excited and sometimes they're
(45:01):
done well. Sometimes in that yeah, and you know there are a few
that they try. They eatil theydon't have the money to maybe revitalize it,
but they do it in their otherway. The one that comes to
mind is the Safari Motel and youcan carry and yeah, it doesn't have
like the cool lettering, but theystill kept the neon trim of the sign
(45:23):
and they just had a very simpleSans Serah's font kind of condensed San Serah
font for Theafari and then Safari Motel. But you know, they they're trying
to at least keep with the spiritof what it once was, right right,
It's just so hard, you know, and for ud U got to
(45:43):
be just the way it was,and you just can't afford to do that,
I think in today's marketplace, Iguess, but yeah, and uh,
like I found it. There's likethat one feed called Empty Sign Project
where they take old signs and theyjust showed the shelves of what they are
now. Right. And when Iwas in Alklahoma City, right off of
(46:06):
Northwest twenty third which is old USsixty six, is you know antiques on
twenty third Street, Antique made oftwenty third Street right next to it,
it's just like razy blue upside downtriangle with this you know, line up
the middle and out blue. I'mlike, what was that? What?
You know? Sometimes the Google Maps, you strike gold other times it's like,
(46:28):
weren't, weren't, weren't, Butthis time I struck gold. It
used to be this really cool lookingsogn called the Drexel Cleaners. I wish
that. I know private collections sometimesare hit or miss with people, but
I wish somebody had taken that intoprivate collection or maybe a museum restored it,
because it's such a neat sign whatit used to be. Yeah,
(46:51):
that's kind of like what happened tothat Italian garden sign that yeah point the
Loomy got. We were going totalk about it. Well, yeah,
that's right, thank you. Thatsign was in a yard of a business
for a long time, and Iknow Nick had approached the gentleman about getting
the sign, and the guy wasn'twanting to sell it. And then I
(47:15):
heard rumors that it was on eBay. Yeah, anyway, I don't know
if Nick got someone to go buyit or somebody just bought it and donated
it back to Nick, but that'show he got it. So happy that
that was. It's funny. Iworked when I first got out of college.
I worked downtown Kansas City, andI don't I just don't remember that
(47:38):
sign. I don't remember seeing thatsign, and it was before I was
really interested in signs, but Idon't ever remember seeing that sign up in
downtown Kansas City. There are somegreat historical signs there seemed great signs in
the Jazz Museum in Kansas City.So anyway, but that's how he got
(48:04):
that sign. So it's just greatnews that he got it. And I
photographed it just before he got it. And you know, there was an
arrow and there was a point onthe arrow that I couldn't see. It
was just laying on the ground.But luckily their arrow tip is still there.
So that's one I'm sure he's workingon, hopefully working on now.
(48:25):
And that one back up, Yeah, knock on wood. But that'll bring
us to the end of our show. Glad you joined us? Is this
is Rob Ladimer, Casey Sinechaser.Go and find him. I'll have how
you can connect with him in theshow notes that'll be up tomorrow. Now,
are there any other websites that orthings you want to plug before we
(48:46):
take off? No, I meanother than yeah, the Roadside Architecture,
great yod job, Thank you.It's just such a wonderful tool and it's
a great just to do research andget your trip started. You know,
I need to be better about usingher website. I'm so adhd. I'm
(49:09):
like, we just jump into GoogleMaps and go, well, yeah,
we have we have a resource rightthere. You know. I mean my
first road trip I got I don'tknow, maybe two or three signs when
I didn't use that, and Iremember after that trip, I was a
little disappointed that I wish more.But now you can kind of say I
(49:30):
don't need to stop at that put. You know, I can guess why,
and that just helps shorten the tripa little bit. So anyway,
yeah, then I'll make it allthe worthwhile and also save on some you
know, excess miles. Yeah,you may not need to go, but
what's thank you? So go ahead? No, no, we're good,
(49:50):
Okay, cool. Once again,thank you so much Rob for joining us,
and until next time, happy signfinding. Eight.
You've got it locked into International Signfinders. I'm your hoast Ravernati. Blad you're
with us. Another week of signfinding has come and gone, and hopefully
you're able to get out and findsome awesome signs and share them with us.
Do that, share with all ofus. Either tag me International Signfinders
or whatever you need to do,tag the rest of the crew with like
(00:39):
everything underscore signage. We'll find it, we'll see it, and we'll love
it. It doesn't matter if youhave one hundred or one hundred thousand followers,
we still want to see your stuff. And tonight we're heading back to
the Midwest, to Missouri, andwe're going to talk to a guy who
loves does hunt signs there in CanvasCity and areas around about. He goes
(01:02):
by Casey sign Chaser. Is thatright, Rob? That's it? Yeah?
All right, Rob Latimer, Welcometo the show. Rob, Thanks
Drew. Glad to be here.Yeah, glad you're with us. It's
been it's been a wild month,let's just put it that way. I
mean, we've talked about some otherthings that have happened recently in my life,
but I know here at Neuston we'vehad the hurricane. I mean,
(01:23):
you've had like political events of takingplex tests. I just I just want
July to just calm down. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Maybe
it's about to move for twenty twentyfive, but with everything going on.
But I'm with you. Yeah,I hear you, So make you do
yourself to the to the folks outthere. You actually gave us some great
(01:47):
news about the Italian gardens. Wemay get into that later on. Yeah.
Yet, Yeah, introduce yourself,Rob. Yeah, I'm gonna drab
Alatimer and live in Kansas City onthe Kansas side. Okay, But I've
I'm a graphic designer by trade.I've worked at Homework Cards for years and
(02:07):
years and that's coming to an end. But I've also I'm a camera collectors
and that kind of plays into thissign chasing mind. It's an opportunity for
me to grab one of my oldercameras and and shoot signs, and so
I tend to travel with a couplebags of cameras and my iPhone and digital
(02:31):
camera. Oddly enough, most ofthe pictures I post are from my iPhone
just because it's that's that's how Iinteract with Instagram, So it just makes
it so easy. You become prettyadept at editing with it. And the
other thing I've noticed with the iPhoneis it does a great job with Neo
(02:53):
at night. Oh yeah, youknow, I shoot those pictures. I
look at my can digital camera andI'm like, I'm using iPhone photos.
So anyway, that's kind of howI roll. You know. I started
shooting signs that when I was atwork because I got a Olopus O three
camera. And again, I workedat Hallmark. I was a greeting card
(03:16):
artist, a lettering artist, andso I wouldn't go out at lunch just
because I needed to get away frommy office, away from the computer.
And uh, you know, Iworked with a gentleman named Jerry Labato who
loves signs, who rescued signs,and so he kind of piqued my interest
(03:38):
and it became kind of a lunchtimekind of a creative renewal, you know,
got me away from my office mycomputer, gave me a time to
think about maybe what I was workingon in brainstorm a little bit while I
was out driving. But it justit got me out to areas of Kansas
City that I had never really spenta lot of time in and I recently
(04:02):
scanned a lot of my slides thatI took back around two thousand when I
was doing that, and it's beenfun to visit those old signs and then
also sad to realize how many ofthose signs are not up anymore. Yeah,
we've been lucky enough. In KansasCity. I think I'm reading the
(04:26):
Neon Queen talked a little bit aboutthe Leaning Museum that's coming here in Kansas
City. Nick Vedros is the president, and I've been lucky enough to meet
him and talk with him a bitand see some of the signs in storage
and some of them as they're beingrestored. And it's just cool to see
some of those signs that I photographedtwenty four years ago in his possession getting
(04:49):
ready to be posted in this newentertainment development that's starting in Kansas City.
So hopefully maybe by the end ofthe year early next year, this new
development called pen Way Commons, Ithink, okay, in wait Point,
it's it's opening up and it's goingto be near just west of Kansas City's
(05:13):
Union Station, and he's going tohave a neon alley a little bit like
they have maybe in Pueblo and posta lot of these kind of a lot
of historical in the city signs thathave been removed. And he's a not
for profit so he's you know,getting people to help donate before it's restore
some of these ownings. So it'sgonna be exciting to see that come to
(05:36):
fruition here in the next within thenext year, maybe the end of this
year. Hey, hell for your'scrossed. So how many I mean size
does he have in his collections sofar? The boy I haven't seen the
latest. I want to say he'sgot maybe neighborhood of eighty maybe ninety,
oh wow, And I know he'sgot I think the last time I saw
(05:59):
it was like sixty seven. Sixtyseven of them have been restored. So
yeah, it's it's pretty cool thatis that is definitely doing the Lord's work.
Really is. He's He's just agreat guys. A lot of passions
you kind of met through signs,and I've been lucky enough to go to
(06:24):
a number of events and he's invitedme to when they were removing a sign
and once so I got to seeup close just this sign that I've photographed
for a long time. It wasthe Broadway Hardware store, okay in Kansas
City, And so it was kindof interesting. You see why some of
(06:44):
these signs need to come down whenyou get these big tall It was like
a two three story long can,vertical can, and as it came down,
you saw the rust holes in thebottom. You know, with age,
those signs start coming apart. Watergets in them and they just start
rusting. So you know, alot of these signs are brought down just
(07:05):
for safety sake. So oh yeah, he's restored that sign and looking forward
to seeing it pack up. ImmuneWhen I was talking to Lisa Tennant,
who does she not only takes picturesof Neon signs, she paints neon signs.
She died watercolors. Oh wow,She's amazing. And not only will
(07:26):
you find like you know, oldyou know, gadgetry within the neon signs,
sometimes you'll find new residents like birdsand stuff love we oh yeah,
make their way in there. Now. What was the first sign that kind
of helped you catch the book?You talked about it being there at Hallmark.
Maybe you said it in my ADHDmind just went elsewhere. I haven't,
(07:49):
you know, I've been thinking alot about that over the last two
monch I just recently did an articlewith the Kansas City Star about my sign
hunting. But on them, Iwould say, there's a couple and there's
one that's kind of near and dear, and I think that one's more of
a subconscious thing. I moved toKansas City with my family in nineteen sixty
(08:11):
five, okay, and we livedin a hotel for the first two two
and a half weeks called the WhiteHaven and Motor Lodge. And I've posted
that sign a number of times.And you know, I had my fourth
birthday party in that hotel. Andas I've posted this sign, you know,
(08:33):
I've had so many people that Iknow in Kansas City that I've said,
oh, I lived there for youknow, when we moved there,
it obviously was a place where realestate agents parked new residents until they could
find them a place to stay.So I think that sign is one.
It's just it's been in my lifefor a long time. I get post
(08:54):
in the same neighborhood as it.It's now living in the Johnson County Heritage
Museum, and it's just a beautiful, big, glorious sign. It's been
restored so that's one that i'd sayis the first one. The other one
that really got me excited is theTiko Time Jewelry store in Joplin Thory,
(09:18):
and it's no longer up and Ihave kind of a pruddy film photograph of
it that I've posted, and Ithink, you know, part of it
was me being a graphic designer,and you know, in the late eighties
early nineties, there was this,you know, big trend of having that
(09:39):
oh in between a bunch of wordsand kind of the fifties advertising characters and
guys that you still see in signstoday. So I just remember photographing that
sign and just kind of has abig arrow on it, and you know,
it was pretty rusty and crusty whenI shot it. So loved that
(10:01):
patina. But that was, Ithink one of the signs that was like
this is pretty cool. But itwas in Joplin. There were a lot
of great signs. Wilders and Joplinfabulous sign one of my favorites. And
you know, we used to goto visit grandparents and there were two grand
parents that lived there and you goto the back one and their apartment wasn't
(10:26):
upset at about eighty five degrees andI just had to get out so I
lived. Good car. You candrive around a little bit to cool off.
But anyway, so Joplin was fun, still fun. Still some good
signs there. And one thing Ilove about the White Haven and it's been
I've been introduced to it several timeson people's fiends or arena, the Neon
Queen or you and the eccentric thateccentric like blob am I day that it's
(10:58):
so mid centric. Just oh yeah, so we're stereotypical mid century shapes.
That has to be one. Andit's such a focal point because you know,
you talk about graphic arts. Onething I've been taught. I've been
taught is have a focal point.Yeah. No, it's not necessarily like
a vocal focal point, but it'sthat circle that brings you around to all
(11:22):
the parts of the sign that makesyou know, it brings character to the
sign. Yeah, absolutely. Youknow That's what draws me in is the
design of the sign. I'm reallyI'm drawn into the can behind the lettering
that the arrows are going around andhow it's you know, the color,
(11:45):
the shapes, how dynamic is itand that's what really excites me, and
that's what really draws me in.There's a lot of you know, I
drive around sometimes and see just abasic rectangle with a line of Neon lettering
in it, and maybe a blocksands serve behind that line. And sometimes
(12:05):
I don't even photograph him. Iwas just like, it's nothing there for
me. Yeah. Really, I'mdrawn into these big, wonderful or small
wonderfully designed signings that piqued my interest. I think the other thing I'm drawn
to or signs that just have fun, interesting names. I think I sent
(12:26):
you the milk jug. Oh thatis amazing. Favorite signs in Kansas City.
It's actually an Independence And that signwas quite an experience because I was
looking for it for like two years. My friend who kind of got me
into signs, Jerry It, toldme about it and he told me it's
(12:46):
on this street or this street.And I kept driving through and I never
saw it. And I was finallyleaving the Independence Square and I was driving
west. I had always driven onthis street going east, and it was
by this big tree. Oh.Yes, driving last time you find any
side and I just, you know, just a little simple script V in
(13:09):
the milk bottle at the top,and then you learn the history that it
was, you know, a theydid gambling in the back. I guess
it's just a cool or rumor thatthere was a book act that you could
place your beds nudge nuts, winkwink. In Kansas City, we have
a little we have a little mafiastuff going on. So you look about
(13:31):
those kind of things. Oh wow, I'm learning new stuff about Kansas City
every day. Yeah, yeah,yeah. There's a there's a a sign
in Lexington, Missouri. It's ina bar today and it's called the Peckerwood
Club and there's a little hole inthe wall brick bar along the highway,
(13:54):
and it evidently was a safe spotwhere nate go and meet and not have
to worry about running into trouble.It was kind of like, there's no
guns pulled in this place, soit was a safe place if they could
go and meet. And so anyway, it's cool that that sign has been
saved and is in a bar indowntown Lexington, Missouri. So there's all
(14:18):
kinds of stuff around that you learnand yeah, well that'll bring us to
the end. What is an interestingend to one of our segments okay,
and yeah, so we'll come tothe inn of segment one when we get
back. We'll get it to someof the places that Rob likes to go
visit, maybe some other really coolsigns that you should go see while you're
in case And which is the betterside Missouri or Kansas. You're listening to
(14:43):
International sign Finders. Welcome back toInternational sign Finders. Glad you're still with
(15:05):
this. We have the amazing RobLatimer with this Casey sign Chaser. Go
and find him on Instagram, Instagramat AC sign Chasers. So that's uh,
Gilo, Charlie sign chaser or whatever. Just go find him, follow
him. Like his stuff. Itis more than worth it, So go
(15:26):
and find him. So as Ikind of ask before I could get an
answer, which is the better side? Well, we'll get it to which
is the better side for sign finding? But which is the better side?
Kasas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri. I'll just start off with
some biolists in this one. Yeah, might as well. You know what
(15:48):
I think we're signed absolutely Kansas City, Missouri. Okay, let's say it's
the bigger city k c K aswe call it. Had some had some
great signs. I'm trying to remember. There's a couple of signs in k
c K today. There's a greatbank in Kansas City, Kansas and and
(16:10):
maybe a couple other little signs hereand there. But certainly in case Mo
there's you know, you've got theWesternado sign, the Camburgers, and it
just goes on and on. Uptowntheater, it's got in the Jazz District
eighteens, and Vine there's a greattheater that I'm totally blanking on the name
(16:33):
of it, the Gym. Okay. So yeah, I mean, there
are certainly more signs in case ink c K. But I tell you
what, though, the k cK bank sign at night is fabulous.
It's it's a wonderful sign. Ithink you're I think you and Marine are
(16:57):
making Kansas City a bucket list placefor me. Yeah, because on my
bucket list, I've got tons ofplaces. One of them is Wisconsin,
just the whole state of Wisconsin andprobably throwing Michigan as well. Some little
towns here there through like South Dakota, Wyoming. There's all those little towns
(17:18):
of Wyoming seem to have something inKansas City. Just what you have shared
with me there in case k CACMOindependence. I've seen some really cool stuff.
And so your sign travels you weretalking about, You're trying to get
over to Springfield, Missouri, right, what's so? What's so? What's
(17:41):
the big raw? The Springfield itself? I haven't been. In twenty seventeen,
I started doing day trips, okay. My goal was to hit as
many little towns as I could withinthe day. And when I've done,
you know, I still need Ihaven't gotten to Wichita Hens this yet.
(18:03):
I need to do that. ButSpringfield is the other close. It's maybe
two and a half three hours away, and they've got some great you know,
it's Route sixty six. They've gotsome great on hotels. The rest
Haven sign is wonderful, yes,and and it's mainly I haven't been there
(18:26):
yet, and you know, cool, so I've done. You know,
when when I first started doing thisin twenty seventeen, I kind of would
go to the internet, I plugin a city and I'd look at the
photos. Now I wasn't doing architecturalroadside architecture yet today I do roadside architecture.
(18:47):
Then I go and I'll just startzipping around and Google maps, streeting
you looking around, Oh yeah,and signs and you know, sometimes I
feel like I can spend a wholenight just zooming around a town and what's
there. But yeah, for me, it's just it's kind of one of
the last day trips I feel likeI can do. I may try to
jump up to Lebanon, Missouri,which is up I forty four a little
(19:11):
bit and it's it's got the MungerMoss Hotel. Oh yeah, you can
tell the Munger Moss and the RestHaven and are probably two old holiday end
signs. Maybe I'm not quite sure. Yeah, but they're really nice signs
and still let at night and hotelsare still working. So yeah, there's
(19:32):
so that's that's the big draw there. But but yeah, ever Jane will
let us know. Uh because everyonce in a while, like you ever
listen debor Jane Rhode arch Rosete architecturedot com, she is to the show
and uh dose, I make alot of mistakes on the show, obviously,
oh she and she lovingly gives methe information that I need to make
(19:57):
me a stronger host. Still forgetit unfortunately, and uh, I know
that she will have the information aboutthe Munger Moss and the rest Haven.
Yeah, and she'll get that toI mean, I'll pass it on to
you as yell. But yeah,they do look like old Holiday in motels,
Okay, yeah, or at leastmade by the same sign company with
(20:19):
the holiday in form probably. Imean they're just slightly different. But anyway,
that's yeah, that's kind of thenext place I want to go.
I had a great trip up through, just touched in Minnesota, went across
in Wisconsin, and you're right,Wisconsin's wonderful. I went, I am.
(20:41):
I also have gotten into the jewelbox banks by Lewis Solivan, Yes,
and they are just stunning. Theyare just eye candy. And the
first one I ran into I thinkI sent you the picture of in Iowa
and say, Grenell. Yeah,it's a Granella. Yeah, and it's
(21:04):
just stunning. And that was onethat I think I had. I thought
I had pinned it and I kindof forgot about it, and then I
was just driving through Grenell and happenedonto it and I was just like wow,
And I think I love that decorativedesign that Sullivan did and all the
detail work. But I drove upto Ohatona, Minnesota, Okay, just
(21:29):
absolutely stunning, and that one Iactually got to go inside. The interior
is just amazing. If you evergo see that bay, go during the
week when you cook because of theinterior, the light ssconsin. It's just
amazing. But then I drove acrossfrom a Watna, I hit Winona,
Minnesota, look at another bank,not Lois Sullivan. But then I drove
(21:52):
across to Barriboo, Wisconsin, whichhad the Ringling Theater, and I think
there was a floor furniture store signingand oh cool. The funniest thing I
remember about that part of my tripas I got in there right at night
and I was tired from driving allday from Kansas City, and I kind
of got into my hotel and Ithought, well, I'm gonna go see
(22:15):
if this theater has its neon onit. And it was a Monday night.
I was not assuming it was goingto be on. And I turned
down the street and sure enough,the nith was on, and I put
my blaker to park right in frontof it across the street, and right
as I put my blanker on,the neon went off. Well, and
I was I was so tired,I was just I just sat there,
(22:37):
just shook my head and put areverse. She left. I even saw
the guy locking the door and walkingout. I was like, I'm not
going to get out and chase himdown and make him go back in.
But then from there I drove acrossout to another Joel Box Bank and Columbus
went through Cordage, Wisconsin. Therewas a sign or two there, and
(23:00):
then stopping Kenosha on my way too. Okay, now has some great o
big is Kenosha? I hear Kenoshaevery so often. Isn't it about fifty
one hundred thousand people? I couldn'ttell you. It's not. It's not
a huge town. There's a bitof a sprawl. But I mean there
(23:22):
were two great You know, thethings I noticed about Wisconsin and Chicago are
all the bake cery. There areso many bakers. Oh yeah, so
there was a great bakery in Ithink I sent one to you. You
probably did, but you know.And then there was that coffee pot.
(23:44):
It was a just a coffee shop, I guess. And I there was
a couple of workers outside and andI said, oh, this is such
a great sign, and they saidthe owners found it in the attic will.
I took new owners had just recentlytaken over this coffee shop and they
(24:04):
found it in the attic and pulledit out put it back up, So
that was fun. Good for them. Well, that'll bring us to the
inn of ourse Sega segment. AndI did find out the population of Kenosha.
It's just under ninety eight thousand people. A fairly decent sized town or
city where doesn't become a city andit becomes a town. I have no
idea me either, maybe be ahundred and eight nineteen thousand, I don't
(24:26):
know. Yeah, you know what, I bet you the Sandwich life will
probably tell me. There you go, stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah,
So that'll bring us to our theend of our Sega segment. When
we get back, we'll talk aboutoh Chicago, Oh Chicago a little bit.
Yeah, we'll talk about Chicago andalso the little towns you talked about
(24:48):
doing day trips around like Kasus,Sat to all the little towns and just
the allure of those little towns,and we'll talk about that when we get
back. You're listening to International Signfinders, So welcome back to International sign Finders.
(25:32):
We have Casey sin Chaser, RobLatimer with us, and we just
finish up talking about his little roadtrips going up through Wisconsin. I will
find that the jewel box banks,and oh my gosh, those are I
mean, if you're thinking of whatKing Solomon's temple might have looked like,
in my mind, a modern dayversion will probably be the old jewel box
(25:56):
banks. They're just they just remindme of something like that. That's just
me. So we've talked about Wisconsin, Kenosha, ninety eight thousand people going
over to Minnesota, Iowa, touchingon Springfield, Missouri, stuff like that.
Now Chicago, Chicago is chock fullof greasures that should be on everybody's
(26:18):
bucket list on me. So youwant to talk about Chicago. So what's
the big thing about Chicago? Well, a million signs for one. Yeah,
you know, I've gone to Chicago, I don't know five six times
over my life, a lot ofbusiness trips. What I realized that I've
never driven in Chicago, and Iwas alimitated, and you know, I
(26:41):
finally just decided I just got togo. So, you know, like
I said, I went up throughMinnesota, cross Wisconsin and came down south
to Chicago and and I stay.I had friends that stay love this hotel
in the Gold Coast, which isjust north of the Miracle Mile and ort
to Chicago towards towards the Lake.And it was just amazing because it was
(27:07):
all these brownstones that were just beautiful. Yeah, and I did a tour
of a Lewis Sullivan and a FrankLloyd Wright home that's in the Gold Coast.
Oh wow. So that was reallycool free tour over line. I
got over the fact that I hadto pay seventy dollars a night to park
(27:30):
my car, and it was worthit. I just said, this is
agent, I'm just going to payit. So after I did the tour
of the home, I took acab down to Central Camera store. I
wanted to go, Yes, yeah, I'm a camera collector. So that
sign and the fact that it surviveda riot, I just wanted. I
(27:53):
had to photograph that sign. Iheard some rumors that it may be closing
soon post pandemic. So I didthat and then I walked all the way.
I had walked all around all thesebrownstones in the morning, and then
I walked back from the Central Cameraall the way back to my Hope totel.
(28:15):
Ended up walking about seven miles thatday on a Newly steps in Newly
sused ankle that I have, soit was out dead when I got back.
But you know, there's just somany signs downtown. The La South
Forest Central Camera is wonderful. Andand then the next day I drove just
(28:37):
up north and I probably photographed maybeonly a third of the signs that I
had penned my post rain in themorning, so I was kind of dragging
my feet, and then at lunch, I was like, hey, I
gotta get moving. So you know, the Philadelphia church sign from Margie's Candies.
(28:59):
You know, it was just allgood stuff, all the wonderful signs,
and there are so many more thatI have left to shoot. Driving
home, I stopped. The otherbig sign that was a draw for me
in Chicago was PD's Bungalow Lounge.Yeah there's that name. Yeah, Ryan
is wonderful. And again there werea couple bakeries. I stopped at one
(29:21):
to get some treats to drive home. So it was just a fun trip.
I had heard the Mayor of Chicagoon a little recording of a radio
show he did, and he wastalking about and this will tie into some
of the smaller towns as well.He was talking about how in Chicago,
I guess you can leave an oldsign up, but if you take it
(29:45):
down to repair it, they won'tlet you put it back up. This
the way it is in Denver,and I think also in San Francisco.
Yeah, and so he is tryingto change to that, okay, because
he views, you know, thethese iconic signs as landmarks. He says
they help identify what neighborhooding here is. So I haven't heard whether he has
(30:07):
made that happen or not, butI ran into the same thing another one.
So moving to some of these smallertowns, small towns Injunction City,
Kansas is a fun little down lines. And I had a daughter that I
went to K State and my daughterwent to K State and I had a
(30:29):
dad's weekend and she had a call. So she's like, Dad, I
want to sleep, Ben, gohave fun. Can you do something.
I was like, yeah, sure, And I had to get a hotel
and Junction City because they were allbooked in Manhattan, Kansas. But so
I was taking pictures he signed.There was a great sign there that the
next time I went back it wasgone. And I'll visit. I was
(30:52):
actually going to shoot signs in JunctionCity. They have a great bank sign
and I was down at Dell Motorsand Dell Motors it was just a partnership
and his sign is new and notso good. But I was taking pictures
of the front of the place anda salesman came out asking what I was
doing. And so one of thethings I'm finding it's great if you can
(31:15):
take the opportunity to talk to people. Yeah, their signs. You learned
so much and and so he's like, come on in. We got some
nee on inside. So they hada great at Taxi sign inside. But
I got to talk to Dell andthis guy had he'd been on American Pickers.
He had a car collection, hehad this crazy car custom car showroom.
(31:37):
But he was telling me too thatInjunction City it's city code that if
the sign on your building doesn't reflectyour business, that you had to remove
the sign. And that's why thatNo, I can't I'm blanking Silver Star
Dancing and Club or something like that. Yes, it's in my feed somewhere,
but he said that sign is actuallyinside the new restaurant and now they
(32:01):
have this like a coyote grill onthis pariffic outside. But you know,
Junction City has some great signs.Manhattan, Kansas, which is where I
went to college, they have sometheater called the ware Them, which is
just a beautiful sign. You sentme a photo of that. It is
(32:22):
a gorgeous sporty high It is justyeah, I love and for me,
I love the lettering. If youlook at the where the center stroke going
up goes above the top of theletters, and then that same letter is
flipped for the M on the bottom. So it's just neat. It's just
you know, somebody that knew whatthey were doing with the typography on that
(32:45):
sign. But there's a Chef cafeand then there's a Vista Hamburger sign in
You're Falling. You know, there'sso many small towns, great ben Kansas
finally there and they have a greattheater in a couple signs. There's one
(33:06):
sign that I absolutely love and wantto I want to save. And it's
in Stafford, Kansas and it's theCurtis Cafe and it's it's full apart,
you know, it's rusting and theI when I was there, I talked
a woman was walking by and Iasked her a question about the sign,
(33:28):
and she goes, oh, stopthat guy right there, and there's a
guy driving a pickup truck. Shewaved him down and I talked to him.
I guess the owners are in theireighties and it's closed. They don't
know what's going to happen to it. I just I wish I could get
you know. I talked to Nickat the Louis Neon and he'sam you know,
(33:51):
he's not for profit. So thecost to hire a sign company to
remove it, ship it back toKansas City and then it would take extensive
frustration, and yeah, it wouldbe a pretty pricing. But you know,
between the little towns all the theaters. You've talked a lot about the
theaters, and you know, Ithink the communities just take pride and they're
if they have a theater, yeah, make pride. And those signs tend
(34:15):
to fare pretty well. So wereally, you know, put the money
into Augusta, Kansas has a greatsign. Oh dang, I put there's
the Plaza sign that I sent you. It'sbury And both those, the Augusta
Theater and the Plaza Theater and Lamarwere designed by the same architect. He
(34:39):
was from the Joplin area and veryart deco. And oh yeah, when
I photographed that plaza sign, II went there to try to catch it
at the blue hour, but Iwas a little early, so I photographed
it. Then I went and haddinner, and then I was going to
come back on my way back hometo see if maybe the neon was turned
(35:00):
on. It wasn't, but therewas car parked out front, and I
went ahead and started taking just afew more pictures, and then this family
came out and it was the owners, and so they turned me for me.
They took me in, showed methe design of the interior to the
architect and painted like tapestries cool ranalong the side of this theater, and
(35:23):
you know, the city had cometogether to help restore this theater. And
it's just beautiful architectural design, artdeco. Yeah, it's it's absolutely beautiful.
Uh. Just the way that isit backlit neon Like it has like
the big black letters, but itwas like it has the neon backlights it.
(35:45):
Yeah, and then there there's someglass that's kind of lit from behind,
you know. And he was talkinghalf of the marquee, the lower
Marquee is out, he said me, and he goes, it's just so
hard keeping the things up with els, worms and whatnot, and he said,
it's just so expensive and so hardto find somebody to fix something.
(36:07):
I will I'll have to stop youright there because we're almost out of time
for this this call. But whenwe come back, we'll get into more
about the Plaza at some other signsand then get into some of Rob's bucket
list. You're listening to International SignFinders. You've got it tuned into International
(36:39):
sign Finders. I'm your host,raverd Anthony. We just got the one
and only Rob Latimer with us,and I had to unfortunately cut them off
before the end of our third segment. When we start the four segment and
we're getting into the Plaza, Marquee, the Plaza theater and also his sister
theater, Marquee Now the Plaza.It's got a lotty unique features that it
(37:02):
looks like somebody to day cut builtit, but it was almost like it
was forethought of, like fifty sixty, seventy eighty years ago. Yeah,
yeah, it's the design. Theguy was a master. He's from Webb
City, Missouri, and which isright next to Joplin, and I heard
(37:29):
a little bit that he might havedone a theater in Springfield, but I'm
not sure that's true aftering that theatera little more. But the theater in
Augusta, Kansas is much cleaner.It's got just a very light green facade
with gree Art DECOEE lettering above.But it's pretty cool as well, and
(37:53):
that's kind of that town has afew couple signs, so yeah, just
cool stuff. You know, thetheaters are are becoming. One of the
first thing is I'm starting a trip, the first thing I checked, what's
there? Is there a theater there? Because that makes it worth it?
(38:15):
You know. I recently or notrecently, but within the last year or
two, did a trip where Ijust went north from Dayton, Ohio up
and there was just that little driveall the way up to Lima or li
Limu, Ohio just had some greatsigns and it had one of those Joel
(38:36):
box banks in Sydney, Ohio.You know, just so many towns now
do they have a theater, Andif they have a theater, they're worth
going to, you know. Yeah, And one thing I've noticed in my
travels across Texas up through Oklahoma,Kansas, Nebraska. All of them,
(39:00):
even little towns you would never think, right they're oh dunk little town's e'd
sick because I come from a podunklittle town that doesn't have anything like this.
Yeah, but the next town overdoes. But even they have something
unique like Chickashe, Oklahoma. Myaunt lives in Chickashe, and the Washata
Theater is amazing. Yeah, I'veseen pictures of that one. Yeah,
(39:24):
it's like a gross between Art Decoand mid century modern. It just has
a flavor to it. Yeah.I went to h Shawnee, Oklahoma,
which is just southeast of Oklahoma City. They have two theaters. They have
that wornbeck and then another I thinkit was a ritz, very nice.
(39:44):
And then they had another thing Ilove to shoot. They had Somebody's Pig
Pig Stand barbecue restaurant. Yeah,and you know, barbecue restaurants can be
a lot of fun as well,and certainly coming from Kansas City, you
know it's always good to stop ata barbecue restaurant. So yeah, like
(40:05):
in North Carolina, the ones thatcracked me up in North Carolina and South
Carolina are the happy pigs that areeating barbecue. Yeah, yeah, it's
it's very Hannibal Lecter esque, butin a porky type of way. When
I when I post my barbecue signs, I generally started with pig or no
(40:25):
pig. Yeah, I think abarbecue restaurant should have a pig on it,
or the sign should have a pigon it. I agree very much,
agreeing way. But anyway, Yeah, so we'll get it to the
question. I love asking your bucketlist. Now. You talked about you
know, Spragel, Missouri. Youwant to go there? You have been
there yet? All the little townsin between those, those are kind of
(40:49):
bucket lists, unattended bucket lists,I guess you could say, yeah,
But for me, kind of aregret bucket list item that I was able
to catch is where coming south fromChickashet back to Houston, and we went
along the two eighty seven corridor justoutside of Fort Worth, and there is
this diner called Yesterday's Cafe, andI've been dying to shoot it, dying
(41:15):
to shoot it, and my wifeeven one time we're going up to Utah,
was like, hey, you cantake a picture of it. Now
we got to get up the road. I regiveted that, so I was
able. On our way back,we stopped it indicator and I got the
picture. Okay, so that's kindof my regret bucket list back getting stuff.
But for you, where's some ofyour bucket list items or bucketless places?
(41:38):
Well, I've got a couple thatI would put high on the list,
but you know, I'm I'm livingby myself now, so I've got
I can go, and you know, I think for me right now,
everything is not a day trip anymore. So the first place that I or
the place I'll probably go next isDenver and dining end of to photograph the
(42:00):
satire lounge. Yeah, that signfrom a design standpoint, the vertical satire
with the arrow that we use inand out down. It's just a fun
sign. And then there's you know, probably another twenty five signs in Denver
to photograph as well on one streeton one street right and you know what
(42:22):
isn't a Bluebird theater something like that? Looks really cool. So a number
of signs there and my next repI think I'm gonna head to Denver for
a couple of days, then drivesouth to Pueblo. Oh yeah, shoot,
the sign alley and then drive backfrom the southwest corner of Kansas through
(42:46):
Dodge City and Garden City. Butthat's that's maybe the next big trip.
I still need to make it toTulsa, need to make it to Memphis.
Yeah, but my probably top bucketlist's most favorite sign is the Frolic
(43:06):
Room in LA And I just,yeah, to me, that sign with
the style of lettering the scribbt Frolicwith the crossbar of the F coming across
and then starting the room, andthen you got that spray of neon tubes
behind it. I just, tome, that's just a stunning sign.
I sometimes think I'm just gonna hopon the plane, fly take a picture
(43:30):
of that, wait for night andthen maybe just catch the Red Eye.
Oh yeah, I just want togo. And the Pantagious Theater is right
next door, so so that wouldwork too. But I know, once
you get to LA, there's justyou know, a million signs you want
to photograph. So yeah, Icall I call Southern California the Shangri Law
of meon. Yeah. Oh,I'd probably say a Shagar law would be
(43:52):
Old Hong Kong. Unfortunately, Yeahgoes down and put them up with led
Yeah. Oh, ellast I was. I was photographing. There's a President
Hotel in downtown Kansas City, beautifulhotel, and they have a drum room
bar, and there's a nice signon the front for that, and I
(44:15):
just read, you know, there'sso many there's I don't know a handful
of people in Kansas City shooting signs. And yes, Brian with an I
who's the other guy? Anyway,I noticed there was a signing on the
other side of the building that Ihadn't photographed, and it was a drum
(44:36):
room signed And I just drove upto it a week or two ago and
I snapped a couple of pictures,got my car and drove home. Because
it was a new sign. Itwasn't annoy The drum room sign on the
corner front corner of the hotel isan old, cool sign, but this
one was new. It had neonfor drum but everything else was just plastic
can letters. That's kind of stuffthat sometimes you get excited and sometimes they're
(45:01):
done well. Sometimes in that yeah, and you know there are a few
that they try. They eatil theydon't have the money to maybe revitalize it,
but they do it in their otherway. The one that comes to
mind is the Safari Motel and youcan carry and yeah, it doesn't have
like the cool lettering, but theystill kept the neon trim of the sign
(45:23):
and they just had a very simpleSans Serah's font kind of condensed San Serah
font for Theafari and then Safari Motel. But you know, they they're trying
to at least keep with the spiritof what it once was, right right,
It's just so hard, you know, and for ud U got to
(45:43):
be just the way it was,and you just can't afford to do that,
I think in today's marketplace, Iguess, but yeah, and uh,
like I found it. There's likethat one feed called Empty Sign Project
where they take old signs and theyjust showed the shelves of what they are
now. Right. And when Iwas in Alklahoma City, right off of
(46:06):
Northwest twenty third which is old USsixty six, is you know antiques on
twenty third Street, Antique made oftwenty third Street right next to it,
it's just like razy blue upside downtriangle with this you know, line up
the middle and out blue. I'mlike, what was that? What?
You know? Sometimes the Google Maps, you strike gold other times it's like,
(46:28):
weren't, weren't, weren't, Butthis time I struck gold. It
used to be this really cool lookingsogn called the Drexel Cleaners. I wish
that. I know private collections sometimesare hit or miss with people, but
I wish somebody had taken that intoprivate collection or maybe a museum restored it,
because it's such a neat sign whatit used to be. Yeah,
(46:51):
that's kind of like what happened tothat Italian garden sign that yeah point the
Loomy got. We were going totalk about it. Well, yeah,
that's right, thank you. Thatsign was in a yard of a business
for a long time, and Iknow Nick had approached the gentleman about getting
the sign, and the guy wasn'twanting to sell it. And then I
(47:15):
heard rumors that it was on eBay. Yeah, anyway, I don't know
if Nick got someone to go buyit or somebody just bought it and donated
it back to Nick, but that'show he got it. So happy that
that was. It's funny. Iworked when I first got out of college.
I worked downtown Kansas City, andI don't I just don't remember that
(47:38):
sign. I don't remember seeing thatsign, and it was before I was
really interested in signs, but Idon't ever remember seeing that sign up in
downtown Kansas City. There are somegreat historical signs there seemed great signs in
the Jazz Museum in Kansas City.So anyway, but that's how he got
(48:04):
that sign. So it's just greatnews that he got it. And I
photographed it just before he got it. And you know, there was an
arrow and there was a point onthe arrow that I couldn't see. It
was just laying on the ground.But luckily their arrow tip is still there.
So that's one I'm sure he's workingon, hopefully working on now.
(48:25):
And that one back up, Yeah, knock on wood. But that'll bring
us to the end of our show. Glad you joined us? Is this
is Rob Ladimer, Casey Sinechaser.Go and find him. I'll have how
you can connect with him in theshow notes that'll be up tomorrow. Now,
are there any other websites that orthings you want to plug before we
(48:46):
take off? No, I meanother than yeah, the Roadside Architecture,
great yod job, Thank you.It's just such a wonderful tool and it's
a great just to do research andget your trip started. You know,
I need to be better about usingher website. I'm so adhd. I'm
(49:09):
like, we just jump into GoogleMaps and go, well, yeah,
we have we have a resource rightthere. You know. I mean my
first road trip I got I don'tknow, maybe two or three signs when
I didn't use that, and Iremember after that trip, I was a
little disappointed that I wish more.But now you can kind of say I
(49:30):
don't need to stop at that put. You know, I can guess why,
and that just helps shorten the tripa little bit. So anyway,
yeah, then I'll make it allthe worthwhile and also save on some you
know, excess miles. Yeah,you may not need to go, but
what's thank you? So go ahead? No, no, we're good,
(49:50):
Okay, cool. Once again,thank you so much Rob for joining us,
and until next time, happy signfinding. Eight.
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