| Super Signage |
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| NEW YORK (page 1) |
| Lombardo's Restaurant Albany, NY |
Westgate Shopping Center Albany, NY |
Bob & Ron's Fish Fry Albany, NY |
Colonial Car Wash Albany, NY |
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Lombardo's Restaurant (aka Lombardo's Grill) has been serving Italian food since 1932. The sign is not the original but it is from the 1930s and was restored in 2000.
The Westgate Shopping Center and sign were built in 1957. The neon sign is 90' tall. It originally read "Welcome to Westgate Shopping Center" and had a clock which was replaced with the Price Chopper sign. For more, see this website. Bob & Ron's Fish Fry is just a block or two from the Westgate sign. The restaurant opened in 1948 as Bob & Art's. It moved to this location in 1952. In the late 1950s, the name was changed slightly and the sign was either altered or replaced with this one. For more, see this website. The Colonial Car Wash is right next door to the Fish Fry. It was built in the 1950s. This chain has six locations in Albany and Schenectady. For more about Central Avenue, see this website. |
| Northway Inn Colonie, NY |
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| The Northway Inn and signage were built in 1960. |
| Central Motel (now Scottish Inn) Colonie, NY |
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| In 2002, the Central Motel looked like it had been closed for many years. In the summer of 2003, extensive work on the motel rooms was underway and the sign was partly dismantled. By 2005, the sign was replaced with this one (at least the flowerbox and pole are still there). The old motel's features are also intact. |
| Oliver's Candies Batavia, NY |
Bel-Aire Motel Niagara Falls, NY |
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Oliver's Candies opened in 1932. The sign was built in the late 1940s and was origincally part of a canopy in front of the entrance. In the 1950s, it was built into the freestanding sign. The flashing bulbs had to be made steady to comply with a local ordinance. For more, see their website.
The Bel-Aire Motel and sign are from the early 1960s. It is one of the few functioning animated neon signs left on Niagara Falls Blvd. |
| Kem Cleaners Erie Blvd. Schenectady, NY |
Kem Cleaners Union St. Schenectady, NY |
Kem Cleaners Scotia, NY |
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| Kem Cleaners is a local dry-cleaning chain with about a dozen locations. The Erie Blvd. sign is at their original location from the 1940s. Their Union St. and Scotia stores have similar but toned-down signs. For more, see their website. |
| General Electric Schenectady, NY |
Photo-Lab Schenectady, NY |
Sweetheart Market North Syracuse, NY |
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The GE sign is a huge incandescent display spanning nearly the full width of its headquarters where the company began. General Electric has been using the same GE logo since 1900. It was circular in design to fit in the center of an electrical fan. I'm assuming this sign is from the 1920s or 1930s. I have heard that they changed the white lights to red and green for the Christmas holidays but I don't know if they still do.
The Photo-Lab features a terrific old glass-faced storefront with freestanding block letters above its retractable canopy. The Sweetheart Market started out as a produce stand here in 1945. It grew into a supermarket in 1952 but eventually closed in 2003. Their sign was adapted by an Eckerd drug store and was restored in 2007. In 2008, the neon was replaced with LED tubing. The neon was prone to breaking from the vibrations of heavy trucks driving by. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. |
| Henderson's Drugs Penn Yan, NY |
Allied Building Products Utica, NY |
Pine Crest Motel Utica, NY |
Coral Isle Swim Pools Vestal, NY |
Brown Derby Poughkeepsie, NY |
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Henderson's Drugs was founded in 1956. They have four other locations (Geneva, Montour Falls, Seneca Falls, and Syracuse). This one has the most interesting signage. For more, see their website.
Allied Building Products maintains this animated, older neon sign above its modern one. It also fondly uses its "Rocky" character in another modern sign on the front of its building. Allied appears to specialize in roofing materials. The Pine Crest Motel is still open and looks much better than their sign does. Most certainly, there must have been a nice neon pine tree on the sign originally. Coral Isle Swim Pools opened in 1960. They have a full-sized swimming pool directly behind this sign. They have now expanded to sell hot tubs and game tables (e.g., billiards, ping pong). The Brown Derby restaurant opened in 1902. In recent years, it was known as 96 Main but new owners have changed the name back to the original. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. |
| Parsons Mobile Homes Endwell, NY |
Endwell Motel Endwell, NY |
Spankin-Kleen Launderette Liberty, NY |
Town & Country Building Liberty, NY |
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Parsons Mobile Homes is now known as Parsons Recreational Vehicle. The Endwell Motel still has this original sign and motel rooms. The restaurant is now China Lake (Chinese food). The Spankin-Kleen Launderette has a cool façade as signage. It looks like 1940s or so to me. The Town & Country Building is from the late 1800s. It has been a dry goods store, a vaudeville house, movie theatre and clothing store. The current façade design is from 1953 when it was occupied by the Town & Country Men's and Boy's Shop. That business closed in the early 1990s. The building was nearly demolished but it is now being restored and nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. For more, see this website. |
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