San Jose neon
01/18/05
San Jose, CA (mostly along West San Carlos and Stevens Creek Boulevard)
1:25 AM | Comments (21) | TrackBack (1)
Comments
imagine these pictures on a touristy website for san jose.
Posted by: BridalBeer at January 18, 2005 02:18 AM
OMG I used to live by Western Appliance right across the street off Bascom AVE. I have not been down that street in years...
Posted by: john at January 18, 2005 04:33 AM
Images are broken, even after I hit refresh :-/
Posted by: recountess at January 18, 2005 05:01 AM
Greay artifacts; I wish you could have been there at night w/ a tripod.
Posted by: Frank at January 18, 2005 08:33 AM
Nice work, Mike. Always appreciate the West Coast retro signage.
Andrew Piccone
www.livejournal.com/users/wrongavore
Posted by: Andrew Piccone at January 18, 2005 10:31 AM
The googie warms my heart.
Posted by: SkinnyPeter at January 18, 2005 12:43 PM
i work about a mile from the winchester shopping center sign, and my boss's family owns western appliance (my boss and i don't work for them though)
awesome
Posted by: Ben at January 18, 2005 01:55 PM
wasn't there a fire there? close by?
Posted by: Angelina at January 18, 2005 02:14 PM
As I recall, there was a fire in Santana Row (which is partially visible in the Winchester photo) during its construction.
The idea behind Santana Row is that it pretends to be urban by building freestanding, densely packed stores that have "streets" between them rather than giant parking lots. Strangely, I am able to contain my excitement.
Posted by: Mike at January 18, 2005 02:19 PM
I pity the fool who pays too much for liquor! Great pictures.
Posted by: Jesse at January 18, 2005 02:26 PM
Don't stick
Your elbow
Out too far
It might go home
In another car
Burma-Shave!
Here's some more roadside signs...
http://www.exithere.net/signs/sign01.html
www.forgotten-ny.com
Posted by: Kevin Walsh at January 19, 2005 01:32 AM
Looks like you got a great sunny blue day for shooting!!
Posted by: Caren at January 19, 2005 11:46 AM
Wow! So cool to see signs from where I live. My husband and I laugh every time we drive by Mr T's Lika Loka.
Posted by: Sami at January 19, 2005 01:49 PM
Oh yeah, I drive by Mr.T's every day. I was considering a night photo of it, but currenly only half the neon is working on either of the sides. The Western Appliance "spires" used to have 3 flash strobes at the top that blinked at odd intervals - gone now upon careful rennovation of the sign. But it was visible waaay down San Carlos / Steven's Creek.
Check out: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.26.01/cover/signs2-0117.html
Posted by: darron at January 19, 2005 03:31 PM
The Pineapple Launderette must certainly be a distant cousin of Satan's Landromat.
Posted by: Marie at January 20, 2005 12:21 AM
To take nothing away from the cool retro signs, but the sky is what I find most amazing in those photos. What a beautiful shade of blue.
Posted by: John at January 21, 2005 05:16 AM
I used to live in SJ and am familiar with so many of your SF and SJ photos. I especially like your Western Appliance and Winchester Shopping Center pix - you captured them beautifully!! Very lovely.
Wow...I miss home! AZ just isn't the same.
Posted by: digitalretina at January 23, 2005 05:28 PM
Love the sings, here is my favorite San Jose Neon Sign!!
http://tracyandnicole.thedreaming.com/blogs/tracyv/what/Where we parked.jpg
Pure Pork Sausage ... A Dancing Pig!
Great Blog!
tracyv
Posted by: tracyv at January 23, 2005 10:50 PM
I lived in the Bay area for over 25 years. I know all the signs you have posted. I left this September. I miss much of the area and your pictures remind me of that.
Good work. Now go south on Monterey Rd....
many things change....
Posted by: Jim at January 25, 2005 12:25 PM
You can see that the local skateboarders have left their mark on the concrete base in the last picture, sweetness.
Posted by: .se at February 13, 2005 11:05 AM
The Pineapple sign is no longer there. I drive San Carlos everyday and saw them take it down one morning about a month ago.