Trip to Valley Forge, Part 1

My recent trip back “home” to the Philly area included a detour to one of my favorite childhood haunts, Valley Forge. It was the site of the Continental Army's challenging 1777-1778 winter encampment and known as the birthplace of the professional American military, where George Washington’s rag-tag soldiers morphed into a victorious fighting force in the Revolutionary War. At the edge of the now National Historical Park lies the Valley Forge Motor Court motel, as seen in this August 1959 image.

The Valley Forge Motor Court Motel is a classic mid-century roadside motel built around 1958 to accommodate visitors drawn to the area’s historical attractions and the nearby entertainment venue, The Valley Forge Music Fair (another story altogether). Below is a Google image of how the motel looks today.



In the below August 1961 shot you can see the neon sign that still stands out in my memory:



Meant to represent one of Washington’s soldiers, I don’t recall if the neon was still working at the time I was growing up. I have doubts that I ever saw it lit. I hope the sign survived, but my guess is that it ended up in a landfill.



Another Google image below shows how bland the property looks now, especially the sign. It seems that the stone base of the sign is the original one, as the stonework matches.



Interestingly enough, according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's fifty-year standard, the motor court officially qualifies as a historic property. However, despite meeting the age threshold, the structure lacks formal historic preservation protection, leading to ongoing local debates over whether to demolish the single-story motel for new multi-story hotel and senior living developments. I could make a guess as to which option would prevail, but that would just reveal my cynicism. In happier days, the Motor Court looked like this, as seen in a vintage postcard found on eBay:



They even had matchbooks!



If the tar and nicotine on the wall could only talk…
 
See more Valley Forge photos at my main website.

Rudford’s Diner: The Real Thing

While other places attempt to replicate the genuine diner experience, Rudford’s in San Diego doesn’t have to try. It’s the real thing. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, it’s been serving the North Park neighborhood since 1949. The photo mural below graces the side of the building.



President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade drove by the restaurant on June 6th, 1963, just a few months before he was assassinated.



Rudford’s has a milkshake named in his honor. The JFK Bacon Caramel Shake is not for the faint of heart, and guaranteed to induce a food coma. And speaking of shakes, this one comes with a good sized portion of extra shake in the cup it was made in. Little extras like that are what makes a great diner!



Signage and tchotchkes adorn the walls and shelves.



Atmosphere like this just can’t be created.



So much neon…I love it!



The patty melt is a favorite of mine; plenty of meat and just the right amount of grease. It is DELICIOUS!



Do not skip the pie for dessert; they are made fresh here at the restaurant from scratch.



The service is super friendly, too. Not the canned kind that is attempted through training; the real kind.

See more North Park/Rudford’s Diner photos at my main website.

Neon at the Hotel Churchill

While visiting a friend at his downtown condo, I looked out his balcony and saw a perfect view of this vintage neon sign - STILL AGLOW!! Of course I came back with my camera and my 600mm lens to capture this shot at sunset. I had passed the Hotel Churchill many times on the way to work when I used to catch the bus from downtown. It looked fairly seedy, as if it had seen better days. Apparently it has been repurposed as an affordable housing project. Just in case you wanted a closer look at the neon tubes:

Here’s a vintage postcard of the Hotel back in its heyday, most likely not long after its 1914 opening. The neon does not appear to have been installed yet:

A vintage postcard showing the lobby:

…and the dining room, which must be where that “famous food” was served:

Got a match?

This 1960s era postcard shows the neon sign:

See more San Diego photos at my main website.

The Return of Allah!

The “lost” Garden of Allah hotel on Sunset Boulevard is one of those vintage Hollywood experiences that I am slightly obsessed with. Located (almost) across the street from the Chateau Marmont, it provided a similar experience for actors, writers, and artists who liked to live on the fringe and play as hard (or harder) than they worked. This aerial view is pre-1951 and shows the Chateau on the fringe left of the shot and Garden of Allah and its distinctive swimming pool top right:

The other day, a friend tagged me in a post about one of the original neon signs reappearing all these years after the hotel closed down and was razed in 1959. How the heck did that happen?!? Here’s a shot of the sign in its heyday:

…and sadly,  how it looks now:

Thinking positively, how incredible is it that it still exists?!?

The main building of the hotel was the residence of silent screen superstar Alla Nazimova and known as Hayvenhurst, after the original owner William H. Hay:

Nazimova converted it into a hotel, hoping it would generate some extra income. Instead, her partners bankrupted her and she was forced to sell, moving east to New York shortly after. Returning to Hollywood in 1938, she stayed in Villa 24 and lived there until she died in 1945. Here is Arch Oboler with Alla Nazimova at the Hotel, September 10, 1940:

One of her final roles was a cameo in “Since You Went Away” (1944) about life on the homefront during World War II. When she recites the poem from the Statue of Liberty, she steals the scene from Claudette Colbert:

Back to Allah (with an “h”): Here is starlet Martha O'Driscoll at the Garden of Allah Hotel pool, June 1937:

Garden of Allah Hotel bungalow 9 with Henry Wilcoxon, 1934. Don’t recognize him? Maybe his role of Pentaur, the pharaoh's captain of the guards in “The Ten Commandments” rings a bell. If not that, how about the priest from “Caddyshack” who gets struck by lightning on the golf course?

Yes, that’s the same guy!

Of course you know this famous Garden of Allah guest, Humphrey Bogart, with his then wife Mary Phillips, shown in their room in the late 1930's

 

Sorry for all the Allah rambling; back to the point of the post! So what’s happening with the sign? Wish I knew. There is a movement to get the sign installed at the steaming-turd-of-a-monstrosity that Frank Gehry has designed to be built on the property where the Garden of Allah once thrived:

The seller is wanting a cool $50k for it, which puts it out of the reach of the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale. Will the city of Hollywood/West Hollywood step forward and buy this piece of history? Only time will tell!

See more vintage Garden of Allah photos at my main website.

Austin Neon on Congress Avenue

As a vintage neon fan, I was in hog heaven on South Congress Avenue in Austin. I hadn’t realized that Austin was a mecca for neon, but today’s post sure does attest to that fact! Neon has been called a dying art form, so it sure was nice to see it alive and well and in abundance! Here are a few of the examples of what I saw as I strolled up and down Congress Avenue...before the rain began! BTW: since I am admittedly not a neon expert, if some of these signs are not made of neon, please forgive me!







This cup of java is in a hurry!



A nice play on words...let’s all just get along, shall we?





It’s a pizza joint...but the pizza looks more like a button to me.





I wonder what the designer of this had in mind when they were creating it?



Finally, how about this neon rainbow ceiling?



See more Austin, Texas photos at my main website.

Portland Adventures, Pt. 6: Union Station

When visiting a new city (for me), I love discovering the unique architecture and especially the historic buildings. I literally stumbled upon Portland’s Union Station one night when I was out shooting photos. The structure and its signature Romanesque clock tower opened in 1896. Unfortunately, the neon signs on the tower were not working during my visit.

Overall, I was somewhat unimpressed. Typically, Union Stations have interesting tile, cool light fixtures, and give a sense of the importance of train travel in history. Instead, this place looked like it might have been stripped of most of its interesting character and truly needed a good cleaning. At least there were some vintage signs, both neon and otherwise:







The main lobby area:







Unlike most Union Stations I have visited, I found this one the hardest to find interesting things to shoot. Still, it was good to see that the building was in use and functioning as a train station!

See more Portland, Oregon photos at my main website.