Historic 7Up Bottling sign, salvaged mere days before arson fire, will be gifted to museum’s neon plaza collection
From KGET: BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – If it seems like Kern County Museum Executive Director Mike McCoy gets a phone call every time a historic building closes down or burns down, that’s because it’s pretty much the case.
At his Mission Bank Neon Plaza, he’s always looking for new additions, and he now has a new, beloved resident coming to join the existing 40 signs within the next few months.
It’s that old 7Up sign from the iconic art deco soft drink bottling plant on East 18th Street in Bakersfield. The bottler, now known as Keurig-Dr Pepper, moved to a new warehouse on James Road last month. Workers came back and fetched the historic sign mere days before an arson fire tragically gutted the architectural treasure.
Iconic Modern Diner for Sale
PHOTO: Will Morgan for GoLocal
From Go Local Prov: One of America’s best-known and most beloved diners is now up for sale.
“After over four decades of cherished service to the Pawtucket, RI, community and countless memories made around its iconic booths, the family-owned Modern Diner – a nationally recognized historic landmark and culinary institution – is officially up for sale,” said the announcement.
Housed in a rare 1940s Sterling Streamliner, the Modern Diner has long been celebrated for its vintage charm, unique homemade breakfast specials, and deep roots in Rhode Island’s cultural and culinary history. As one of the first diners in the nation to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Modern Diner is more than a restaurant – it is a symbol of tradition and community pride.
‘Makes my heart sick’: Landmark California diner closes after 8 decades
Jim-Denny’s American Diner, at 816 12th St., Sacramento, Calif., has closed. Google Street View
From SFGate: Landmark downtown Sacramento diner Jim-Denny’s has closed after over eight decades, owner N’Gina Guyton announced on Instagram Tuesday. The diner, which closed in 2020 after 85 years and reopened in 2023 under Guyton’s ownership, planned to serve its final burgers and hot dogs on Wednesday, reported the Sacramento Bee. It’s now marked closed on Yelp.
In an Instagram post, Guyton said while her landlord had initially offered to sell her the Jim-Denny’s building, he had instead decided to “sell the building and the property next door as a package deal for a larger profit,” she wrote. She explained that she had gone to court, but because it was a verbal agreement, the landlord had won his judgement. In a video on Instagram, she also said that the landlord sent her an eviction notice that she “had to be out by the end of July.”
Cole’s French Dip in downtown LA to close after 117 years
Cole’s has struggled to stay in business due to a combination of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs.
From NBC Los Angeles: Cole’s French Dip, one of the oldest operating restaurants in Los Angeles, will permanently close its doors next month after 117 years of service.
Cole’s has struggled to stay in business due to a combination of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, 2023 Hollywood strikes, local bureaucracy, rising costs and high rent, according to a statement from Cole’s owner Cedd Moses, who added the last day of business will be Aug. 3.
Since 1908, the landmark restaurant in downtown Los Angeles has served its signature French dip sandwich, which it proudly claims to have invented. Others may recognize the restaurant from iconic movies like Forrest Gump’s famous New Year’s Eve scene.
Driving Cross Country? Here Are the Apps You Want Riding Shotgun
Longaberger Basket Building in Newark, Ohio. Alamy
From The New York Times: Driving across the United States is an aspirational trip for many people, but also a daunting one: How do you plan it? What route do you take?
This was the challenge I faced when my partner, Cliff, and I decided to drive from our home in New York City to Los Angeles, where two of our children live. Our priorities were to hit some states we’d never visited and craft an itinerary that included our favorite things: vintage diners, Frank Lloyd Wright homes, automotive landmarks (for him) and factory tours (for me).
We started by picking a few intriguing waypoints and building the trip around them. One was Polymath Park, a collection of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Pennsylvania where you can stay overnight; another was the “Field of Dreams” movie site in Dyersville, Iowa; and a third was an Airbnb rental made out of a refurbished grain silo in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.
Quirky Stonehenge replica survives devastating Hill Country storms
Stonehenge II is undamaged after the Independence Day catastrophe. Stonehenge II/ Facebook
From culturemap San Antonio: One of the Hill Country’s weirdest art installations has weathered the crushing Independence Day storms. Hill Country Arts Foundation (HCAF) in Ingram reports that Stonehenge II, an almost-to-scale replica of the ancient English landmark, was undamaged by recent flooding.
The 65-year-old arts nonprofit announced the status in a Facebook update. Although the monument was unscathed, several facilities were heavily damaged, including its black box theater, outdoor theater, offices, tech shop, and ceramics studio. The center will be shuttered until further notice.
“The recent flood did a lot of damage to the property, though Stonehenge II was undamaged,” wrote an HCAF rep. “The property is closed at this time.”
Tiki Tacky Culture Captured in New Documentary Showing at Mayan
Claymation Donn Beach. The Donn of Tiki
From Westword: Call him Donn Beach, or Don Beachcomber, or Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, the name he was born with in Texas in 1907. If you must, call him a fake and a cultural appropriator. But you can also call him a master showman, the man who single-handedly invented a new style of drink and bar culture that is having a resurgence today.
It’s tiki culture, as exemplified by places that serve fruity, rum-soaked drinks with umbrellas amidst decor that leans hard on sunshine, beaches, palm trees, hula dancing and Polynesian food.
Yes, it’s all a facade, a Hollywood version of a Pacific Islander stereotype. Beach (the name he took legally as an entrepreneur) appropriated and mashed-up a lot of cultures he’d experienced as a wandering young man in the 1920s and ’30s, when he learned to love rum in the Caribbean and admired the tropical exoticism of the Pacific Islands.