How the Weirs Beach Sign Became a New Hampshire Landmark
The Weirs Beach sign. Credit: Mark Fleming
From newengland.com: Along the zigzagging shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in Laconia, New Hampshire, a midcentury marvel points back in time. The Weirs Beach sign, with its classic neon lettering and flashing arrow, has directed travelers to a boardwalk brimming with activity since 1956. In the 70 years since, the sign has become a totem not just of the state’s largest lake but of the region’s vintage summer revelry.
Before the 1950s, locals called this stretch of lakefront Weirs or, more often, “the Weirs,” in reference to the fishing trap Native Americans used in the channel. But in 1955, five years after the dredging of this waterway helped to create a large sandy wedge, the Laconia City Council voted unanimously to change the name to Weirs Beach.
The local railroad station, which helped usher in the area’s tourism boom during the 19th century, switched the name of its stop accordingly. And a group of local business owners scrounged together $2,200 to erect their own monument to this newly branded summer resort.
SF Chinatown’s historic Golden Star Radio sign restored back to life after nearly 60 years
The Golden Star Radio neon sign in San Francisco Chinatown is back to its former glory after a community-driven restoration
From KGO: SAN FRANCISCO — It was a lighting ceremony nearly 60 years in the making.
On Friday, dozens gathered in Chinatown as the old Golden Star Radio unveiled a brand new neon sign.
Ron Tong’s parents opened the radio station back in the 1930s, becoming the first Chinese-language radio broadcaster in the country.
How the ‘Bible of Black travel’ mapped safe areas for African Americans in Michigan
Pictured is The Southern Chicken Shack, which once stood near Charles Avenue at 733 Logan St. on Grand Rapids’ southeast side. It has long since been demolished. (Photo/City of Grand Rapids Archives)
From mlive: In the 1930s, a Black postal worker in Harlem, New York, wrote a book that was both a travel guide and a survival guide.
The Negro Motorist Green Book later became known as “the Bible of Black travel.”
The guide was updated annually so Black Americans across the nation could safely find everything from hotels, motels and restaurants to nightclubs, grocery stores, resorts, beaches and gas stations, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
This was essential for Black travelers, a matter of life or death during an era of segregation cemented into the legal system through Jim Crow laws.
El Paso Museum of History opens El Otro Muralismo exhibit on borderland sign painting
El Paso Museum of History’s El Otro Muralismo: Historical and Contemporary Sign Painting in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. (Credit: KFOX14/CBS4)
From KFOX14: EL PASO, TEXAS — A new exhibition opening this weekend at the El Paso Museum of History is putting the spotlight on the art form of hand-painted signs.
The exhibit, El Otro Muralismo: Historical and Contemporary Sign Painting in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, examines how generations of local sign painters, known as rotulistas, have shaped the visual identity of the Borderland through storefronts, advertisements and other public artwork.
Museum officials said the exhibition brings together newly commissioned artwork, historical objects and personal stories to document nearly 150 years of sign-painting history in the Paso del Norte region. The exhibit was developed in collaboration with The University of Texas at El Paso professor and graphic designer Anne Giangiulio.
California roadside icon Pea Soup Andersen’s, closed for years, to be demolished
The exterior of the Pea Soup Andersen’s in Buellton, Calif. The century-old restaurant may be razed and redeveloped by its new owner. Pictured here on April 14, 2025. Andrew Pridgen/SFGATE
From SFGATE: Pea Soup Andersen’s, the legendary California restaurant that served generations of roadtrippers, is headed for demolition.
The classic roadside stop had nearly hit its 100th anniversary when it suddenly closed two years ago. The restaurant, off Highway 246 in Buellton, put the gateway town to the Santa Inez Valley on the map, serving millions of bowls of soup annually at its peak. But post-COVID, the restaurant struggled and, with no warning, Pea Soup Andersen’s closed in January 2024.
Since the closure, the lot has fallen into disrepair, becoming a frequent target for vandals and trespassers, city manager Scott Wolfe said at Thursday’s Buellton City Council meeting. Wolfe said that on recent walkthroughs, he observed a “tremendous amount of vandalism,” as well as unsafe conditions.
Skyway Drive-In Ends its 74-Year Run
Meal at Skyway Drive-In Credit: Courtesy photo
From clevescene.com: Northeast Ohio lost another piece of culinary history over the weekend when Skyway Drive-In closed its doors in Fairlawn. The beloved burger restaurant opened in 1952 and, at its height, operated locations in Fairlawn, Green, Medina and Stow. Fairlawn – the first and the last – closed with 74 years of business under its belt.
How a Basket Empire Wove the Myth of America
The Longaberger Company headquarters in Newark, Ohio, built in 1997 as a 160-times replica of the company’s Medium Market Basket. (Photo Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy the Library of Congress)
From Hyperallergic: The Longaberger Company was once a billion-dollar basket-weaving empire, employing over 8,000 people at its peak. Its headquarters in Newark, Ohio, was built in 1997 in the shape of a giant basket, complete with two enormous handles arching over a glass atrium ceiling. But after declining sales, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2018. The iconic Basket Building, which has sat empty for years, is now for sale.
Ryan Miller, a photographer who worked at Longaberger in 2014, witnessed the company’s descent into financial instability. “After countless late and missed payments, I learned they were struggling to pay many of their contractors, myself included,” Miller told me. “That glass ceiling? Well, it turns out that the handles would gather moisture and ice pretty frequently in the winter and when it broke free, it had only one place to come crashing down. Eventually, they didn’t even bother to get it repaired, and I vaguely remember some tarp and tape holding it together during my final days there.”