Clownfinger: The Evil Clown of Middletown
From RoadsideAmerica: I’m fossilized enough to recall childhood family trips to Food Circus, later regularly driving by the long-shuttered store’s mascot sign while living in Middletown, NJ. Clownfinger is a satirical, nostalgic glimpse of the landscape of spinning signs and looming unease.
GE Vernova reinstalls GE sign atop historic Schenectady campus
The General Electric sign is reinstalled at GE Vernova in Schenectady. The 167-foot-long sign, which features thousands of individual lights and was first installed in 1926, is being restored. The refurbished sign will have the same appearance and design as the original when fully installed. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
From the Times Union: SCHENECTADY – Workers at GE Vernova were busy reinstalling the iconic General Electric sign on top of Building 37 at the historic GE campus in downtown Schenectady on Wednesday.
They are still in the process of adding back features to the sign, first installed in 1926.
The sign is 167 feet long and has 10-foot-tall letters featuring thousands of individual lights. The refurbished sign will have the same appearance and design as the original when fully installed.
HISTORIC CAPITOL THEATER SIGN RETURNS TO EAST LEVEE STREET
From brownsvilletx.gov: A piece of Brownsville history has returned to its place in downtown Brownsville.
The iconic Capitol Theatre sign was reinstalled on Monday, June 8, 2026, marking a significant milestone in the restoration of one of Brownsville’s most treasured landmarks on East Levee Street. The sign’s lights will turn on in two weeks.
For more than seven months, the theater’s familiar marquee was absent from the downtown skyline after crews carefully removed the historic sign on October 21, 2025. Due to its fragile condition, the marquee was dismantled piece by piece to allow for critical roof repairs and preservation efforts at the nearly century-old building.
Don’t Miss: Historic Cattleman’s Club & Cafe sign shines again
From the Amarillo Tribune: The Cattleman’s Club & Cafe sign on Historic Route 66 has been restored, thanks in part to a grant from the City of Amarillo. The sign was recognized for its historical significance in a 2016 Texas Historical Survey.
According to the City, the sign was restored with the installation of true neon tubing by Casteel Sign, a company known for restoring landmarks such as the neon Pegasus in downtown Dallas and the Paramount Theatre sign in Chicago.
Historic Arlington hotel site reborn as boutique destination ahead of World Cup
Credit: WFAA
From WFAA: ARLINGTON, Texas — A stretch of East Division Street that once drew travelers to the historic Caravan Motor Hotel is welcoming guests again, this time through a new boutique property inspired by the original motel’s midcentury roots.
The new Caravan Court Hotel occupies the site of the former Caravan Motor Hotel, which opened as a roadside destination during an era when automobile travel was booming. The original hotel later closed and sat abandoned for years before redevelopment began.
Coachman’s is gone. So what will happen to its iconic sign?
The sign for Coachman’s Dinner & Pancake House, an iconic 1960s-era diner on State Street that closed in 2021, is pictured on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune)
From The Salt Lake Tribune: Driving on State Street in Salt Lake City, it’s hard to miss the huge sign for Coachman’s Dinner & Pancake House on the southeastern corner at the intersection with 1300 South.
When the long-empty 1960s-era diner was demolished last week, with the sign left standing, a Reddit post was full of questions about what would happen to it.
Well, curious Redditors and fans of Utah relics can rejoice.
Time-Traveling Along Route 66, in Cars of the Past, Present and Future
Route 66 is a dusty gallery of idiosyncratic Americana highlighting the nation’s first motorized century. Visuals by Gabriella Angotti-Jones
From The New York Times: U.S. Route 66, the Mother Road of novels, songs and movies and the highway that ran parallel with America’s postwar boom years, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Driving it in 2026, you wouldn’t necessarily know that festivities were in order.
The arrival of jet travel and the birth of the federal interstate program in 1956 led to a marked decline in traffic, followed by decades of neglect. Though it has long since lost its former luster, Route 66 remains a monument to its past and to the freedom and opportunity it once stood for in a nation migrating westward.
Today, Route 66 is a dusty museum that wends its way lazily through eight states, from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif. Along the way is a gallery of idiosyncratic Americana highlighting the nation’s first motorized century.
Though completists might wish to traverse every one of its 2,448 miles, I set out for four days and three nights to explore part of it with some fellow road-tripping history buffs: David Brancaccio, a former host and now a correspondent for “Marketplace” on public radio, and John Krafcik, a former chief of Hyundai North America and of Waymo, the robotaxi venture.
Will New Bedford’s neon Paul Revere ever ride again?
For decades, a 40-by-25-foot neon sign of Paul Revere illuminated New Bedford’s sky. COURTESY OF DAVE WALLER
From Ocean State Media: Growing up, seeing a neon Paul Revere ride his red horse through the sky meant that Eve Hartig was almost home.
The same image enchanted generations of kids from New Bedford, MA, since the late 1940s, when Revere Copper and Brass Inc. installed a 40-foot by 25-foot neon sign on a factory roof. By the time Hartig was born, the sign had a new perch over Interstate 195.
Then, one day in 2014, the sign disappeared.