Grassroots effort restores historic 91-year-old Petaluma neon sign
A beloved but neglected sign has been reborn in the North Bay. The Baby Chicks sign in Petaluma was relit over the weekend, all thanks to a grassroots campaign.
From KTVU: PETALUMA, Calif. – The age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, may have finally been answered over the weekend in Petaluma, where a beloved but neglected historic sign was reborn through community power. In this case, the chicken and the egg both came first.
Petaluma’s “Baby Chicks” neon sign, located in front of the former Poehlmann Hatchery, looks just like it did the day it was first mounted 91 years ago. From the 1920s through the 1940s, Petaluma was known as the “Egg Basket of the World,” and it remains an important agricultural center today.
The Baby Chicks sign was originally erected in 1935, but it fell into poor repair as the decades passed. The total $22,000 restoration was strictly a grassroots GoFundMe effort. Historian Katherine Rinehart served as the initial catalyst for the project.
“These signs need a spokesperson, need an advocate. So, I formed the Petaluma Signs Project,” said Rinehart, the organization’s founder.
New diner ‘The Downtowner’ opens in historic Gulfport pharmacy building
From WLOX: GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) — A building that served Gulfport for decades is getting a second life.
The Downtowner officially opened its doors, welcoming its first guests and serving food from a kitchen in the old Triplett Day Pharmacy building, which operated in Gulfport for 65 years.
Robert St. John, the restaurant owner, said the menu features what he calls heritage cuisine.
Pasadena Historic Preservation Commission to Weigh Relocation of Whistle Stop Trains Neon Sign to Glendale Museum
1988 Photograph of sign in original location at 3745 E. Colorado Boulevard. Photo credit: City of Pasadena
From Pasadena Now: For nearly four decades, a 12-foot neon sign topped by a black-and-white locomotive graphic has projected from the building at 2490 E. Colorado Blvd., its animated tubing simulating a train in motion. On Tuesday, Pasadena’s Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to consider whether the 75-year-old Original Whistle Stop Trains sign can be removed and donated to the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale.
The sign’s owner, Fred Hill, recently vacated the Pasadena storefront and relocated his model railroad business to 23 N. Altadena Drive. But he lacks the funds and the property owner’s permission to bring the sign with him. To ensure it is protected and preserved in full operation, Hill is proposing to donate it to the nonprofit Museum of Neon Art, known as MONA, at 216 S. Brand Boulevard.
Route 66 Redux: America’s Iconic Highway Is Transforming This Year As It Turns 100
Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. (Photo: Destination Scenics/Alamy)
From Outside: The Mother Road celebrates her 100th birthday in 2026. For its centennial, America’s most iconic highway gets a glow-up with fresh bicycle paths, revived retro hotels, and pavement that sings (for real).
It might be road-trip blasphemy to suggest ditching the car for a Route 66 adventure—after all, the Mother Road was designed for motor touring—but with excellent established cycling routes and new bike initiatives, we’ll just say it: Why drive when you can bike?
Historic Dairy Queen sign destroyed in storm
The sign as it appeared on Feb. 2, 2020. (Rolando Pujol)
From The Retrologist: The humble mom-and-pop Dairy Queen with its vintage 1950s neon sign is a beloved symbol of roadside Americana. On Saturday, this gorgeous Dairy Queen sign at the shop in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, was destroyed in a powerful storm that swept through the region. The storm broke the back of a hot day – and broke the sign, alas.
The sign had survived so much – from earlier threats from Mother Nature to misguided corporate directives to have it removed. But the sign made it all the way to June 6, 2026.
Questions Swirl Around Future of Johnson City Diner
FLASHBACK: The closed Red Robin Diner on Main Street in Johnson City on March 12, 2021. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)
From WNBF: The fate of a video game-themed restaurant which opened in downtown Johnson City three years ago is uncertain.
A town of Binghamton man acquired the closed Red Robin Diner at 268 Main Street four years ago for $210,000.
Taimoor Khan gave the 75-year-old diner a colorful makeover to transform the place into something called 8-Bit Bites.
SoCal stretch of Route 66 shaped how Americans eat fast food today
An early Taco Bell is pictured. (KTLA)
From KTLA: Route 66, which turns 100 this year, changed the way that we eat in this country, and Southern California’s stretch of the Mother Road gave birth to fast food as a way to feed travelers quickly.
KTLA’s Andy Riesmeyer visited Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe in Victorville, where they’re short on space but long on hospitality.
Emma Jean’s is a small, unassuming diner off the road, surrounded by factories and truckyards. The classic diner has been serving travelers, truckers and locals for generations, built on the kind of no-frills and grills cooking that doesn’t try to be anything else.
It opened back in 1947, when Route 66 was at its peak.
Chicago’s ‘Godfather Of Neon’ Is Still Lighting Up The City After 40 Years In Business
Yaelin Kim, Alberto Nuñez and Tom Brickler pose for a portrait at Neon Shop Fishtail, 2247 N. Western Ave., in Bucktown on June 9, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
From Block Club Chicago: BUCKTOWN — Tom Brickler and his employee, Yaelin Kim, were about to head out of town for a job in Michigan this spring when a customer walked into their Bucktown neon shop with an urgent request.
Could they repair a large, red neon letter “Y” by that evening?
Brickler was confident he could, but he didn’t understand the rush — until he found out what sign the “Y” belonged to.
“He goes, ‘I need this by tonight.’ How can you need a sign by tonight? He says, ‘Because the Cubs are playing the night game tonight,’” Brickler said.