Frostop will not be demolished, but its future remains uncertain
Photo by Daneel Watson
From Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans: NEW ORLEANS — Ted’s Frostop is safe from demolition under the current proposal — but its long-term future remains uncertain.
RCR Claiborne Venture III LLC, the developer behind the proposed housing project at South Claiborne Avenue and Calhoun Street, has withdrawn its request to overturn the demolition denial they received from the Historic District Landmarks Commission in April 2026. The New Orleans City Council was scheduled to consider the appeal at their meeting on June 4.
The withdrawal means the HDLC’s April 8 decision to deny demolition remains in place, and the current effort to demolish the 1955 diner will not move forward.
Vintage Gold Medal Flour sign restored on Minneapolis house
From Fox9: A project to preserve a piece of the past in South Minneapolis is finally finished. Last summer, Leigh Johnson and her husband were removing the siding on their Minnehaha Avenue home when they discovered a giant, 100-year-old advertisement for Gold Medal Flour hidden underneath.
Sacramento to let historic Tower sign remain inside office with replica outside
The neon sign that once marked drug store where Tower Records founder Russ Solomon first started selling music adorns the Tower Theatre in 2010. ANDY ALFARO Sacramento Bee file
From The Sacramento Bee: Several months after a historic neon sign associated with Tower Records was installed inside a Broadway office without permission from the city, a Sacramento official said it can remain there.
The sign, referred to in a mid-2010s interview by Tower Records founder Russ Solomon as “the dancing kids sign,” dates to 1949 and formerly was installed atop Tower Cafe. It vanished roughly 2-1/2 years ago before being installed around the holidays inside offices at 1508 Broadway for the Tower District.
The Endowment Board, which owns the Tower Theatre building that the cafe and Tower District offices are located in and didn’t respond to an interview request for this story, applied to install a replica of the historic sign. In the process of investigating, the city also learned that a replica Joe Marty’s sign had been installed on the building, with the original sold to an unknown buyer. Its whereabouts are unknown.
Lebanon holds lighting for historic Route 66 sign
Lebanon Mayor Jared Carr (left) and Tourism Director Rebecca Rupard (right) beneath the Munger Moss Motel sign, which Carr has just lit. The city held a sign lighting Monday to commemorate its ownership of the historic Route 66 sign. LCR PHOTO/JACK SILBERBERG
From the Laclede County Record: The City of Lebanon, MO, honored its ownership of an iconic Route 66 sign in the year of the Mother Road’s centennial Monday night with a sign lighting.
A crowd that included city officials gathered as the sun began to set for the lighting, which city tourism director Rebecca Rupard, Shepherd Hills Factory Outlets co-owner and chair of the federal Route 66 Centennial Commission, Rod Reid, and Mayor Jared Carr prefaced with remarks.
As part of the ownership of the sign, Rupard said, the city refurbished it – twice, after May hail slightly damaged it.
She said the sign would shine from 8 p.m. to midnight every night.
‘Defining feature of Kenmore Square’: CITGO sign prepped for temporary move, goes dark for 6 months
From Boston25 News: BOSTON — The iconic CITGO sign is one of the most recognizable pieces of Boston’s skyline, and well, it’s moving!
Boston 25 News got a look at the first steps of a nearly six-month process to take it down, move it, and bring it back brighter and more visible on Friday.
“For decades, the CITGO sign has been a defining feature of Kenmore Square and the Boston skyline.”
Century-old pier is all that remains of lost Ontario amusement park
Photo: Old Ontario Series
From blogTO: A century-old pier and gated community still standing along the Lake Erie shoreline is just about all that’s left of what was once one of Ontario’s top-visited amusement parks.
While little evidence of the park remains today, Crystal Beach Park was thesummer escape for thrill-seeking crowds from both sides of the border between 1888 and 1989.
The park’s origins trace back to the late 19th century, when it operated as a Chautauqua show area or religious campground. To bring in more visitors (and, naturally, more revenue), founder John Rebstock began adding sideshows and amusement rides, and the campground slowly transformed into a full amusement park.
The Route 66 Centennial Caravan: 8 States, 20 Days, and Thousands of Memories
Exterior of The Big Texan Steak Ranch. Rhys Martin
From the National Trust for Historic Preservation: Beginning on June 6, the Main Street of America Route 66 Centennial Caravan will embark on a 2,400-mile, three-week journey from Santa Monica to Chicago, making multiple daily stops along the full stretch of the “Mother Road” in celebration of its 100th anniversary. Crossing all eight states along Route 66, the caravan will spotlight preservation success stories, while calling for the continued revitalization of landmarks and communities along the historic highway.
Organized by the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership with support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the caravan will include representatives from statewide organizations dedicated to promoting and preserving Route 66. Members of the public are invited to participate for as long as they wish.
NOLA ‘Nacular: Anthony DelRosario’s crusade to preserve New Orleans’s vernacular signage
Sign painted by Lester Carey.PHOTO BY ANTHONY DELROSARIO OF NOLA ‘NACULA
From Country Roads: Biking around New Orleans in the years after Katrina, pondering the destruction—what was lost and what survived, the blue sky reflecting in the puddles and in the potholes—Anthony DelRosario was conceiving the project of a lifetime. He would go on to spend days, months, years documenting the careful lettering advertising beauty salons, barber shops, churches, delis, daiquiri shops, lounges. This included corner stores, once the center of community life for gossip and groceries. It all began as an act of preservation, a realization that “life and things are fragile and ephemeral.”