With Fate Of Rainbow Motel’s Iconic Neon Sign Up In The Air, Preservationists Move To Save It
The Rainbow Motel’s secondary sign includes a drawing of the motel’s heart-shaped bed on one side, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. Credit: Kade Heather/Block Club Chicago
From Block Club Chicago: GARFIELD RIDGE — The Rainbow Motel’s enormous neon sign still towers over Archer Avenue as workers renovate the property below.
While changes to the 72-year-old motel are apparent, the exact fate of the rainbow-shaped neon sign remains unclear.
A visitor who stopped by the motel at 7050 W. Archer Ave. in late July said a front-desk employee told her the motel’s signs would be “redone” soon.
Columbia advances sale of historic Royal Motel to Bakari Sellers
Royal Motel on the 1500 block of Harden Street. Credit: WLTX
From WLTX: COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia City Council has given initial approval to sell the historic Royal Motel on Harden Street to a former state representative who plans to redevelop the property into a new hotel with retail and commercial space.
Columbia City Council gave first-reading approval Tuesday to sell the Royal Motel property at 1507 Harden St. to former state Rep. Bakari Sellers. The deal will need a second vote before the sale can be finalized.
The property sits near Allen University and Benedict College in an area that was once a thriving Black business district, home to dozens of African American-owned businesses.
How This 100-Year-Old Company Is Recreating a Lost Neon Color
Photo: Dan Cain
From the Wall Street Journal: America’s neon signs are slowly going dark. Certain colors are disappearing and so are the neon artisans still practicing the specialized craft.
Chicago Church that held Emmett Till’s funeral now looks like it did on that historic day
From The Chicago Crusader: It hung 15 feet above thousands of mourners as they paid their respects to a Black boy brutally murdered by two white men. As the world watched massive crowds outside around a hearse, a neon sign in the shape of a cross became part of an important place in Black history in 1955.
That year, Emmett Till’s wake and public funeral gripped the city and the world. The nine-foot neon sign that many people saw for three days bared the name of the Chicago church where it was held: Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal church in Bronzeville.
Last week, a replica of the sign was unveiled and illuminated as the final touch on the church’s façade that now looks like it did 71 years ago, when it hosted Till’s massive funeral. Today, the church is a National Monument and a Chicago Landmark. In addition to the neon sign, the arched roof, red brick masonry and windows have returned as well as the two crosses at the top.
Once-Iconic Twin Chimneys Motel In Cheyenne Torn Down To Make Way For Coffee Shop
Several vintage linen postcards depicting the Twin Chimneys Motor Court in Cheyenne in better times were being offered on eBay Tuesday. Earlier in the day the motel was demolished after standing since the 1950s.
From Cowboy State Daily: CHEYENNE — The iconic twin chimneys that marked a once-popular motel on the historic Lincoln Highway lasted for almost 90 years, but they came tumbling down in about 30 seconds earlier this week to make way for a coffee shop.
The Twin Chimneys Motor Court, which offered weary travelers a place to stay for decades and keep their cars covered, is an example of many motels along U.S. Highway 30 that might not be considered historic but are part of a renaissance in support of renovating similar lodging across the nation.
“I always hate seeing old buildings torn down before there’s a chance to save them,” Megan Stanfill, executive director of the Alliance for Historic Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily. “Instead of preserving it as a motel, maybe the chimneys could have been preserved as a landmark.”
14 Roadside Dinosaur Attractions Worth the Stop
Ken Lund / CC BY-SA 2.0
From Atlas Obscura: Onsted, Michigan, right off of the U.S. Highway 12, might seem like an odd place to find an apatosaurous. But in 1963, this town with a population of less than a thousand was home to a whole cadre of life-size fiberglass dinosaurs. These “terrible lizards” were once part of The Prehistoric Forest, an attraction on the site of a real tar pit complete with waterfalls and a fossil digging area.
Sadly, the park fell into ruin over the years, but road-trippers can still see the decaying remnants. As bizarre as that may seem, it’s not even that much of an anomaly. Dinosaur parks were once popular roadside attractions in the United States. Although many have seen better days, there are dozens of them in various states of dilapidation scattered around the nation.