Perfect Place for a Friday Night... 5 of 365

Who here remembers tropical storm Hillary? Show of hands? That's right... nobody. I wouldn't either, if not for the fact she ruined a few solid hours of shooting in Tucson with her high winds, cloud cover and rain. I hung in there with the best of them, but after I started getting pelted with pebbles I decided to pack it in before any equipment was damaged. You can bruise me, scrape me or make me bleed, but I'll be damned if you're going to scratch my lens. But back to Tucson...

If you've never been to Tucson you absolutely MUST go. It is a veritable smorgasbord of vintage neon signage, with some of the most unique signs I've had the pleasure to see. I've already posted a fair amount of my Tucson images to either my Etsy shop or my Flickr page but there are a few gems I haven't gotten around to editing. Tonight I'm digging one out of the archives, simply because it sounds like the perfect place to spend a Friday evening. Of course I'm at home blogging and making cream cheese icing, but that doesn't matter. The Crossroads restaurant is apparently pretty darn good and worth the drive to the edge of town. I'll be going back to Tucson to capture the rest of the signs I couldn't shoot thanks to Hillary, and the Crossroads is on my list for lunch.

Yes, that's a neon beer mug.

Happy Friday night folks! See you tomorrow for the six installation in this crazy project of mine...

Reno's El Ray... 2 of 365

Reno has a wealth of small motels with colorful vintage signs. And there's no clear motel row like some other cities I've visited. Instead the mom and pop places seem to be in clusters around the downtown area. Find one and you'll find four more. It makes for some fun exploration on foot, wandering from place to place with camera in hand. The El Ray is on Arlington in the midst of several other motel signs, across the street from the Sands Casino. I know what you're thinking... it's not that Sands sadly.

Boomerang signs... amazing.

It's unclear if the El Ray is still operating as a monthly rental place, if at all. The plastic panel that once read motel is completely gone, but there is still a building on the property and I was definitely unwillingly eavesdropping on a woman's telephone conversation while snapping away pictures of the sign.

Two down.... Happy Tuesday!

It's Love... 1 of 365

The past week has been a flurry of photo related list making, remaking, amending and doing. For every "to do" item checked off that list, I've easily added three more. Like all things worth doing well, my photo work never ends. But things are happening, and I'm excited.

Somehow in my brainstorming I had this zany idea to post a photo a day for the next year. Most 365 projects involve creating a photo a day... this isn't that... no no. While I would love to create an image a day I am proud enough to share, there are a few reasons it isn't the project for me right now. This silly project of mine is editing and thoughtfully posting one image per day.

I know for a fact I have photographs of at least 365 signs, cars and roadside wonders hiding untouched on my computer. If I didn't take another photograph for a year I'd still have enough material to share with you every day until October 20, 2014. This is absurd and wonderful but it needs to change. Add to this backlog the fact I haven't blogged since February of this year...whoops!... and my project is the perfect. Welcome to day 1 of 365.

Today's beautiful sign is none other than Baskin's Auto Supply in Fresno, California. Fresno has it's rougher neighborhoods... beware motel row... but it also has a pretty fantastic collection of neon. Baskin's is most likely the best maintained in town and it's in pristine condition. A neighboring shop owner said the business has been owned by the Baskin family since 1917, and it seems the sign was built in 1956. The sign is currently listed on the Local Register of Historic Places for Fresno, but I haven't found a National Register listing. At least not yet.

I love proud neon sign owners. Love them!

If you ever think I'm slacking on this project, feel free to hassle me at any time. One down, here's to 364 more.

Eat at Jim's

These past few weekends have been a photographer's dream... gorgeous weather and two road trips. I spent three days in Los Angeles over Labor Day weekend and spent this past weekend driving Route 66 from Kingman, Arizona out to the beautiful California coast. I have enough photographs to keep me busy for weeks. 

Today's photographic googie goodness can be found in Hawaiian Gardens just off the 605 freeway. My advice, come hungry... the food smelled so good. 

Is it lunch time yet?

This weekend is reserved for adventures in moving, but I'll have more to share with you on Monday.

Happy weekend!

-Stefanie