The hand-painted signage on the food trucks around the Washington Monument in Washington DC are culture clash of stylistic non-sequiturs. They advertise food from the USA, Asia, Germany and Italy with lettering that combines elements of Roman and Indonesian alphabets.
Here, a sign painter in Northern Mexico worked this funky freehand cursive with a handful of sweet design tricks: chrome highlights, key lines, drop shadows. It’s slick and awkward at the same time, which makes it especially appealing. So appealing, in fact, that I was compelled to go in and buy something. I walked away with a plaster buddha the size of a deflated basketball that must weigh thirty pounds.
Sadly, the original Juices Fountain shack on Vine Street near Hollywood Boulevard was torn down to make room for the W Hotel and condos. Fortunately, Ms. Perez’s collection of brightly illustrated menu signs now live at her new place (now called just Juice Fountain) at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard, just around the corner from the old location. These signs date from the Fountain’s opening in 1969 and feature a masterful, exuberant single-stroke commercial script. The tropical jungle backgrounds are exceptionally well painted and the fruit illustrations are very simple yet manage to evoke the sweet taste of fresh fruit.
On Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese architect 
A neon sign lit at night is glorious, but often there are stories hidden behind the lights. The sign lit shouts the sign maker’s intention. The daylight sign tells other stories: the story of an aging neighborhood, the stories behind the business, the hidden components of the sign maker’s craft. This great old sign is locate in San Francisco’s North Beach at 1534 Stockton Ave. It advertises a nice little neighborhood bar that has been open since prohibition days. I can’t find any information about who Tony Nik was, but I wonder why and when somebody painted over the “Nik’s.” If anybody knows anything about the history of this joint, let me know.
Monkeypete loves the urban poetry of real hand-crafted neon signs. This amazing sign, on Woerner’s Cigar and Liquor, can still be found in San Francisco’s Tenderloin at 901 Geary Street between Larkin and Polk. The history and science behind neon can be found at http://inventors.about.com/od/qstartinventions/a/neon.htm. However, the emotional pull of a great neon sign is better explained by Jonathan Richman in his song Neon Sign which can be found on lyricsmania.com.Connect
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