Sign of life for Blockbuster Video; owner of historic Gulf station dies; epic Moon Winx Lodge sign sold; a modern McMansard; curtains for a pizza pioneer | Rolando's Roadside Roundup
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When my friend Stephanie Stuckey sent me the email, I gasped.
The Moon Winx Lodge sign, a veritable symbol of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and a bucket lister for so many roadside enthusiasts, was gone.
It was a gut punch for me, in part because I had never visited. It was long on my list, but never made it onto my SD cards. I once had a 19-hour road trip planned with the Moon Winx as the ultimate destination, but life got in the way.
The news was broken on Facebook by Kip Tyner, the Tuscaloosa City Council president, and the comment thread on the post — numbering over 150 the last time I checked — is a vivid reminder of how beloved this sign was.
What we know is that the city closed the motel for health-code violations — sadly some of the nicest signs are in places that court this kind of trouble — and the sign was soon on a flatbed truck, sold and on its way out of town.
From the comments that Tyner has made in the Facebook thread, it’s possible he will have news about the sign’s future that is promising.
For example, he wrote in a response to the suggestion to build a replica of the Moon Winx:
Its just a hunch but though its left Tuscaloosa i just have a strange feeling we may see it again - here.
In this article, he suggests the sign may reemerge in Birmingham.
For the moment, Tuscaloosa is without one of its great roadside symbols.
The Moon Winx goes back a good long while. The lodge, originally labeled a motor court, dates to the 1920s and the sign came along in the 1950s, the work of Glenn House, who sculpted his first name into it. This isn’t the first sign here — there used to be another one, with a jolly, moon-faced fellow, and for a while, part of the famous sign was there, but without the crescent moon.
The Moon Winx holds a special place in the hearts of University of Alabama football fans. Devotees of college football coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant know he and his famous players — and many fans — stayed here on Friday nights before home games, according to various accounts. (An old newspaper ad, below, declares the Moon Winx as “Where the Crimson Tide Stays”)
Well, as we know, the moon does make the tides roll! Wink.
The motel was also known for its long-gone restaurant, at one point called The Lamplighter.
But back to the sign: When a sign becomes an icon of a community, it belongs to us all. One reader of Tyner’s thread suggested — tongue in cheek, but maybe poking out just a little bit — that changing the name of the city to MOON WINX CITY might be in order.
But the sign, alas, was not community property.
The spirit of the sign lives on in this city, adopted in the logo of Druid City Brewing Co. Check out the brewery sign here, and the beautiful logo above. And we can only hope — I use that word a lot, alas — that the Moon Winx returns home, in some place where it can be celebrated, treasured and protected forever.
Stephanie has a history of the motel and a lovely photo of the sign.
And thank you Ginger Ann Brook of deepfriedkudzu.com for sharing her photo of the Moon Winx. (I quickly replaced my sad little Google Streetview shot!)
Historic Gulf Service station closes on Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania after owner dies
In every guidebook to the Lincoln Highway, and in so many more that survey the best of roadside America, Dunkle’s Gulf Service makes the cut.
And how could it not? It’s an Art Deco masterpiece, a wonder of polychrome terracotta tile from 1933, the last of its kind still operating as a Gulf station. Here, you would pull up and still experience a reminder of why they used to call gas stations “service stations.” The Dunkles would make sure your car was good to go before you hit the road again.
Sadly, owner Jack Dunkle, 76, died recently. Along with his wife, Susan, he continued to run the family business that was started by his father, Dick, when the shop was a key stop — a “showpiece” — on the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, conveniently located between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
The big question here in Bedford, Pennsylvania, is what will become of this shop? Will it reopen? Will it remain closed for so long that it begins to deteriorate? If there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that a shop surviving 90 years is no guarantee that it will live even another minute.
Let’s hope (there’s that word again) for the best here. I took these photos last summer when I swung through town to visit another old friend, also popular and also beloved, the big Coffee Pot.
Bedford has always been a good place to fuel up, for the car, for the body, for the spirit.
I’m Lovin’ It: Modernized McDonald’s maintains mansard — in Scotland!
I’ve long bemoaned the way McDonald’s has boxed itself in with its restaurant redesigns in the United States. But I’ve long admired how many spruced-up McDonald’s in Europe retain a modernized nod to the mansards of yore.
Johnathan Kain on Instagram sent along this photo of a McDonald’s in the United Kingdom that has a fresh take on the mansard.
I’ve noticed a couple of renovated restaurants here in the United States that have kept a grey mansard, but those are the notable exceptions. I’d love to see some variant of the European redesigns skip the pond and spread here in the United States.
A boy can dream.
A sign of new life for Blockbuster Video emerges as an actual sign from the old chain is sold
There has been a lot of buzz of late over Blockbuster Video. The website was recently revived from almost a decade of dormancy, with the whiff of a big coming attraction. (All the site says is that “we are working on rewinding your movie.”)
Nostalgia is a powerful tonic, we all know, but it certainly isn’t enough to fuel a revival of this chain. Or is it?
The last Blockbuster location, in Bend, Oregon, is famous, and does a healthy business, as I saw when I visited back in May 2021. But would enough people in enough communities support a Blockbuster revival? Once the novelty wears off, would the nostalgia evaporate along with it?
As much as we may yearn for those times, time — and technology — have marched on. But a clever revival, centered around entertainment, food and drink, could hit just right.
Even as the vague prospect of Blockbuster’s future looms, another sign of its past has vanished.
Years ago, I shared with you the above Blockbuster sign, still standing at 953 E. Main St. in Stamford, Connecticut, impervious to the passage of time, and so prominent that I’m sure it caused a few near accidents as drivers did a double take.
The owners of the sign recently took it down, placed it on Facebook Marketplace and sold it. While the weight of its history — and no doubt, its actual weight, clocking in at about 500 pounds — had compelled them to leave it be for years, the time had come to take down the decaying beast, the owners of the property said.
Whoever bought it, I hope they enjoy it, and can find a way to share it with the public.
Sam’s, a longtime Italian restaurant chain in Maine, closes its original location in Lewiston
Sam’s, an old-school Italian restaurant chain in Maine, has closed its original location in downtown Lewiston. I went out of my way on a cold day in January 2019 to pay a visit, and I was charmed by the neon sign, featuring a mischievous chef who’s proud of his pizza pie.
The company told WMTW that rising food costs were among the factors leading to the “tough” decision, but that 11 other locations remained, and the company was committed to sticking around for decades to come.
Here is my tribute from 2019:
Now you know I could eat up this sign, but I’d much prefer to shoot the sign and eat the pizza! At Sam’s Italian Foods in Lewiston, Maine, this vintage neon sign touts the pizza, but Sam’s is also beloved for their Italian sandwiches.
Ham is the most popular, but that’s a given in these parts. Sam’s opened nearby in 1939 and moved to this spot in 1940. Pizza came along in 1950, and the brick building you see in the second photo, which also houses their venerable bakery, was built in 1958, when America was fully into its post-war pizza craze, a phenomenon that shows no signs of abating.
Sam’s has other locations, but this is the heart of the operation, celebrating 80 years. When I stopped by, Sam’s was doing a brisk business, yet here I was taking photos in the tundra outside.
The quizzical looks I got from a few customers were probably more a way of telling me, “Put down that camera and eat!” Next time, I promise I will.
Well, there will not be a next time now, at least at this location.
All hail King Penny on National One Cent Day!
Saturday was National One Cent Day, according to National Calendar Day, which gives me an excuse to trot out this picture of one of New York’s quirkiest storefronts: King Penny in Astoria, Queens!
That’s a grid of stainless-steel discs —resembling pennies — on the sign, the backstory of which can be found in James and Karla Murray’s excellent Store Front II: A History Preserved: The Disappearing Face of New York.
I especially like the giant, crowned penny just above! Not legal tender, sure, but priceless.
The quirky name, James and Karla explain, is a nod to the original owner. He was an optimistic fellow who carried himself like a king, despite not being particularly rich. So his friends described him as a king who only had a penny to his name. Thus was born King Penny!
I haven’t been by here since 2017, when I shot this, and recent online reviews suggest it’s never open, but the shop is not listed as closed, either. I guess I could ask the psychic upstairs what the future holds for King Penny. [MAP]
Notes From the Road
The iconic Pan American Hotel sign in Wildwood has been reinstalled after repair. The 1960s beauty, which spins, is a must-see! [Wildwood Sun by the Sea Magazine]
Say what? A shuttered Sears is reopening? That appears to be in the works for the location at the Burbank Town Center in Southern California. [CoStar]
New York City has chosen a new vendor for the historic Ice House Cafe in the Bronx — and that’s getting a chilly reception from the old vendor. [PIX11]
Brooklyn’s G. Esposito & Sons Jersey Pork Store is closing on April 10 after 100 years. It’s one of the borough’s oldest butcher shops. The curious name is a vestige of the fact that farms in New Jersey provided meat to the shop. It’s only the latest loss of an old-school Italian business in Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. [Eater NY]
The Bayside Diner in Queens is no more. The cause is the pandemic/inflation double whammy, a common finding in retail postmortems. [QNS]
This couple is trying to visit every diner in New Jersey. [NY Post]
The historic Tannervsille Inn in the Poconos is being demolished to make way for a Wawa. [Fox 56]
Dave’s Hit Chicken, the LA-based chain backed by Drake, is far from a hatchling these days — 14 locations are coming to Queens and Long Island. [Eater NY]
The signage from the defunct Lenny’s Pizza appears to have ended up in an art studio in Industry City, Brooklyn. See Gary Blatt’s Instagram post, below.
And this site, below, appears to confirm so, with the sign in the hands of the Brooklyn Pop Culture Museum.
My curiosity is piqued.
My post below on the closure of the “Saturday Night Fever” pizzeria:
A renowned East Village theater, saddled in debt, may be finished. The marshalls arrive Wednesday — will a deep-pocketed benefactor upstage them? [PIX11]
The big spoon was the most interesting part of this boxy Arizona Dairy Queen. So of course, two folks came along and stole it! A replacement spoon costs $7,000. That’s a blizzard of dollar bills. [AP]
Kansas City will be getting a quilt museum, located near the Speedway, next year. [Fox4KC]
The closing of a Lucky Supermarket in the Bay Area gets a surprisingly thorough writeup in the Daily Mail.
Roadside ice cream shops are reopening for the season. Here’s one with a gorgeous sign I’d like to visit — the Nite Owl in Milwaukee. [Milwaukee Record]
Another gem waking up for the season is Bolley’s Famous Franks in Hallowell, Maine. [B98.5FM]
I stopped by Jim’s Lunch in Millville, New Jersey, back in May 2020. (Rolando Pujol) South Jersey’s Jim’s Lunch celebrates its 100th anniversary! Congrats! [NJ Monthly]
While you’re in Millville, here are other things to do!
A bench in honor of the late TV star Michael Landon has been installed near his childhood home in southern New Jersey. [Patch]
G&G Hobbies, a longtime hobby shop in Griffith, Indiana, has been left to a former employee, who is looking for somebody to operate it. [Times of Northwest Indiana]
The Elm Street Diner in Stamford, Connecticut, opened in 1987, but business has boomed since its mega milkshakes and clever menu went viral. Now they are opening a second location in Norwalk. [Patch]
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Coming on Monday! Pepsi has a new logo and I’ve got thoughts on it. Plus, I’ll share my favorite Pepsi signs I’ve shot in my travels!
It's my mother's birthday on Wednesday and per family birthday tradition we are going to eat Leone's Pizza from Somerville, MA. It got me thinking about its amazing neon sign that I have loved since childhood and the delicious square slices that we eat until we are stuffed. If you haven't seen the sign or eaten the pizza... I recommend a trip next time you're in the Boston area. :)
Kara