Just a quickie on the Bong sign. My dad and my uncle Bob both knew Dick Bong. Bob was a long-time city councilman in Superior, and one of his major goals in life was to get the Interstate bridge between Superior and Duluth named after Bong. He finally succeeded. Just south of Superior there's a memorial with a beautifully displayed P-38J Lightning--Bong's mount--right in the middle of the road. Very cool, as cool in fact as the B-25 Mitchell bomber hovering over the entrance to MKE.

Geo

Isn't this just a gorgeous Olde Fashionede DQ sign? It's about 4 mins from my flat in Montreal. Crowded like Leon's every single night.




Geo

PS. And yes, that IS a police officer--from the Poste de Police just down the rue.

Geo, I love that sign, I pass it each time I'm in Montreal and I always have to stop to admire it.

geli--

I bet that if you like that one, you'll love this one, too:





Miss Villeray Lounge, on r. Villeray about 2 blocks from my house. I pass it on my bike when we go to Marché Jean-Talon!

Geo

My skilled logician's training leads me to suspect that there's a contradiction therein, stevez--but I'll need to symbolize it first: at my age, that thing is tooo complicated to do it in my head.

Wonderful find, btw!

g

Stumbled on these images on flickr. They are pretty amazing, especially if you like old neon signs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drower/set ... 088175099/

Enjoy

Thanks for that link to Flickr. Reminded me of this Flickr user who posts a lot of stuff from Cleveland. Here's a link to his(?) stuff tagged both "food" and "signage"

There's also a lot of advertisements, presumably from old magazines or newspapers. And a lot of non-food stuff too, but I figured I'd try to stay topical...

My wife and I visited Tank Noodle this past weekend. We parked directly across the street, on Broadway, and noticed this sign:



Unfortunately, I was so stunned by this opportunity that I forgot to see if there was a phone number posted for follow-up information. I'll check next time I go back.

I have to put in a plug for the Sugar Bowl Restaurant in Des Plaines. This is what neon is all about. The restaurant has been closed for a year or two, but the sign is still there. Day and night images courtesy of Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47438997@N00/252794819/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63657451@N00/237721970/

Leroy's Hot Stuff
Porter, IN.

Note: Dont be tempted, I finally tried this place out last summer...hoping it would have some good Tex-Mex and b/c it reminded me of the restaurant in the movie "Dumb & Dumber" where they kill the mobster trying to follow them. It was about what you would expect from a Mexican restaurant in Alaska/Montana...bad

Muhahaha

Named after Richard I. Bong, famed ace in the Lightning fighter. He was from Superior, and my Uncle Bob, who knew Bong, worked on the Superior City Council for years to get the interstate bridge to Duluth named after the ace.

Here's the Bong Heritage Center in Superior:

http://www.bongheritagecenter.org/newsr ... =press_kit

And here's his plane as it was in Poplar WI, as some of you might have seen:

http://modelingmadness.com/research/pop/cwentzelp38.jpg

I know this isn't about food signage, but then... Bong was one of our Real American Heroes, and there's nothing wrong with saluting him here.

Geo

Plus, going back to food, the lake there is a great place to catch what the hubby affectionately calls panfish...

And not too far east is a pretty good trout/salmon stream, the Bois Brulé!

Geo

Geo wrote:I know this isn't about food signage, but then... Bong was one of our Real American Heroes, and there's nothing wrong with saluting him here.

Chicago-based culinary chat....Chicago-based culinary chat...Chicago-based culinary chat

Anyone know about the John Evans Restaurant, where it was and how long it has been gone from Evanston?

Actually, I googled "John Evans Restaurant, Evanston" and got some hits. You might give it a try.

Love those old building-side signs. There are a couple in my neighborhood here in Montreal, I should take a few pix. There's one with food prices on it. Simply amazing!!

Geo

What the hell is a "business mens lunch?"

Bonus for Guess The Restaurant (too easy for that thread!).

-ramon

Linclon Av. just south of Foster


Looks like the boy and his dog get to hang for a while.

From a Couche-Tarde (like 7-Eleven) in Montréal:



This sign is for a Slurpee/Slush Puppie type drink. I have no idea what the connection to wontons is.

Ramon wrote:What the hell is a "business mens lunch?"

"Business mens (man's) lunch" is another term for Blue Plate Special. Often, when a place offers this item, there is also a "Ladies' Special", which is generally a cold sandwich or a salad of some type. A tuna stuffed tomato or a fruit plate, for example.

JSM wrote:Bamboo Lounge
94th & Ewing

I used to drive past this place fairly regularly.

Great facade, but it is in a really scary neighborhood.

I went into some pretty questionable places when researching Tiki Road Trip, and I was intrigued as to what might be inside the Bamboo Lounge, but this was one I had to skip.

What a wonderful Schlitz sign! Especially since Schlitz is Back, see here.

Geo

Geo wrote:What a wonderful Schlitz sign! Especially since Schlitz is Back, see here.

Geo

Those old Schlitz signs are relatively common around here. In fact, Schuba's (a local bar and music venue, for the Canadians in the crowd) is in a building that was probably designed by the same person and built right around the same time. I think the buildings were Schlitz warehouses back in the day.

I thought they were originally bars owned by, or tied to Schlitz, and sold Schlitz products exclusively - sort of like the way many British pubs ("tied houses") are tied in exclusively with certain breweries.

They were bars that were either owned or part financed by the Schlitz brewery in return for exclusive use of Schlitz product, called tied-houses. Schuba's site has some history:

http://www.schubas.com/history.aspx

Southport Lanes is probably the other one people are most familiar with, but I think there's over a dozen around town where you can still spot the signs.

Sobelman's Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Picture by Rene G

And what about that other Milwaukee tavern we visited called Von Maur or Von Steuben or something like that. Wasn't that in a Schlitz building, too?

stevez wrote:And what about that other Milwaukee tavern we visited called Von Maur or Von Steuben or something like that. Wasn't that in a Schlitz building, too?

Steve,

Von Trier, is a very cool German theme bar with murals and deer antler chandler, but to the best of my recollection it's not a Schlitz building.

Enjoy,
Gary

Von Trier
2235 N Farwell Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
414-272-1775