sand shacks and old neon
Aug. 14th, 2010 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisalikThere's a project I've been meaning to do for years, photographically, and while I won't say it is finished I can tell you I've made a good start.
I have this weird love of the vintage 1950s/60s neon signs and decoration that cover the older sand-shack motels over on the Gulf side of things. Googie, populuxe, atomic age, space age, raygun gothic -- call it what you will, I adore it. They're an endangered breed, as Development and Progress mean that they keep getting bulldozed to make way for big anonymous chain hotels. It's a damn pity. They're funky and cleverly named, and they try to get your attention by any way possible. I like this kind of landscape better.
(This one is totally my favorite, because WTF A GENIE)
Some had great signs that weren't lit up, and others had great architecture that wasn't lit up. This time I was hunting for neon -- sometime I'll go back during the daytime for the cinder blocks and the faded COLOR TV signs in the office windows.
I noticed that the vast majority of these places had no vacancy signs, along with overstuffed parking lots. The bigger hotel blocks were mostly unlit. I don't know why things shook out that way -- my guess is that the tourists canceling trips because of the oil spill were the vacancies in the bigger places, but I don't know for sure.
Oh, have a funny shot from Ybor too. Sixteen vintage brassieres and one red necktie.
I have this weird love of the vintage 1950s/60s neon signs and decoration that cover the older sand-shack motels over on the Gulf side of things. Googie, populuxe, atomic age, space age, raygun gothic -- call it what you will, I adore it. They're an endangered breed, as Development and Progress mean that they keep getting bulldozed to make way for big anonymous chain hotels. It's a damn pity. They're funky and cleverly named, and they try to get your attention by any way possible. I like this kind of landscape better.
(This one is totally my favorite, because WTF A GENIE)
Some had great signs that weren't lit up, and others had great architecture that wasn't lit up. This time I was hunting for neon -- sometime I'll go back during the daytime for the cinder blocks and the faded COLOR TV signs in the office windows.
I noticed that the vast majority of these places had no vacancy signs, along with overstuffed parking lots. The bigger hotel blocks were mostly unlit. I don't know why things shook out that way -- my guess is that the tourists canceling trips because of the oil spill were the vacancies in the bigger places, but I don't know for sure.
Oh, have a funny shot from Ybor too. Sixteen vintage brassieres and one red necktie.
