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How could I forget the original McDonald's sign in Downey, restaurant still open:

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Here's an awesome old Roy Rogers sign from Ohio. I took the picture a year or so ago.

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I run into the Arby's hat sign once in awhile (though this particular one has come down since I took the picture).

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Veteran
Hey tesg, that's the Roy Rogers that my best friend and I hit up this June! We (along with two other friends of ours) were headed to the Cleveland Champcar race from Louisville, and one of our stops was that very restaurant, which is located in Mt. Carmel, an eastern suburb of Cincinnati along Ohio Highway 32 (a mile west of I-275).

Here's my photo of it from that day (June 23rd), showing the sign in its unlighted state.
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/oth ... carmel.jpg

There is also a very ancient looking Frisch's Big Boy next to it with older text design...
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Chris Sampang
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That Arbys sign is common in Las Vegas
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Even though its harder to find here, i've seen the Arby's sign here in Los Angeles.
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Great Pumpkin
There's a pre-existing thread on the old Arby's prototype here:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=819
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Here's something else I saw on my trip to Cleveland, a Sunoco with the older, non-italicized sign in Grove City, OH. Sorry for the poor quality of the shot (the brightness of the Sunoco sign itself became a bit too saturated).

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larger: http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/oth ... vecity.jpg

And going back to earlier in the thread, here's a Wal-Mart in Danville, KY along the US 127 bypass which doesn't have the star logo.
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larger: http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/oth ... nville.jpg
Chris Sampang
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The Arby's in Mission Hills, CA still has the old sign. I drove by it this morning (it's around the corner from my house) and I thought of this thread.

They just finished remodeling the store a few weeks ago and they kept the old sign with the modern-looking store. My guess it's a sign ordinance issue since the relatively new McDonalds across the street has a much smaller sign than the usual McDonalds.
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Furr's Cafeteria has gone back to its old script "Furr's" logo which came from the Texas supermarket chain that founded it.
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On the subject of restaurant signage, I remember a year and a half ago, the last time I was in Salem, Oregon, seeing an old Pizza Hut Sign where it reads at the bottom "nationally famous restaurant". There are also several Denny's in Portland using old neon signs.
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TheStranger wrote:There is also a very ancient looking Frisch's Big Boy next to it with older text design.
I totally forgot about the Big Boy. I still have to get around to eating at a Frisch's.

I'd made a specific detour on my way to Kentucky to eat at that Roy Rogers. It was only the second time in my life I'd been to one (the first was in Pasco, WA, in 1984.)
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tesg wrote:
TheStranger wrote:There is also a very ancient looking Frisch's Big Boy next to it with older text design.
I totally forgot about the Big Boy. I still have to get around to eating at a Frisch's.

I'd made a specific detour on my way to Kentucky to eat at that Roy Rogers. It was only the second time in my life I'd been to one (the first was in Pasco, WA, in 1984.)
Roy Rogers was in Washington State!? tell me more!

I've been to one Big Boy (in August 2005), the Burbank location near the 134/101 interchange - that one's a Bob's though (but a very picturesque one). Here's a photo of the place I found via google:

http://www.greaterdakotaclassics.com/I'm ... 202004.JPG

Oh yeah, and how could this thread go without a mention of the Union 76 rotating ball?

http://www.savethe76ball.com
Chris Sampang
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Great Pumpkin
Hey all...

This thread is getting a little messy. May I request that we perhaps start individual new threads if we want to have general dicussions about the history of specific chains and keep this one devoted generally to old prototype signage, as per the subject? Thanks a bunch.
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