The Pipe Corner
Atlanta, GA
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

The Pipe Corner and this relic of a sign is located in downtown Atlanta, GA. The sign remains, but the building is now a convenience store. Many thanks to Paul Bauke for info. 04-09

The sign dates back to at least the early 1950s and was quite a bit more lively in its younger days. Neon once outlined the lettering, while animated smoke rings appeared to rise from the pipe. The Royal Cigar Co. eventually closed, and the sign has reportedly been dark since around 1990.

Movie and television fans may recognize this corner for another reason. The old Pipe Corner sign can be spotted in the first episode of The Walking Dead as Rick Grimes rides his horse through a seemingly deserted downtown Atlanta. Hard to find a better backdrop for the end of the world than an old faded neon sign.

UPDATE: The old Forsyth-Walton building survived plans for redevelopment, and the Pipe Corner sign remains mounted above the corner. The neon hasn't returned, but the weathered old sign is still there for anyone wandering around downtown Atlanta. 08-26

Majestic Shoe Repair (Gone)
Atlanta, GA
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Check out the old sign for the Majestic Shoe Repair in Atlanta, GA. Although the sign for the Majestic is still visibly in good condition, the the site is now home to a deli. Another of Atlanta's old trade businesses has moved on. Many thanks to Paul Bauke for info. 04-09

Need a little work on your shoes? Check out the old Majestic Shoe Repair sign hanging over Broad Street in downtown Atlanta. Nothing fancy here, just a good old-fashioned shoe repair shop with a big marquee sticking out over the sidewalk to make sure you could find the place. Photo courtesy Paul Bauke.

Majestic operated at 66 Broad Street, right in the middle of Atlanta's old downtown business district. For years this was the kind of place where office workers could drop off a worn pair of shoes for new soles, heels or a quick shine and then head back down the street.

By the time this photo was taken, the old sign already looked like it had been hanging over Broad Street for quite a few shoe shines. That's part of the fun of wandering these older downtown blocks. Sometimes it's the little neighborhood businesses and their signs that are more interesting than the landmarks.

UPDATE: Majestic Shoe Repair has since closed, and the old Broad Street marquee has been removed. 08-26

16th Street Baptist Church
Birmingham, AL
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Among all the old commercial signs around downtown Birmingham, here's a neon sign of a very different sort. The vertical 16th Street Baptist Church sign hangs from the brick church along 6th Avenue North, and when this photo was taken it looked to be in remarkably good shape. 04-09

The church itself dates back much farther than the neon. Birmingham's first Black church was organized in 1873, with the present building completed in 1911. Over the years it became an important gathering place for Birmingham's Black community and, during the Civil Rights Movement, a meeting and staging point for demonstrations throughout the city.

On September 15, 1963, the church was bombed in an act of racial terrorism that killed four young girls, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair. The tragedy became one of the defining events of the Civil Rights Movement.

Today it's interesting to see something as simple as that old neon marquee still hanging outside a place with so much history behind its doors.

UPDATE: 16th Street Baptist Church remains an active house of worship and an important stop in Birmingham's Civil Rights District. The familiar vertical church sign also survives, still marking the building along 6th Avenue North. 08-26

Ridout's Funeral Home
Homewood, AL
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Ridout's Funeral Home and this fully lit neon sign is a funeral home located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham. Many thanks to Paul Bauke for info. 04-09

Here's one type of business you don't see advertising with neon too often. The old Ridout's Funeral Home sign stands along Oxmoor Road in Homewood, complete with plenty of glowing neon to point the way. Definitely a little more colorful than your average funeral home sign.

Ridout's Valley Chapel opened at this location in 1951, tucked into the valley between Shades Mountain and Red Mountain. The low-slung brick building and old roadside sign have been familiar sights around Homewood ever since.

The sign is really what makes this stop interesting. Funeral homes aren't exactly known for flashy roadside advertising, which makes seeing the Ridout's name outlined in old neon worth another look, especially after dark.

UPDATE: Ridout's Valley Chapel remains open and serving Homewood from the same Oxmoor Road location. Better yet, the vintage roadside sign survives and continues to light up at night. 08-26

Wheaten Printing Co. (Gone)
Birmingham, AL
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Here's one old sign that definitely looks like it has spent a few decades hanging over the streets of Birmingham. The Wheaten Printing Co. sign is a great old vertical marquee, with WHEATEN running down the center and PRINTING CO. stretched across the bottom. By the time this photo was taken, the paint was peeling and the neon had seen better days, but that's what makes it worth another look. 04-09

Wheaten Printing had been around Birmingham for quite a while. Old city directories show the company operating on 4th Avenue North by the mid-20th century, and the business was already printing books and other material during the 1940s. The sign itself is believed to date from around the 1940s or 1950s.

It's easy to imagine this one glowing above the sidewalk when downtown Birmingham was filled with printers, department stores and other small businesses sporting big neon signs of their own. By 2009, though, the weathered Wheaten marquee was doing most of the talking.

UPDATE: Wheaten Printing Co. has since closed, and the old vertical sign was removed by 2015. 08-26

Modern Living Furniture (Gone)
Louisville, KY
Photo courtesy Kevin Newman

Now here's an old furniture sign that has definitely seen better days. Modern Living Furniture once advertised its Louisville store with this big projecting marquee and gold arrow pointing the way. By the time this photo was taken, the neon was long gone and most of the bulbs had disappeared from the arrow, but there was still enough left to imagine how this thing must have looked all lit up. 05-09

Modern Living was a familiar name around Louisville during the 1950s, with this store and warehouse sitting at Northwestern Parkway and 31st Street in the Portland neighborhood. The company also operated another location on Dixie Highway, complete with more of that great roadside furniture-store signage.

The furniture store eventually closed, but the old building and its battered sign hung around for years. With the missing bulbs, empty neon channels and that big arrow still pointing toward a store that was no longer there, the sign had acquired a different sort of appeal.

UPDATE: Modern Living Furniture is long gone, and the old signs at this location were removed by 2014. The former furniture building survived and has seen other uses over the years. 08-26

Dixie Pottery (Gone)
Abingdon, VA
Photo courtesy Tony Craig

Here's one old roadside sign that's hard to put a date on just by looking at it. The shapes, colors and lettering on Dixie Pottery look like they came straight out of another era, standing alongside old Lee Highway in southwest Virginia. 11-10

Dixie Pottery was much more than a little pottery shop. For decades the sprawling store was a popular stop along U.S. 11, selling pottery, housewares and all sorts of imported merchandise to travelers passing through this part of Virginia. Tour buses even made regular stops here.

By the time this photo was taken, Dixie Pottery had already closed. The business shut its doors in 2008, leaving the big store and its colorful roadside sign sitting quietly along the old highway.

UPDATE: The old Dixie Pottery property was purchased in 2020 and has since been repurposed by Blue Mountain Therapy. The colorful Dixie Pottery roadside sign has been removed. 08-26

Hoffman Furniture (Gone)
Mobile, AL
Photo courtesy Rod Holcomb

As dusk settles over Dauphin Street, the neon on Hoffman Furniture Company really starts to stand out. The big vertical sign and its "Cheerful Credit" lettering have been hanging over downtown Mobile for decades, advertising a furniture store that seemed like it had always been there. 12-10

The Hoffman family story in Mobile goes back to 1908, when Romanian immigrant Morris Hoffman arrived in town and started out selling dry goods. In 1923 he bought the Dauphin Street property that became Hoffman Furniture. The family didn't just work here. For years they actually lived upstairs above the store, while sofas, chairs and other furniture filled the showroom below.

Hoffman's became a Dauphin Street fixture, eventually passing through four generations of the family. Its "Cheerful Credit" sign fit the business pretty well. The store was known for selling furniture to working families on easy payment terms, long before pulling out a credit card became the usual way to furnish a house.

UPDATE: Hoffman Furniture closed in June 2025 after more than a century of family history on Dauphin Street. The buildings have been purchased for redevelopment, with plans being considered for a boutique hotel and other new uses. The old Hoffman neon sign is being preserved as part of the project and is expected to return to the building. 08-26