Arrow Electric Motor Service
Fresno, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out the Arrow Electric Motor Service sign in Fresno. That neon arrow has been pointing toward the shop since 1953, when the building was remodeled for the business. A useful bit of advertising that leaves little doubt about which direction to head. 02-06
Clarence Kragh founded Arrow in 1949, but the building goes back to 1920. Its earlier occupants included United Motor Exchange, a tobacco distributor and an auto-parts business. Arrow moved into the shop in 1953, continuing the block’s long association with machinery and repairs.
UPDATE: Arrow remains a three-generation Kragh family business, repairing motors used in agriculture, air conditioning, swimming pools and other equipment. The vintage blade sign survives above the entrance. More than 70 years after its installation, that arrow still points toward a working motor shop. 11-26
Rizzuro's Shoes (Gone)
Gilroy, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Here’s the old Rizzuto’s Shoes sign in downtown Gilroy, still advertising footwear after the customers had stopped coming through the door. The shop also had a painted Hush Puppies Basset Hound around back. Apparently comfortable shoes deserved a spokesman who looked ready for a nap. 02-06
The store occupied part of a Spanish Colonial Revival building constructed by local builder William Radtke. Before shoe shoppers arrived, the premises housed an auto-trimming and harness business. Quite a change in merchandise, although leather had a place in both operations.
UPDATE: A September 9, 1999 newspaper report described Rizzuto’s as closing after nearly 40 years,. The shoe business and its old sign are gone. 11-26
Dale Bros. Coffee
Fresno, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Perched above an old Fresno warehouse is the giant Dale Bros. Coffee can. Not something found on every rooftop, and certainly worth a detour while making the downtown photo rounds. In its working days, the can rotated and glowed with green and white neon. Quite a way to get motorists thinking about their next cup. 02-06
The Dale brothers entered the coffee business after moving to Fresno in 1917. During the 1930s, they moved their roasting operation into a former ice cream plant as their business expanded throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The oversized can followed in 1937, bringing a giant version of the company’s retail packaging to the roof.
Dale Bros. Coffee
Fresno, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Along with “Roasted in Fresno,” the sign carried the company’s Franciscan friar enjoying a cup of coffee. Check out that face in the close-up view. A little unsettling after years of weathering, perhaps, but apparently still pleased with his drink. Roasting ended inside the building in 1973, leaving the can to advertise long after the coffee aroma had disappeared.
UPDATE: Here's a zoom view of this Dale Bros Coffee rooftop object in Fresno. Take a look at the somewhat creepy image of the face. Many thanks to Dave van Hulsteyn for update. 02-08
UPDATE: The weathered rooftop can survives as a protected Fresno historic resource. The city stopped an attempted removal in 2023, keeping this unusual landmark above the old warehouse. Its neon and rotating mechanism no longer operate, but the giant can still gives passing travelers something worth looking up for. 11-26
Master Radiator Works (Gone)
Fresno, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
The Master Radiator Works sign in Fresno practically brought the product outside. Check out that radiator-shaped outline advertising complete service. The building had an unexpected earlier customer base, though: its first occupants treated animals rather than overheated automobiles.
Built in 1917, the shop originally housed Fresno Veterinary Hospital. A radiator business occupied it by 1931, and Master Radiator Works was listed there by 1951. Building records document a blade-sign installation in 1963, supplying a firmer date than the earlier guess that the sign predated the 1950s.
UPDATE: Master Radiator Works and its distinctive sign were gone by 2018, although the old brick building survived. The property’s history stretches from veterinary care to decades of radiator repairs. Plenty of different ways to get something back on its feet—or back on the road—behind one storefront. 11-26
Holly Department Store (Closed)
Fresno, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
This giant red leaf in Fresno’s Chinatown was a little difficult to identify without its lettering. The Holly Department Store name explains the shape: a holly leaf, rather than some mysterious roadside vegetable. By this visit, the store’s name had disappeared and the oversized outline was doing all the talking. 02-06
The department-store building dates to 1948 and is identified in city surveys as part of Chinatown’s historic commercial landscape. Its leaf-shaped sign may date from the same period, although that installation year remains unconfirmed. Later conversion to the F Street Plaza Mini Mall gave the building another retail role.
UPDATE: The leaf was repainted green around 2008 and relettered for the mini mall. Both the building and its unusual sign survive, carrying a reminder of Holly Department Store into another generation of businesses. Nice to see an old advertising shape reused instead of simply disappearing. 11-26
Youngdale's Appliances
Turlock, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out the old marquee for Youngdale's Appliances in downtown Turlock. The familiar circular GE logo sits prominently above the store name, advertising the shop's connection to General Electric appliances. The neon tubing looks intact, although it is hard to say if it still lit up at the time. 03-06
Youngdale's opened in 1921 and remained a family-operated Turlock business for nearly nine decades. It sold kitchen and laundry appliances along with hardware and household goods, making it the sort of downtown store where customers could find a little bit of everything.
Youngdale's Appliances
Turlock, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Many local residents also remember the downstairs toy department and its large Matchbox car display. The projecting GE marquee likely dates from the 1950s, when manufacturers supplied independent appliance dealers with colorful co-branded roadside signs.
UPDATE: Youngdale's Appliances closed in 2009 after 88 years in business. The downtown building was repurposed for furniture sales, while the vintage Youngdale's and GE sign still hangs along its side. The neon is generally kept dark. 09-26
Arrow Electric Motor Service
Rizzuro's Shoes (Gone)
Dale Bros. Coffee
Dale Bros. Coffee
Master Radiator Works (Gone)
Holly Department Store (Closed)
Youngdale's Appliances
Youngdale's Appliances
