Fairfield Skating (Demolished)
Fairfield, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Lace up the skates and take a look at the Fairfield Roller Rink, a throwback to the days when a few laps around the floor were a good way to spend an evening. This North Texas Street gathering spot later became known as Skateland, a familiar name to generations of local skaters.
Places like this bring back thoughts of rental skates, music, and trying to stay upright while everyone else seems to glide right by. Some came for the skating, others for the company. Either way, the neighborhood rink offered a night out without having to head very far from home.
UPDATE: The rink closed in 2001, and the building was later demolished. Another old skating spot has gone to the great skate in the sky. 09-26
Econo Doormasters
San Mateo, CA Photo courtesy Jason
Carlton
Look up along El Camino Real and check out the grinning character at Econo-Doormasters. That fellow pressing a button on his chest is a garage-door remote control. Here’s a rooftop salesman who can demonstrate the product without saying a word.
The garage-door and automatic-opener business dates back to 1939. Its unusual mascot gives an everyday household service a little roadside fun, turning a control box into something with a face and a job to do.
UPDATE: Econo-Doormasters is located in Belmont, correcting the original San Mateo listing. The business remains open and the rooftop remote-control character survives. 09-26
7up
San Francisco, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Feeling like a soda? Check out this weather-beaten 7Up sign in San Francisco. Signs like this once turned up outside neighborhood stores all over the place, offering a familiar soft-drink name alongside whatever the shop had for sale.
This one has picked up a little character from its time outdoors. An everyday advertisement becomes something worth photographing after enough years pass, especially when the newer signs around it have a very different look.
UPDATE: The sign mahy or may not still be here. 09-26
Andy's Pet Shop
San Jose, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
There’s a colorful bird worth checking out at Andy's Pet Shop in San Jose. The shop’s neon macaw is a gem of a marquee, giving the business a roadside presence that goes well beyond ordinary storefront lettering.
Founded in 1950 by Andy and Geraldine Camilleri, the shop became a familiar stop on The Alameda. Its bird sign became part of that identity, catching the eye of passing motorists as well as customers heading inside for pet supplies.
The business later moved, but the macaw went along for the ride. A pet-shop bird that travels with the store is a nice bit of continuity in a city where old commercial signs can disappear between visits.
UPDATE: The neon hum of the marquee at Andy's Pet Shop is fizzing out after 59 years at its present location along The Alameda in San Jose, CA. Andy's and its oft photographed neon sign opened in 1950 as a pet store and converted to an animal adoption center in 2007. According to the San Jose Mercury News, owner Lissa Shoun is hoping for community donations that will allow her to operate the business at a different location. Word is that the neon sign is now in storage. 12-09
UPDATE: Andy’s Pet Shop celebrated its grand reopening on September 12, 2026. The landmark neon macaw was restored and installed at the new location. 09-26
Raul's Pet Center (Gone)
Redwood City, CA Photo courtesy Jason Carlton
Check out the fish on the old Raul’s Pet Center sign in the Redwood City area. Here’s a pet-store marquee that lets one of the smaller household companions take a turn out front. No barking required to get this business noticed.
The family’s connection to the local pet business reaches back to 1956, when Raul Perez began working in the trade. Raul’s Pet Center later operated on El Camino Real near Fifth Avenue, with its fish-themed sign adding a little character to the commercial strip.
The business eventually changed its location and focus, continuing the family name through grooming services. The old marquee recalls its earlier days as a place for a broader assortment of pet needs.
UPDATE: Raul’s son, Jimmy Perez, moved the business to Main Street in June 2003 under the name Raul’s Grooming Center. The sign is gone. 09-26
Old West Guns El Cerrito, CA Photos courtesy Kallisti
Cruising through El Cerrito, check out the Old West Gun Room and its unusual stone-and-timber storefront. With thick rock walls, wagon wheels, and a rustic marquee, this place has enough character to warrant a stop even before getting a look inside. Here’s a little roadside discovery that goes well beyond the sign.
The building began life as Sampan Antiques, built by Clarence William Miller in 1947–1948. Miller gathered rocks from nearby Albany Hill using a Packard pickup truck, bringing back material for the shop’s hefty stone walls. Quite a way to put together a neighborhood business.
Those walls are about two feet thick, while a corrugated tin roof and oddly shaped dormer windows add to the homemade look. Out front, antique wagon wheels worked into the chain-link fencing carry the theme along the property. The whole place looks somewhere between a storybook cottage and an old frontier trading post.
Old West Guns El Cerrito, CA Photos courtesy Kallisti
The gun business came along separately. George Repaire founded the Old West Gun Room in 1953 at San Pablo Avenue and Orchard. Dave Cumberland bought it in 1963 and later moved the operation into Miller’s former antique shop on Carlson Boulevard. The rustic building made a fitting home for the Old West name.
Robert “Bob” Weaver joined the shop in 1979 and purchased the business in 1984. Through the changes in ownership and merchandise, the building itself remained a roadside attraction. Check out the marquee, then take another look at the rockwork and wagon wheels. There’s plenty here that a quick passing glance could miss.
UPDATE: The Old West Gun Room continues operating in El Cerrito. Its distinctive stone-and-timber exterior and vintage signage survive, keeping this unusual former antique shop part of the local roadside scene. 09-26
Town & Country Village
Palo Alto, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out the lantern-style sign outside Town & Country Village, where yellow panels and rustic brackets give the shopping center an old-fashioned welcome. Here’s a roadside marker that fits the surroundings, looking right at home with the center’s Spanish-style buildings.
Opened in 1953, the outdoor shopping center stands near Stanford University at El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road. Its hacienda-style setting gives a trip through the shops a different feel from a stroll through an enclosed mall.
The lantern is a nice change of pace from the usual shopping-center marquee. More than a place to put the name, it adds to the look of the whole property. One of those details worth catching before heading in to browse or grab a bite.
UPDATE: The shopping center remains open, and its landmark lantern sign survives. 09-26
Fairfield Skating (Demolished)
7up
Raul's Pet Center (Gone)
Old West Guns
Old West Guns
Town & Country Village
