Disneyland Marquee (2nd Generation)

Family Billiards (Gone)
Anaheim, CA
Photo courtesy Georg Balandran

A pool hall marquee that advertises itself is always worth a look. At Family Billiards in Anaheim, the prominent sign offered an invitation to step inside and see how well the evening’s shots would line up. No elaborate explanation needed here, just a familiar name announcing a place to spend some time around the tables.

Known as Linbrook Family Billiards, the hall belonged to Anaheim’s older recreational landscape, where bowling lanes and pool rooms supplied an evening out without requiring a long drive. The sign gave passing motorists a landmark of their own, whether they planned to play or simply enjoyed the roadside display.

UPDATE: The older Family Billiards marquee has been removed. This photograph preserves its appearance from the pool hall’s earlier years, when the sign was still part of Anaheim’s commercial scenery. 10-26

Fox Photo (Gone)
Pico Rivera, CA
Photo courtesy Sal Garcia

Here’s a treat for anyone who remembers dropping off a roll of film and waiting for the results. The Fox Photo sign in Pico Rivera advertised Kodak finishing, giving customers a familiar name to look for when vacation pictures, birthday snapshots, or another batch of family photographs needed developing.

Photo processing was once a regular errand, with envelopes of negatives and prints coming back across the counter days after the pictures were taken. The rooftop marquee lifted that service above the surrounding storefronts, making the business easy to recognize from the boulevard.

UPDATE: Fox Photo has closed, and the property has housed later businesses. Its familiar rooftop advertising outlasted the processing operation, although the sign’s present condition has not been confirmed. 10-26

Stephan Plumbing (Gone)
Inglewood , CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

For anyone who watched Southern California television, the name Stephan Plumbing may arrive with its own soundtrack. “Call Jack Stephan” was the sort of advertising refrain that could stay in the memory long after the commercial ended. Here’s the roadside counterpart to that familiar name, photographed in Inglewood.

The business made an everyday service unusually memorable, combining television advertising with signs that gave motorists something to notice outside. Its animated neon faucets turned running water into a sales pitch, a plumbing problem that was considerably more enjoyable overhead than underneath the kitchen sink.

UPDATE: Two approximately eighteen-foot animated Jack Stephan Plumbing signs were donated to the Museum of Neon Art in 2018. Their removal ended a chapter on the street, but donation preserved the signs for a future beyond the old business location. 10-26

Adee Do! (Gone)
Los Angeles, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Here’s another roadside name that might be easier to sing than simply read. Adee Do! became familiar to Southern Californians through memorable plumbing commercials, giving a business devoted to drains and repairs a place in local television nostalgia.

The sign supplied a visual reminder of a name viewers had already heard at home. That combination could do quite a job of keeping a company in mind, especially when a dripping faucet or backed-up sink suddenly made the advertisement relevant.

The business traces its history to 1949 on Crenshaw, spanning decades of changes in both home-service work and the ways companies advertised it. The older sign recalls the years when local commercials could become shared neighborhood memories.

UPDATE: The company continues as Adeedo! Plumbing, Drains, Heating & Air. Its branding has evolved, but the familiar name carries on from the era of those hard-to-forget commercials. 10-26

Top's Auto (Gone)
Anaheim, CA
Photo courtesy Georg Balandran

The old neon at Top’s Auto Supply once gave Anaheim motorists something to look at before they started searching for parts. Established in 1965, the independent business served the practical side of Orange County car culture, where keeping a vehicle running could mean a trip to the neighborhood parts counter.

A good auto-supply store offered more than shelves of packaged merchandise. Knowing which part would fit, or what might solve a stubborn problem, could make a familiar counter worth returning to. Outside, the neon helped make the shop recognizable among the other businesses along the street.

UPDATE: Top’s original neon sign was removed and replaced with a more conventional business sign. Current listings give conflicting accounts of the shop’s operating status, so its permanent closure has not been established. 10-26

The Mint
Los Angeles, CA
Photo courtesy Georg Balandran

A large neon sign announces The Mint along Pico Boulevard, giving this Los Angeles music club a nighttime presence before the first note reaches the sidewalk. The name belongs to a venue established in 1937, with a performance history that reaches far beyond the size of its room.

Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Natalie Cole are among the artists associated with its stage. Later performers and guest appearances added more names to the story, making the club a place where an evening’s entertainment might include someone whose records were already familiar at home.

UPDATE: The Mint remains an active live-music venue on West Pico Boulevard. Nearly ninety years after its founding, the club continues to add performances to a history already crowded with memorable names. 10-26

Taylor Tackle (Closed)
Woodland Hills, CA
Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo

Looking for a good fish sign, not to mention some tackle? Taylor Tackle supplied a fitting roadside advertisement for a business devoted to helping customers bring home the catch. The fish-shaped marquee made the shop’s specialty easy to recognize before anyone stepped inside.

Independent tackle stores offered a place to prepare for an early departure, replace worn equipment, and perhaps pick up advice about where the fish were biting. For roadside photographers, the attraction was already outside, with no need to spend a day waiting beside the water.

The sign belongs to the tradition of shops turning their merchandise into oversized advertising. A fish above a tackle store seems obvious enough, but it certainly gives the storefront more personality than a plain panel.

UPDATE: Taylor Tackle has closed, and its fish marquee has been removed. This photograph preserves another example of the unusual commercial signs that once made a drive through the West Valley worth watching closely. 10-26

Tel Page
Photo courtesy Georg Balandran

There’s little doubt about the general line of business advertised by Tel Page. The telephone-shaped marquee puts the product right into the sign, giving the name a recognizable outline that could be understood before the lettering came into focus.

Before mobile phones put calls and messages in nearly every pocket, telephone and paging services had a much more visible place among neighborhood businesses. This sign recalls that earlier communications landscape, although the exact services offered at the photographed location have not been established.

As roadside advertising, the idea is straightforward and effective. A familiar everyday object becomes a landmark above the shop, making a short business name easier to remember.

UPDATE: The Tel Page sign’s original location and later whereabouts remain unconfirmed. The photograph preserves its telephone-shaped design without assigning it to a specific company or assuming what happened after the business changed. 10-26