Westgate Shopping Center
Albany, NY
Photo courtesy Dirk Burhans

Now this is a shopping center sign. The huge Westgate Shopping Center marquee towers over Central Avenue in Albany, complete with a turquoise oval and an enormous red “W” perched on top. Signs this big once pointed the way to plazas all over the country. Here's some history on this grand sign, courtesy of the Mike Kellogg and Pat Boni of the Saxton Sign Company. 06-05

Westgate opened in 1957 as the Albany area’s first suburban shopping center. Its sign followed in 1960, originally glowing with red neon and some 1,500 chasing bulbs around the oval. The weathered sign was taken down for repairs in 2014. Saxton Signs reinforced the old steel frame, replaced the lighting with LEDs and returned it to Central Avenue in April 2015.

UPDATE: Westgate Plaza remains open at 911 Central Avenue, and its towering restored sign still stands. 08-26

Hamden Plaza
Hamden, CT
Photo courtesy Rick Ibsen

The Hamden Plaza is located on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden, CT. The Hamden plaza is one of the first, if not the first, strip type shopping center in the country. This sign has been there since at least the early 60's and probably longer. Many thanks to Rick Ibsen for info. 03-07

Check out the big entrance sign at Hamden Plaza. The script lettering is classic enough, but those odd metal cones spinning in the breeze really put this one over the top. Developer David Bermant later filled the property with modern kinetic artwork, which helps explain the unusual moving pieces on the sign.

The parking lot once held the famous Ghost Parking Lot, a 1978 artwork made from 20 real cars buried beneath asphalt. The weather-beaten cars were removed in 2003, and a Starbucks now occupies the site.

UPDATE: Hamden Plaza remains open and its vintage entrance sign still stands. 08-26

East Gate Plaza
Chelmsford, MA
Photo courtesy Rick Ibsen

Check out the tall old sign at East Gate Plaza in Chelmsford. The oval top, scattered stars and stack of tenant panels give it that familiar mid-century shopping center look. 05-08

The plaza opened along Chelmsford Street in the mid-1960s. A Kmart arrived in 1976 and lasted until 1992, while Anton’s Cleaners became another longtime tenant. East Gate Plaza remains busy today with Market Basket and other stores, but the old roadside sign has disappeared.

UPDATE: East Gate Plaza remains open. The vintage pylon has been replaced with a modern plastic tenant sign. 08-26