And also, of course, on the return trip. Here are a couple of abandoned structures that struck me as mildly interesting.
Looks like the Happy Horse Bar & Grill was put out to pasture a long time ago. There's still an old menu online; I wonder what the "Redneck Happy Meal" was? (And the slightly less expensive "Not-So-Happy Meal"?)
This place may be abandoned, but somebody doesn't want you fooling around anywhere near it. There's a fairly prominent sign in front that warns, "Private Property, No Trespassing - Violaters Will Be Prosecuted". There's also a small "no parking" sign.
Incidentally, we have returned to the Paco Command Center, and all is well.
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There's an "Old US Highway 58" here in the SoCal high desert (which I doubt is part of the same highway, but...), that runs between Barstow and Bakersfield (it marks the northern boundary of Hinkley, of "Erin Brockovich" infamy, fwiw).
It has been replaced by a freeway for most of its length, but the section of the old 2-lane that remains still has some old 1940s-'60s buildings, including one place, that appears to still be a going concern, which has probably the largest collection of vintage road signs, service station signs (and many, many others) that I have ever seen. Frank and Mike of "American Pickers" would be drooling.
(Embarrassing typo fixed)
Ah, I see now. "Old Highway 58" was, before 1964, "US Highway 466" a feeder of US Highway 66, which ran from "Main Street USA" in Barstow west to Route 99 in Bakersfield then with Route 99 to Morro Bay, and east to the Nevada state line (co-signed with US Highway 91).
So no, there weren't 2 "US Highway 58". I was a bit confused.
If I had known, as a kid, that there would one day be such a huge market for old junk like service station signs, oil cans, soft-drink posters and so forth, I'd have spent every free moment trying to get a hold of this stuff. I knew of an old Sinclair station that went out of business decades ago, but the pumps just sat there, with their original globes, for years. And in my home town, in an ancient newspaper and magazine stand, there were Dr. Pepper and Pepsi posters from the 1940s just kind of jammed up in the rafters collecting dust.
No vision, that's my problem.
Old Erle Stanley Gardner paperbacks, we foisted them off to a thrift store, my 57 Ford pickup, sold for 500 (but hey, I bought it for 200!) etc. So now I hold onto crap that maybe after I'm dead might fetch 700, for a 700 percent markup, at the storage auction. Hey ladies, I'm single!
n old Sinclair station that went out of business decades ago, but the pumps just sat there, with their original globes, for years.
(O.O)
FWIW, I think old gas pumps are cool, and would like to have one in my garage, but I know someone who collects them, but only if they're intact and all original, no reproduction bits of any kind. He's also a hot rod guy, and his workshop is set up like an old 1940's service station.
Re: old signs. Last summer or early fall I was watching a Mecum tractor & truck auction being held in Iowa, and among the items for sale were a bunch of old tractor dealership signs. International Harvester, John Deere, Oliver, etc. from the 1930's onward. Just old metal signs, for the most part. But some of them were selling for thousands of dollars. I was amazed.
But then, they put on the auction block an old Oliver (I think it was) sign from the 1940's or early 1950's that was about six feet high, and had the brand name in big neon letters. IIRC, they started the bidding at $5,000, and it didn't stop till it sold for $24,000.
There were some really nice old tractors that didn't bring half that much!
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