Neon New Orleans 2009

Yesterday my wife and I returned from a 4 day trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. It was her first trip. I've been several times, but not since Hurricane Katrina.
The old city was very much the same, and in a way, I'll never see it as it once was ever again.
The old girl is having a rough time, with many old familiar places now closed or going out of business. Although many sights saddened me,I want to talk about what is still great about New Orleans, and its wonderful people.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon and checked in to the Monteleone Hotel, standing at the foot of the majestic Rue Royal Street. Although the Monteleone was created in 1886, the section we stayed in was built in 1903, I believe.
After a brief rest we wandered out in to the worn cobblestone streets and began exploring the old haunts that once were visited by the likes of Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Jean Lafitte and Jim Bowie, as well as other Saints and Sinners.
Our first stop was the Absinthe House(not to be confused with the Old Absinthe Bar, which I've always loved but is now gone forever) Where Sarah and I both had the signature drink of the Quarter, the Hurricane. One is plenty, and two is about three too many!
We walked Rue Canal for awhile and went to bed.
Friday, We had another signature experience found only in New Orleans, Beignet's at Cafe Du Monde. Although it is a MUST DO while visiting the city, I think it is overrated (give me a Shipley's do-nut any day).
We wandered the French Market, the old Jax Beer Brewery and visited some great sights, including the WAX Museum. I had a great Irish Coffee at Molly's at the Market Bar.
New Orleans is known for excellent food, and we did our best to experience the best the town had to offer. Here are a few spots that I absolutely loved and highly recommend. Felix's Seafood, Johnny's Po Boys (only open 'til 4 P.M.). Irene's Place, Court of Two Sisters, and Nacho Mama's on Magazine St.
The real reason I've gotten off of my butt and doing my first blog in over a year are to write about some kindred spirits we met and wanted to share. On Saturday, We went down Magazine Street to do some shopping. As we were driving, Sarah noticed a sign shop which made my mouth water. It is called Mystic Blue Signs, 2212 Magazine St. This wonderland of curiosities is operated by Yvette Rutledge and Vince Mitchell.
I couldn't believe our luck! The work was absolutely stunning, and they couldn't have been more welcoming.
The other serendipitous meeting was at a place recommended by Yvette called Sputnik Ranch, They are Gary and Debra Parky. These guys are super cool, and so is their shop. There are many places that have been forced to close since Katrina, but this is a success story. Sputnik ranch was created after the flood in a spot that became available because a C.D. shop decided to hang it up after the flood wiped out their inventory. From Manuel/Nudie suits to vintage bicycles to great artwork by Tim Biskup, Nina Friday, And L.S. Williams, they have an amazing eye for the coolest stuff. I wanted to take it all home. Sarah did buy a framed print called Rock N Roll Angel by Mitch O'Connell, which she absolutely loves.
These guys have a band called The SophistiCats, you should check them out. We listened to a C.D. that they gave us as we were leaving NOLA, awesome music. They would do well at the Continental Club in Austin, Tx.
One sad note about New Orleans is the antique neon signs that vanished after the storm. Some were saved and went to collections, some simply disappeared and will never be found. I know it is hard to believe, but it is true.
Some of my favorite signs are no longer there including the Sugar Bowl Courts, Red Goose Shoes, Picadilly, and The Civic, but many have survived. My favorite survivors are Half Moon, Monteleone Hotel, The Pearl, Walgreen's on Canal, and Tujague's.
New Orleans is one of the only cities that has its own neon style. I can see a photo of a neon sign and can tell that it is from New Orleans. Chicago is the other city with its own neon style. Oddly, the 2 cities are very much the same style. Both have an opulent flavor that stops me in my tracks. It would be a dream come true to be a part of the design and fabrication of new "vintage" neon signs to decorate New Orleans.
Saturday night we went back to Canal and watched a parade for a few hours. We made more friends, including a great guy called "Charlie Two Shoes". Charlie holds court along Canal and Royal, and is Sarah's new best friend.
Sunday Morning came too soon. We packed up our gear, had one last Beignet and coffee, and headed West.
We'll be back very soon, and in the meantime New Orleans will surely be missed.

ROAD TRIP Austin to Tacoma

I recently retuned from a round trip to Tacoma to deliver 11 neon signs and 2 three dimensional neon/ metal margarita glasses that were 6' tall. They were purchased by a client that has been a great customer for a few years now, THE RAM/ Big Horn Brewing Co.
The total trip was just under 5000 miles. We made it there and back in 7 days of hard running. My father Richard Sanders went with me, so I'm lucky that I didn't have to drive it myself, and it was good company.

DAY 1- Loaded UHAUL truck Thur.7/20 and left 6 a.m. Fri. Morning with my fiancee Sarah still sleeping. Made it to Limon,Colo. by 12 a.m.
875 Miles. Went through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado.

DAY 2- Left Limon at 6 a.m. looking for a good Mom/Pop cafe in Denver to have breakfast. Couldn't find one on the old highway. Stopped at one of the last WAFFLE HOUSES we would see on the entire trip. I love Waffle House, they have become a staple of my road trip experience since my childhood. I once spent 2 days at a motel in Chattanooga Tenn.eating nothing but Waffle House for breakfast, lunch and supper.
When you walk in to one, everyone behind the counter says hello, it's a welcome gesture when you're far from home.
We saw many old cars and some cool neon signs until Laramie, Wy, where all things cool dropped out of sight for the entire state of Wyoming.The one great event was picking up a unique bluegrass/ blues station on the radio. If you've never listened to a guy named Jerry Douglas, treat yourself to one of his albums. Saw a widfire on a mountain in Snowville, Utah. Ogden, Utah was the prettiest part of this stretch. My friend Wayne" the train" Hancock called me on my cell and said that he was in Wyoming that day too. He was heading to Jackson Hole to play a gig.Check him out at waynehancock.com, he's the best musician I've ever heard, and we've been friends for 17 years. As friends go,they don't get any better. Stopped for dinner in Twin Falls, Idaho. We saw the snake river canyon, where Evel Kneivel tried to jump it in the early 70's. We were really tired, but when we tried to get a motel room we found out that the entire town was full because of the brave firefighters trying to put out the blaze in Snowville that we had passed earlier that day.We drove on through until 10 p.m. to Bliss,Idaho and found a great old motel for $49.Good people.

DAY 3-Up at 6:30 a.m. and headed for Boise Idaho. We tried the same trick of getting off of the interstate and onto the old highway to find breakfast and this time we struck pure gold on State St. (old 44)just West of Boise. Merrit's Scone Shack. Best damn breakfast in living memory. The entire cafe was full of the nicest people you could ever meet. The breakfast was great, and the scones were HUGE! A girl sitting by us ordered pancakes, and I swear they were the size of a large pizza. Drove 44 W. to the Oregon border. Absolutely beautiful country.Old cars, hundreds of old trucks, and dozens of cool vintage travel trailers dotted the landscape.Crossed into Oregon at 10 a.m. with full bellies and a new lease on life. I took some great snapshots of old neon signs for my collection, which now numbers more than 3000 photos. Baker City Oregon was a tiny jewell, nestled in the foothills along the Old Oregon Trail.An absolutely stunning treat to experience.There is a sign painter in Baker City that would do very well in Austin.As the vinyl sign companies grow throughout the country,the old towns are losing their local charm, but it was alive and well in this oasis. I wish i had gotten his name, but we rolled on through. We hit Pendleton at around 1 p.m.LET 'ER BUCK! after coming off of Blue Mountain (6% grade) One of the must see's on the trip was the Yakima Valley Museum, which houses many restored neon signs from Yakima Wahington's heyday. It was beautiful to see the old signs, which were expertly refurbished to their former glory.The lady at the front desk was so happy to see a fellow neon afficianado that she drew us a map of the city so that we could see the neon signs that were still on the streets, some of which will be restored and placed in this amazing museum soon. Finally made it to Tacoma that night after the most grueling harrowing hour of my entire driving history.If you want to know what real pressure feels like, drive a UHAUL truck with a cargo of fragile neon signs, while pulling another car behind you down the 80 mile stretch of the Snowqualmie Mountain Pass on a Sunday evening with the local folks going 85 m.p.h. to get home after their weekend getaway. Oh yeah, it was raining like hell. I was so glad to see Tacoma. The steering wheel actually showed where my fingers gripped it.
After a seafood dinner we passed out at a Motel 6, ready to deliver the shipment the next morning.

DAY 4-Got up at 6 a.m. to arrange for the delivery. Had a great breakfast at a late 60's era cafe called "THE LUCKY DUCK". After our delivery, we left our happy customers and Washington State behind us. We dropped off the UHAUL and drove the car we had pulled for 2500 miles.We decided to go home through California, Arizona and New Mexico.Things were pretty uneventful for most of Oregon and California. We were doing 16 hour shifts of driving and averaging 850 miles per day, which is gettin' it.
We passed out every night and got up at 6 a.m. to go again.

DAY 5-Although we had been on old ROUTE 66 many times, we had some great experiences on this trip. Barstow was truly amazing.We had lunch at the Palm Cafe. Chinese/ American food that was excellent.I gave a postcard that I bought in Baker City, Oregon to the mailman to mail for me. As I drove off, he was reading it with great interest. We hit I 40 like men possessed, stopping only temporarily in Kingman, Arizona to eat lunch at a place called the Lumberjack on Andy Devine St. We tried to make it to Seligman to the famous "Delgadillo's Snow Cap" stand for supper, but as we pulled in to the drive, they were pulling away. I was sad to see that they weren't open, but fate had better things in mind for us.An amazing thing happened in Williams, Arizona. Something that only happens a few times in a lifetime.As we pulled into Williams, the sun had just set, and both sides of the main street were lit up with the most awesome old neon signs we had ever seen. Cocktail glasses,figural bulls with "steak house" written on them and many more unique signs greeted us like old friends. It would have been a breathtaking array of neon if we had showed up at high noon, but we rolled into town at the perfect moment,just before dark, and it was magical. It reaffirmed my passion for vintage neon signs, and reminded me why I do what I do. I create vintage style signs so that other people can have this experience too.After a great meal at the only antique Dairy Queen I've ever seen,we pointed the headlights toward Winslow.

DAY 6-We made it out of the room and on the road by 5:30 a.m.We ate breakfast in the car, only stopping for gas.Had a great lunch at Fred's Place in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico.Fred's was started by a Korean war veteran and his wife. The food, service and people were great. There was a wooden bar along one wall that was built in the 1800's. Legend has it the BILLY THE KID had bellied up to it sometime before lawman Pat Garret gunned him down.After Clovis, New Mexico, we made it for the Texas line. Crossed it at 1:45 and I immediately relaxed. We were still far from home, but we were in Texas! Lubbock, then Lamesa( home of the "Pavarotti of the plains" Don Walser).The Sky Vu drive in theater was still playing current movies.After Big Spring, We stopped for the last night of the trip in San Angelo. We had hoped to make it in time for one of the best steaks in Texas at Zintner's Daughter Restaurant, but we were too late, so we settled for a bucket of chicken in the room.

DAY 7-At 6 a.m.(again) we headed for my town AUSTIN. Brady Texas is one of my favorite places, we had breakfast at the El Flamingo Cafe. After all that we had seen I didn't expect to see much between Brady and Austin, but I was wrong.On the edge of the old business district was an antique gas station crammed to the gills with old toys, classic cars and antique motorcycles.Owner Ken Young wasn't there, but we left him a note telling him it was one of the highlights of our trip. After Brady was Llano, where my dad and I had restored the old movie theater sign and marquee some years back. It still glows like a jewell.
We made it back to Austin at 10 a.m. We had logged nearly 5000 miles in 7 days.
It was a great trip, but I've never been happier to see home.

THE VINTAGE MAN

The Vintage Man

The difference between a good artist and a great one
is
The novice will often lay down his tool
Or brush
Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind's table
And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.
Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone
And keeps on
Sculpting
Light.

By HAFIZ
1367 A.D.
This poem was written 600 years before I was born, and while i'm not proclaiming that I am a great artist,I was moved by these words that I connect with in such a powerful way. Especially the part where the vintage man keeps on sculpting light. Electricity was not discovered for hundreds of years, and neon was even farther away, so sculpting light meant something very different to HAFIZ. But to me, it has the original meaning, plus it describes my passion for the vintage neon signs that I love. Back in college, a friend of mine used to say that she was not an artist, no one living is an artist. From the moment we are born, until the very moment we die, we are not artists, we are art students.
These two passages help me at times of doubt and trouble. Maybe they will help you too.