# Color TV! And Other Signs You Don't See Often Anymore... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 25, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705 "2010-03-25T03:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/21 "2010-03-25T14:38:22Z")
[“Fireproof”](http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i27/cottonchipper/hobbs/HotelHardenSign.jpg) (Note this place also offers ‘real food’) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/22 "2010-03-25T15:01:14Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > "I did not ever attend an air-conditioned school, for example (graduated in '77). Me either and the room could be unbearable at times. That’s why making up snow days sucked so much worse. We knew it would be sweltering for that extra week. We didn’t have fans even. Every kid was melted into the chair and fanning themselves with their notebook. For the younger people notebook denotes sheets of paper bound together that you wrote on, not an electronic device. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/23 "2010-03-25T15:06:38Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > **Direct Dial Phones** Or the variation: **Free Local Calls** , especially in this age of cell phones. Remember when all hotel phone calls went through an operator? And they’d charge you out the wazoo for them. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/24 "2010-03-25T15:06:41Z")
It may have been worse with fans. We’d have these ginormous things sitting in the back of the room droning on and on. It made me very sleepy. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/25 "2010-03-25T15:39:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Stores had signs saying they were air conditioned. I don’t recall the exact wording. Something like “shop in cool refreshing comfort”. A big deal when it was a 100 degrees in the south. Stores like Woolworths and the Rexall drug often got AC first. There was a Chinese restaurant about a mile from where I used to live in Cleveland that displayed a large neon “AIR CONDITIONED” sign on the facade. Also: [ul] [li]COCKTAILS (disappearing throughout the US, but still common in the Rust Belt)[/li][li]EAT[/li][li]LUNCHEON (still a few around here)[/li][li]MARTINIZING and other old-school dry cleaning processes. Even until recently, dry cleaners around here were often filled with corny 1950s-era promotional signage.[/li][li]Bank Americard, Master Charge, Diner’s Club and Carte Blanche window signs.[/li][li]1940s-era neon signs; round-topped letter As are a dead giveaway. Still common here, but very rare elsewhere.[/li][li][Penis-shaped motel signs](http://www.austinmotel.com/). I remember them being far more common in the past, in the waning days of indie motels.[/li][/ul] “American owned” is code for “not a Patel motel”; basically, not owned by Indian immigrants. It was far more common in the days when Indian immigrants first got involved in the motel business. Often the motels they owned weren’t operated in the most professional manner; e.g. owners cooking curry behind the desk, rooms not cleaned properly, etc. Today, Indian-American owned motels are run in a far more professional manner, but the reputation persists. Yeah, the code is racist in a way. I see fewer “American owned” signs now than in the past. ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/26 "2010-03-25T15:44:10Z")
BankAmeriCard MasterCharge Hanging below the main sign on hinges so it swang in the wind. When I was a teen I would imagine adding an extra “O” to certain motel reader boards so it said “Free HOBO.” I still giggle when I see HBO on motel signs. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/27 "2010-03-25T16:23:24Z")
AAA approved! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/28 "2010-03-25T16:29:47Z")
A sign I remember seeing “Recommended by Duncan Hines”. Haven’t seen one in years. Presumably, D-H was some kind of rating agency-does anybody know if it still exists? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/29 "2010-03-25T16:42:13Z")
Burma-Shave ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/30 "2010-03-25T17:43:23Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > …“Hot and cold running water” … Luxury. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/31 "2010-03-25T17:46:35Z")
Last fall we went to Disney World and stayed at the Pop Century Resort. Along the entrance road to the hotel you can see signs promising [Color TV,](http://allears.net/acc/popcent15.jpg) [Air Conditioned Rooms,](http://allears.net/acc/popcent17.jpg) and the ever popular [Heated Pool!](http://allears.net/acc/popcent19.jpg) This particular hotel was opened in 2003, so the signs are just a bit of whimsical nostalgia. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/32 "2010-03-25T17:58:52Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > A sign I remember seeing “Recommended by Duncan Hines”. > Haven’t seen one in years. > Presumably, D-H was some kind of rating agency-does anybody know if it still exists? Duncan Hines was a person! He was a traveling salesman who kept lists of the good and bad places he’d eaten at while on the road, and eventually started giving them out to friends. In the '50s he had them published. He was kind of a precursor of _Roadfood_. P.S. No, it doesn’t exist. But I have another book from the '50s at home that is similar; I don’t remember the name but it was sponsored by a car manufacturer. I’ll look. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/33 "2010-03-25T19:15:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Stores had signs saying they were air conditioned. I don’t recall the exact wording. Something like “shop in cool refreshing comfort”. A big deal when it was a 100 degrees in the south. Stores like Woolworths and the Rexall drug often got AC first. > > Some of the rural country stores still weren’t air conditioned in the 1960’s. It sure made reaching into that ice cooler for a soda a treat. Sodas taste better when you’re sweaty. My mom and I go antique shopping, usually in the summer. Some of those little stores are in buildings from the 50s and 60s and have no AC. And as bad as it’ll be outside (in California, in July or whatever), it’s even worse inside. But we still go in. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/34 "2010-03-25T19:46:24Z")
Motels with cool neon signs are gradually going extinct (I’m talking the older, blue highway-kind of places). Some places that still have them don’t turn them on…trying to save on their electric bills, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/35 "2010-03-25T19:53:10Z")
Until recently, the local Best Inn prominently advertised “Free Special K Breakfast” on its sign. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/36 "2010-03-25T20:11:54Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > [“Fireproof”](http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i27/cottonchipper/hobbs/HotelHardenSign.jpg) > > (Note this place also offers ‘real food’) I’m more confused and amused by the catchphrase “A House by the Side of the Road”. Is it advertising convenient access from the road, or what? And what are Sample Rooms? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/37 "2010-03-25T20:20:30Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > It may have been worse with fans. We’d have these ginormous things sitting in the back of the room droning on and on. It made me very sleepy. That’s a good bit of nostalgia. I do remember sitting in elementary or middle school classrooms with the windows open, lights off, and fans blowing. Made you very sleepy. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/38 "2010-03-25T20:34:58Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > A big lit up generic “EAT” sign, lighting up the nighttime sky for the weary driver like a beacon. I know of three restaurants in the general area that have a neon “EAT” sign in their windows. [This “EAT”](http://www.catchthesunrise.com/catchthesunrise/images/whiteys.jpg) was on every night for 50 years and was turned off for good seven years ago today. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/39 "2010-03-25T21:26:30Z")
Do they still have the signs on the Interstates, every ten feet which say, “[Visit Rock City](http://www.seerockcity.com/),” and “[See Ruby Falls](http://www.rubyfalls.com/)”? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705/40 "2010-03-25T22:42:56Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > A big lit up generic “EAT” sign, lighting up the nighttime sky for the weary driver like a beacon. I know of three restaurants in the general area that have a neon “EAT” sign in their windows. It sounds so, I dunno, generic - even the thruway rest stops have (thankfully) been taken over by Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, etc. Obligatory _Frasier_ reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-tv-and-other-signs-you-dont-see-often-anymore/533705.md?page=3)