This sign, which I've wanted to photograph for a long time and finally did today when I was in the valley, has always made me a little bit sad. It's a relic from the days when Highway 99 was a two-lane highway and not an eight-lane freeway -- when a trip through California from north to south necessitated an overnight stay, or three or four overnight stays. To imagine it in its 1950's heyday, and then to see the motel in its current state (as a drug-addled "studio apartment" complex)... sigh. (Ask me if I liked the movie Cars.) There are similarly depressing leftovers from a bygone era in a lot of locations along 99. Sometime I'll take a photography trip, and get some more of them, before they're all gone.
What i find interesting about this are all the neon parts that are just kind of falling off the sign. Between that and the paint falling off you have captured the ultimate sign of neglect. Great composition with the blue sky in the background.
A great (in one way, sad in another) story, the decay of the sign is made more pronounced by the clarity, freshness and beauty of the sky
Excellent compostion and I guess while we have to accept that time moves on its a shame that so many experiences of the past are just allowed to slip away
I remember US 99 very well as we used to drive it to get to Sacramento to visit my grandparents. During the summer we used to drive it at night to avoid the heat, so the air conditioning in the sign had a real purpose.
In those days the highway went through the downtown sections of places like Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Chowchilla, Lodi, etc. Seeing these places at night was a real eye-opener for a kid of ten or so, and it was like driving through another country.
I went north on I-5 a few months ago. It seemed like it went straight for 300 miles and didn't go near a single town. No atmosphere at all.
I-5 is so depressing through California, there is no doubt about it at all. At least 99 still goes through the cities, and you could choose to make a more meandering, sightseeing trip of it if you wanted to. Whereas the whole purpose of I-5 is that you get on at one end and dump yourself off again at the other without having seen a single interesting thing to slow you down.
I remember US 99 very well as we used to drive it to get to Sacramento to visit my grandparents. During the summer we used to drive it at night to avoid the heat, so the air conditioning in the sign had a real purpose.
In those days the highway went through the downtown sections of places like Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Chowchilla, Lodi, etc. Seeing these places at night was a real eye-opener for a kid of ten or so, and it was like driving through another country.
I went north on I-5 a few months ago. It seemed like it went straight for 300 miles and didn't go near a single town. No atmosphere at all.
Beautiful shot - I love how the deep blues of the sky contrast with the whites and yellows of the sign. Excellent shot - one of my favorites of the 50-day challenge for sure!
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