The Buckeye Motel, along US 62 in Columbus.

For around 20 years or so, I have been collecting neon and other vintage business signs. I haven’t actually been acquiring the signs themselves, but taking photos of them in the settings where they stood. In many cases, I took pictures of signs not long before the businesses that went with them were demolished and the signs disappeared.

I’m not sure what draws me to signs that date from the 1940s to 1960s. I think it probably has to do with nostalgia and the fact that they were part of the landscape of my childhood. They were everywhere when I was growing up, and now you must search long and hard for a glimpse of just one of them.

In fact, many of the signs that I took pictures of when I began doing this, around 2004, 2005 or so, are now gone – hopefully to a museum or to a private collection.

If you would like to see neon and other vintage signs in their full glory, the best place to go is the American Sign Museum, located at 1330 Monmouth Ave., Cincinnati. It is the largest public museum dedicated to signs in the United States.

And if you know of a sign in Ohio that would be a good subject to photograph, please let me know!

To see many of the signs I’ve photographed, please go to the Videos page of Dusty Tires and view “Signs, Signs, Signs’ and “More Signs” videos.

All rights reserved, Dusty Tires (dusty-tires.com), 2024.