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Kentucky Signs

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Ashland:
Don's Men's Shop [map]

Belew's Dairy Bar
Aurora, KY
Old Kentucky
Home Motel [gone]
Bardstown, KY
Little Town &
Country Restaurant
Bedford, KY
Belew's Dairy Bar opened in 1951. This drive-in restaurant features car hop service. [map]

The Old Kentucky Home Motel was built in 1955. This sign appeared to be from then. This photo is from 2010. By 2012, the sign had been repainted and basically ruined. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

The Little Town & Country Restaurant is still in business. The neon has been removed from the sign. There is a broken broaster chicken logo on top. For more, see this website. [map]

Hutchens Drive-in
Benton, KY
Big Jack Liquor & Beer
Boston, KY
Hutchens Drive-in, aka Hutchens BBQ, opened in 1947. [map]

Big Jack Liquor & Beer sign features a moonshine jug and wooden plank. The business was later known as Boston Beverage. It is currently closed. [map]

Berea:
Boone Tavern Hotel & Restaurant [map]
L. Marion Oliver Insurance (now Oliver & Oliver Insurance) [gone]
Masonic Lodge [map]

Crossland Motel [gone]
Bowling Green, KY
Spot Cash Store [gone]
Bowling Green, KY
The Crossland Motel had been around since at least the 1950s. This photo is from 2007. By 2010, the motel had been demolished and the sign was gone. For more, see this website.

The Spot Cash Store was a men's clothing store which opened in 1929. This sign was built in 1952. This photo is from 2010. In 2011, Labold and Sons Salvage moved into the building. The business kept the sign and restored the neon in 2012. In 2015, the business closed and the sign was removed. For more, see this website.

Horse Shoe Camp Cottages [gone]
Bowling Green, KY
Bone's Auto Electric & Air
Bowling Green, KY
The Horse Shoe Camp Cottages were also known as the Horse Shoe Court. They were built in 1935 and had been abandoned since the 1970s. In 2014, there was a devastating fire. In 2018, the charred buildings and the rooftop sign were still there. By 2022, they were gone. For more, see this website.

The Bone's Auto Electric & Air sign appears to be from the 1940s or so. [map]

More Bowling Green:
Crescent Bowl [gone]
Judy's Castle (former Dog House) [gone]
Walt's Allstate Transmission Service
Western Hills Motel [vintage; gone]

Burnside:
7 Gables Motel [map]

Holiday Motel
Cave City, KY
Jerry's Restaurant [gone]
Cave City, KY
Star Motel
Cave City, KY
2001: 2007: 2001: 2007: 2007: 2010:
The Holiday Motel sign was repainted and some of the neon was removed between 2001 and 2007. For more, see this website. [map]

Jerry's Restaurant was part of a Kentucky chain. By 2010, this sign had been replaced with a plastic box sign. The restaurant was closed as well. By 2013, the only thing left was a vacant lot. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.

The Star Motel sign still had a ring of neon stars around it in 2007. By 2010, the sign had been stripped down to the frame with stars painted on the side. By 2018, white panels were finally installed in the frame. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

Caveland Motel
Cave City, KY
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company
Corbin, KY
Jackson Florist
Covington, KY
The Caveland Motel was named after the nearby Mammoth Cave National Park. There was another sign here originally. This sign was installed by the mid-1950s. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

This Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company building looks to be from the 1950s or 1960s. I have not seen a Pepsi cap sign like this before. [map]

Jackson Florist has been around since the 1890s. This sign looks like a scaled down 1950s neon sign replica in plastic. [map]

More Corbin:
Eubanks Lighting Center
WCCT [map]

More Covington:
514 Building [gone]
Burger Beer [gone]
Cork N' Bottle Liquor [gone]
Covington Chili
Rich's Jewelers [map]
Sam's Ice Cream [map]
Sim's Appliances & Furniture

Cynthiana:
Roh's Opera House

Dawson Springs:
Woodburn Drugs [gone]

Elizabethtown:
Dix-E-Town Lanes

Masonic Lodge
Frankfort, KY
Moore's Point Liquors
Frankfort, KY
Moose Lodge
Henderson, KY
former Bernstein's
Men's Wear [gone]
Henderson, KY
This Masonic Lodge sign was in bad shape around 2004. It had been completely refurbished by 2010 when this photo was taken. I've never seen a Masonic sign shaped like this before. For more, see this website. [map]

The Moore's Point Liquors sign is probably from the 1940s or earlier. There are a number of these whiskey signs in Kentucky in both blue and red porcelain enamel. This is the only one I have seen with an arrow. [map]

This Moose Lodge sign was in great shape when this photo was taken in 2010. By 2014, the neon had been removed. [map]

Bernstein's Men's Wear is gone but this sign remains. This photo is from 2010. By 2012, the neon had been removed and the sign painted over for Bernie's Boutique. By 2019, new panels were placed over the sign, painted with an ear of corn. [map]

Elkton:
Hotel Jefferson Davis [map]

Flemingsburg:
Oldsmobile [map]

More Frankfort:
liquor store [gone]
M.A. Selbert Jewelers

Hodgenville:
Smith Drugs

Manhattan
Motel [gone]
Hopkinsville, KY
Ferrell's Hamburgers
Hopkinsville, KY
Kentucky Ice Cream [gone]
Horse Cave, KY
The Manhattan Motel sign's design was very similar to the former Faubus Motel in Huntsville, AR. The Manhattan Motel sign was gone by 2018.

Ferrell's Hamburgers opened in Owensboro, KY in 1929. This location opened in 1936. By the 1940s, a location in Madisonville opened. There were other locations in Bowling Green, Henderson, and Clarksville. A new location in Cadiz opened in 1976. This sign is probably from the 1940s. In 2023, a corner of the sign was clipped by a truck. The neon will either be restored or the restaurant will replace the sign with a new one. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

This Kentucky Ice Cream sign continued to hang although there was no ice cream shop below it. I don't know if Kentucky Ice Cream was a brand or a chain of stores. By 2018, there was a new sign for the Midway Cafe in its place. The ice cream cone has also been replaced with another one.

More Hopkinsville:
Kleen Rite Cleaners
Little River Motel [gone]

Ivel:
Alpike Motel [map]

Jamestown:
Jamestown Court [gone]
Lake Cumberland Motel [map]

Burger Shake
Lexington, KY
Lexington
Motor Inn
Lexington, KY
Burger Shake opened in 1957 and this rooftop sign is from then. The price on the sign was originally lit with neon and read 19 cents. This photo is from 2010. In 2011, the price of a hamburger rose to 99 cents and the sign's letters were updated. That panel is now blank. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

The Lexington Motor Inn sign is probably from the 1960s. The horse portrait and the text panels have probably always been plastic with no neon. Lexington is home to the Kentucky Horse Park and claims to be the Horse Capital of the World. This photo is from 2010. The text panels have now been replaced with new ones for the Peddlers Mall. [map]

Happy the Glass Man [gone]
Lexington, KY
Happy the Glass Man was established in 1914. This sign was probably from the 1950s. By 2022, the sign was gone. For more, see this website.

More Lexington:
Boot's Bar [gone]
Catalina Motel
Dutch Mill [gone; in storage]
J.W. Davis Builder & Real Estate
Motorola Radio [map]
New Circle Blue Grass Restaurant [gone]
Parkette Drive In
Skuller's Jewelry [map]
former Southland Bowling Alley
Sparks-Terrell Hardware [gone]

Madisonville:
Melody Lanes [gone]

Marion:
Marion Cafe

Mayfield Electric & Water Systems [gone]
Mayfield, KY
Mayfield Electric & Water Systems still provides power supplied by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). This sign was installed in 1955. It stopped working in the 1960s. In 2010, just a few months after these photos were taken, this sign was restored with LED bulbs. In 2021, the building, sign, and much of the city was destroyed by a tornado.

J.C. Everett Co.
Maysville, KY
Sherwin-Williams
Paints [gone]
Maysville, KY
Charlie's Steak House [gone]
Oak Grove, KY
J.C. Everett Co. is now known as Everett's Ace Hardware. They have been here since 1896. [map]

The Sherwin-Williams Paints sign remained for years although there was no paint store there below. This sign was probably mass-produced but this was the only one that I know of to still exist. The sign was still there in 2014 but gone by 2018.

Charlie's Steak House had been here since at least the 1960s. The rooftop sign was repainted just before this photo was taken in 2010. In 2011, the place was destroyed by a fire. By 2013, the building and sign were gone. For more, see this website.

More Maysville:
EAT Gallery [map]
Washington Opera House [map]

Murray:
Victor's Sandwiches

Newport:
Brass Ass Lounge [map]

Raines Shoe Hospital [gone]
Owensboro, KY
International Order
of Odd Fellows
Owensboro, KY
I believe the Raines Shoe Hospital had been here since 1946. The store closed in 2016. By 2019, the sign was gone.

The International Order of Odd Fellows sign is probably from the 1940s or 1950s. [map]

More Owensboro:
Mills Drug Store [gone]

Owen Cleaners [gone]
Paducah, KY
Paducah Beauty School [gone]
Paducah, KY
Gateway Villa
Motel [gone]
Radcliff, KY
Shelby
Motel [gone]
Shelbyville, KY
Owen Cleaners was founded in 1920 and grew to around six locations in town. This location closed around 2019 and the sign has been removed. This sign was probably from the 1960s.

The Paducah Beauty School sign appears to be from the 1940s or 1950s. The store closed in 2020. The sign was gone by 2022. For more, see this website.

The Gateway Villa Motel sign is probably from the 1950s. It was removed in 2022 and is now in a private collection. For more, see this website.

This photo of the Shelby Motel sign is from 2007. The motel was demolished later that year. The sign disappeared in 2008. For more, see this website.

Paris:
Jerry's Restaurant [map]

Pikeville:
Frozen Custard [vintage; gone]

Prestonburg:
IOOF [map]
Jerry's Restaurant [gone]

Richmond:
Glyndon Hotel
Grigg's Motel

More Shelbyville:
Frigidaire [gone]

Somerset:
Lay-Simpson Furniture [map]

Stanford:
Sunset Motor Lodge [map]

Williamsburg:
Maiden Drugs
The Maples

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