And this is one of them, but rightfully so — a paean to The Holiday Inn sign of years gone by.
Their marquees sported an emerald green curvilinear field with a big white neon “HOLIDAY INN” done in casual script. This was affixed to a red pylon atop which a yellow star exploded its energy into the night. Meanwhile a winking Vegas-style arrow pointed tired travelers to the office while an illuminated window box below advertised rates and local gatherings such as “Opaloosa Elks Fish Fry” or “Welcome Burlington High Senior Prom.” The kinetic radiance turned the Great Sign into a symbol of American razzle-dazzle, for-sure-buddy-can-do optimism. To borrow a turn of phrase from President John F. Kennedy, another icon of the times, “the glow from that flame can truly light the world.”
The article goes into some of the genesis of the Holiday Inn chain, which informed the development of those huge, garish, wildly iconic signs. It also discusses why the signs were done away with in 1982, turning HI into just another hotel chain, no different from Radisson, Mariott, or anyone else.
Really. Except for, sometimes, the largest or most upscale of the chains’ resorts, you could easily just move the “backlit, crapola plastic” signs between all the major chains without any radical dissonance. The same can be said for the interiors, too.
Good, nostalgic stuff.
(Via Boing Boing)
They did just that, change the sign, at a small hotel near us. Dave and I can’t remember the original name, even though we pass it daily.
And I’m convinced it’s the same company, different sign, while Margie is convinced it’s a different company, but she’s not sure what the old one was. But neither of us would put money down either way …