rooms to let

 

According to the sign, we could have stayed on Historic 25th Street rather than at the Hilton on 23rd.  However, this iconic sign was recently restored to the area.  It originally was designed in 1944 and originally graced the Star Noodle Parlour for 60 years.  In 1869, The Golden Spike brought together the first transcontinental railroad, roughly fifty miles to the northwest of Union Station, and created a boom town in Ogden.  25th Street was a bawdy area of brothels and bars.  The dragon sign is important because it symbolizes the Japanese-Americans who owned 40 businesses along 25th Street in the early decades of the 20th century.  Today the dragon is just a neat sign on a busy street with a gathering of all types.

 

Historic 25th Street

Ogden, Utah



My first afternoon in Jackson, Wyoming we walked around downtown and I shot the sign at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. I hoped to get back at night to photograph the neon sign which happened a few nights later.

 

Our second goal was to go in, sit at the bar on the saddle bar stools and enjoy a beverage.  This part of the plan was doomed.  First, they wanted a cover charge at the door for the band (and you know I'm cheap) and secondly there were no vacant saddles.  So we took a quick gander and left.  But I have a neon memory.

 

Million Dollar Cowboy Bar

Jackson, Wyoming

9.15.2015

otto

The "Otto" in Otto's Granary, a Godiva chocolate, coffee and tea emporium,  is based on a family name.  The structure is actually an old granary and it's history should be researched.  (Preservation is on my mind since this evening's Historical Commission gathering.  I'm also interested in neon preservation but more on that later.)

Otto's Granary

4119 Marsha Sharp Freeway

Lubbock, Texas

www.ottosgranary.com