Joyland Nightclub
Pinellas Park, FL
Photo courtesy Georg Balandran

The marquee at the right stands in front of the Joyland Nightclub nightclub. A country music club now, the Joyland once marked the site of an amusement park. Many thanks to Budd Ballard for info.

Joyland opened as an amusement park in 1959. After the rides closed a few years later, the surviving dance hall carried the name forward into a long nightclub career. Its stage hosted performers including Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Rascal Flatts, connecting the local venue with artists who went on to much larger audiences.

UPDATE: The original Pinellas Park property has been demolished, and its roadside sign is gone. The Joyland nightclub name continues at a Sarasota location, extending an entertainment tradition that began with the old amusement park. 07-26

Lakeview
Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack

The enormous arrow at Lakeview certainly understood its assignment. Rising above the roadside, it pointed toward the property with enough confidence to make you wonder what waited beyond the entrance. Sometimes a directional sign becomes more interesting than the destination, and this one makes a good case.

Oversized arrows were especially effective advertisements for businesses serving passing motorists. Their shape could communicate an instruction before a driver had time to read the lettering. Here, the arrow supplied most of the visual impact, making the display worth photographing even without a detailed history of the business behind it.

UPDATE: The precise location, original business history, and current condition of this Lakeview sign have not been confirmed. For now, the photograph preserves an impressive example of roadside advertising built around one very clear message: turn here. 07-26

Merita Bread (Gone)
Orlando, FL
Photo courtesy Robert Droz

This sign advertising Merita Bread has been above the Merita bakery in Orlando, FL since probably when this section of I-4 opened in the early 1960's. "Merita" is in red neon three stripes wide inside the metal letters. The original "Bread & Cake" wording was later simplified to just "Bread." yellow plastic lettering put up within the last decade by the new owners, Interstate brands. The clock has been giving time and temperature since the late 1970's, at least. Many thanks to Robert Droz for info.

The rooftop display had been associated with the bakery since the early years of this section of I-4. Its wording changed from “Bread & Cake” to simply “Bread,” and the time-and-temperature feature was familiar by at least the late 1970s. Those changes allowed the advertisement to evolve while retaining the large Merita name that motorists recognized.

UPDATE: The bakery closed following the Hostess bankruptcy in 2012, and the building was demolished in 2015. The rooftop sign disappeared with it. Another familiar feature of the Orlando skyline was lost, along with the occasional aroma that made passing a bakery its own roadside experience. 08-26

Trader Jim's Boots (Gone)
West Palm Beach, FL
Photo courtesy Kevin O'Sullivan

The giant boot at Trader Jim’s Boots left little doubt about what was waiting inside. Standing high above Military Trail in West Palm Beach, the object-shaped sign advertised western footwear more directly than a paragraph of lettering ever could. Even motorists with no plans to buy boots had something worth noticing.

The store sold cowboy boots, work boots, hats, belts, and other western goods. Its oversized footwear supplied a recognizable landmark for customers returning to the shop and travelers encountering it for the first time. Florida’s ranching and equestrian traditions gave the merchandise a natural audience, even if the state’s tourist image more often emphasized beaches and palm trees.

UPDATE: Trader Jim’s closed, and the giant boot sign was removed from the roadside. Its eventual destination has not been established here. Photographs preserve the display that once made finding a western store along Military Trail remarkably easy. 08-2

McClelland's Saddlery (Closed)
Lake Worth, FL
Photo courtesy Kevin O'Sullivan

A full-sized horse watching over the entrance made McLelland’s Saddlery hard to overlook along Dixie Highway in Lake Worth. The rooftop figure advertised the business without needing to explain much. Whether you rode horses or simply appreciated unusual roadside mascots, it was worth looking up as you passed.

The family business opened at the location in 1958, supplying saddles, boots, tack, and leather goods. The horse became a recognizable marker through decades of trade, connecting the storefront with South Florida’s equestrian community. It also gave an otherwise practical retail business a roadside identity that extended beyond its regular customers.

UPDATE: McLelland’s moved to Wellington in 2018 to be closer to the area’s equestrian activity. The former Lake Worth building was renovated for other businesses, but the horse remained on the roof. The saddlery moved on while its longtime mascot stayed behind. 08-26

Ranches Drugs
West Palm Beach, FL
Photo courtesy Kevin O'Sullivan

This building was Ranches Drug Store from the Mid 50's till the mid 90's. This is at 3800 South Dixie Hwy ( US1 ) in West Palm Beach. Many thanks to Kevin O'Sullivan for info.

The building housed Ranches Drug Store from the mid-1950s into the 1990s, according to the original account. The soda-fountain setting supplied a social side to the business, giving customers somewhere to sit rather than simply collect a purchase and leave. That interior history became an important part of the building’s next chapter.

UPDATE: The former drugstore building now houses Rhythm Cafe. The vintage lunch counter remains among the reminders of its earlier use, allowing part of the old pharmacy setting to survive within a restaurant. Good to see an everyday neighborhood building finding another purpose without losing every trace of its past. 08-26

Levitz Furniture (Gone)
Tampa, FL
Photo courtesy Andy Callahan

“You’ll love it at Levitz” was a familiar invitation, and the enormous Levitz Furniture sign made sure Tampa motorists knew where to find it. Rising above Gandy Boulevard, the oversized lettering matched the scale of the warehouse-style store below. You didn’t need to be shopping for a sofa to recognize the landmark.

Levitz helped popularize furniture retailing that combined large showrooms with warehouse inventory, allowing customers to choose merchandise available for immediate pickup. The Tampa property’s immense sign suited that approach: big building, big selection, and advertising visible well before the entrance. The original photo account wondered how much longer the display would remain.

UPDATE: One moment it's up, the next it's gone. Levitz is now a U-Haul Rental. Many thanks to Andy Callahan for info.

UPDATE: The Levitz chain’s final bankruptcy brought store closures in 2008, and the former Tampa location was subsequently redeveloped. The original building and towering sign are gone. Earlier accounts differ on the businesses that followed, but the loss of the Levitz roadside display marks the end of this chapter. 08-26