Atlanta Life (Closed)
Birmingham, AL
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Another faded old sign hanging over downtown Birmingham is this one for Atlanta Life. The vertical marquee was looking pretty weathered by the time this photo was taken, but the lettering could still be made out along 4th Avenue North. At the time, Atlanta Life was still in the insurance business, though the company had already moved on from this old location. 04-09

The sign hangs from Birmingham's historic Prince Hall Masonic Temple, built in the 1920s in the heart of the city's 4th Avenue Black business district. Atlanta Life, founded in 1905 by Alonzo Herndon, once maintained offices inside along with doctors, dentists, lawyers and other businesses.

There was quite a bit more going on behind this old sign than you might guess from the street. The building became an important gathering place during Birmingham's Civil Rights years, and its auditorium once hosted performers including Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

By 2009, though, the faded Atlanta Life sign was mostly a reminder of an earlier downtown Birmingham.

UPDATE: The building closed in 2011 after years of deterioration but has since undergone a major restoration and found new life with offices and community spaces. The weathered Atlanta Life sign still hangs outside, looking much like an old roadside sign ought to. 08-26

Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Alabama (Closed)
Birmingham, AL
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Just down the building from the old Atlanta Life sign is another faded marquee worth a look. This one reads Alabama F. and A.M., marking the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Alabama in downtown Birmingham. The old vertical sign was pretty well faded out by the time this photo was taken, but it still stood out against the brick building along 4th Avenue. 04-09

The sign hangs from the historic Prince Hall Masonic Temple, completed in 1924. During the days of segregation, this seven-story building became a center of Black business and community life in Birmingham. Doctors, dentists, lawyers and other businesses filled its offices, while the Booker T. Washington Library operated downstairs.

Upstairs, the large auditorium brought some pretty familiar names through town, including Duke Ellington and Count Basie. The building later played an important role during Birmingham's Civil Rights years, with meetings and organizing taking place inside.

UPDATE: After closing in 2011, the Prince Hall Masonic Temple underwent a major restoration and has been brought back into use for community, office and commercial space. The old Alabama F. and A.M. marquee remains on the building. 08-26

Offshore Energy
Brussard, LA
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

You know you're driving through Louisiana oil country when an offshore rig shows up alongside the highway. Offshore Energy Services in Broussard has this towering scale-model rig sitting out front, looking like somebody hauled a piece of the Gulf inland and parked it beside US 90. 02-07

Offshore Energy Services has been around since 1976, providing equipment and services for the Gulf Coast oil and gas industry. Broussard and the surrounding Lafayette area have long been tied to offshore drilling, so the rig makes a pretty appropriate roadside landmark. And there really isn't much mystery to the advertising here. Offshore energy company. Offshore rig out front. Sometimes the simplest roadside advertising works best.

UPDATE: The rig still stands along Highway 90 today, maintained in front of the OES complex and continuing to catch the eye of passing traffic. If you're cruising this stretch through Cajun country, it's pretty hard to miss. 08-26

Naman's Department Store
Mobile, AL
Photo courtesy Rod Holcomb

Another old Dauphin Street sign worth checking out is this one for Naman's Department Store. The big vertical blade sign was still hanging above the sidewalk when this photo was taken, although the neon tubing had disappeared long before. A little worn around the edges, but somehow that just makes it look more at home among the older storefronts of downtown Mobile. 12-10

Naman's opened in 1942 and has been a downtown Mobile fixture ever since. Despite the Department Store name, the business became best known for men's clothing, with suits, hats, shoes and other dress wear filling the store.

While plenty of downtown retailers packed up for the suburbs over the years, Naman's stayed along Dauphin Street. The old sign stayed too, even if its days of lighting up the sidewalk were apparently over.

UPDATE: Naman's Department Store is still open at its longtime Dauphin Street location, more than 80 years after the business began. The weathered old blade sign also remains above the sidewalk, still missing its neon but looking much the way it did when photographed here. 08-26

Big Daddy's Love Acts (Gone)
New Orleans, LA
Photo courtesy Rod Holcomb

Bourbon Street has never been shy about its neon, and Big Daddy's "World Famous" Love Acts certainly did its part. The flashing sign at 522 Bourbon Street fit right in with the bars, clubs and tourist joints competing for attention after dark. Add the famous pair of swinging legs above the sidewalk and this was one storefront that was pretty hard to walk past without looking up. 12-10

Big Daddy's started out as Lafitte's Boudoir in 1967 and eventually became one of Bourbon Street's longest-running strip clubs. The place had a slightly carnival-like reputation, helped along by the animated legs and enough neon to make sure nobody mistook it for a quiet neighborhood tavern.

The sign and storefront also made their way into pop culture. Big Daddy's appeared in the 1984 Clint Eastwood movie Tightrope and later turned up in Aerosmith's "Rag Doll" video. For years, filmmakers looking for an instant shot of wild New Orleans nightlife didn't have to look much farther than this stretch of Bourbon Street.

UPDATE: The original Big Daddy's is long gone from 522 Bourbon Street, and the familiar Love Acts signage has since disappeared from the building. Bourbon Street is still plenty bright after dark, but this particular bit of neon decadence has left the scene. 08-26

M. Marsh & Sons Company
Wheeling, WV
Photo courtesy Jim Zahniser

In Wheeling, WV of Billy Joel's Piano Man fame is this rooftop sign for Marsh Stogies. The factory is closed and available but the sign lives on.06-14

High above Market Street, the big Marsh Wheeling Stogies sign still keeps watch over downtown Wheeling. Perched on a steel framework atop the old brick factory M. Marsh & Sons Company it's one of those signs you can spot from a distance and probably one of the first things that makes you wonder what a Wheeling Stogie was. 06-14

Marsh had been making stogies in Wheeling since 1840, when Mifflin Marsh started rolling cigars at home and selling them around the busy riverfront. The company eventually grew into one of Wheeling's best-known businesses, moving into its Market Street factory in the early 1900s.

And these weren't just any cigars. Wheeling was once well known for its stogies, the long, inexpensive smokes whose name traces back to the Conestoga wagon drivers traveling the old National Road. Marsh became one of the biggest names in town, at one point turning out millions of stogies while hundreds of workers filled the factory.

The Market Street plant finally closed in December 2001, ending more than 160 years of Marsh stogie making in Wheeling. The old factory has sat quiet since then, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from a distance. That enormous rooftop sign is still up there, looking much as it did when the factory was busy below.

If you're crossing into Wheeling or wandering around downtown, look toward the rooftops. The factory may be silent, but Marsh Wheeling Stogies is still advertising.

UPDATE: The old Market Street factory remains standing, and the landmark Marsh Wheeling Stogies rooftop sign continues to tower above the building. 08-26