Mac's Garage (Gone)
Fresno, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

The old sign for Mac’s Garage in Fresno had clearly spent plenty of years out in the weather. Its faded finish gave it that familiar roadside look, back when an independent garage could announce itself with a distinctive sign instead of a row of matching corporate panels.

Located at E Street and Mariposa, the garage operated alongside Frank’s Service Station under Frank and Mikiye Tashima. The family business supported local Japanese-American community programs and offered Blue Chip trading stamps to customers. Remember saving those little stamps in books? Apparently, a stop for automotive service could help fill another page.

UPDATE: The garage building is gone and its weathered roadside sign has been removed. Whether the sign was saved or scrapped remains unknown. 09-26

Pope Tire Co. (Closed)
Fresno, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Check out the vintage sign for Pope Tire Co. in downtown Fresno. This old roadside survivor stands beside the Rainbow Ballroom along Broadway, once part of U.S. Highway 99. Even weathered, it has more character than the usual tire-shop sign.

George William Pope Sr. started the family business in 1919 and moved to this corner in 1941, bringing the sign along. His son Bud began helping at the shop when he was just eight, earning 25 cents a day. That is quite an early start in the tire business.

UPDATE: Pope Tire closed around 2000 after roughly eight decades in business. The old building and weathered sign survive, while a community mural has added some color to the former shop’s exterior. 09-26

Tulare Smog Check (Closed)
Tulare, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Here is another job for a grand old roadside sign. Tulare Smog Check reused this vintage marquee rather than replacing it with something ordinary. The business name changed, but those old shapes still had plenty of life left in them. Nice to see a smog shop giving a little roadside character another chance.

The sign predates the garage, although its original business name remains a mystery. By changing the panels, the shop kept an older piece of Tulare’s commercial past out where passing motorists could enjoy it.

UPDATE: The smog-check business has closed, and the property became Tulare Antiques. The old sign was saved on-site and moved into the shop’s outdoor collection, with its later smog-shop panels removed. A fitting retirement spot for a sign that had already worked more than one job. 09-26

McCoy Tire
Bakersfield, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

The McCoy Tire sign was still standing tall when this view of Bakersfield was photographed. Along this old Highway 99 business strip, tire shops, garages and coffee shops once catered to motorists rolling through town. The sign is a reminder of when stopping for new tires did not mean pulling into a giant shopping-center parking lot.

Nearby businesses have disappeared over the years, including Farmer John’s Pancake House, which burned in 1999 and was later demolished. What was once a handy stretch for getting the car serviced and grabbing breakfast has lost several of its familiar roadside stops.

UPDATE: The original McCoy Tire storefront has closed, although the building’s current use is uncertain. Its vintage roadside sign survives, still marking the spot along the old Bakersfield highway corridor. 09-26

Fresno Automatic Transmissions (Closed)
Fresno, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here is the old sign for Fresno Automatic Transmissions along Belmont Avenue. It advertised a specialty that probably brought motorists through the door with something other than a leisurely road trip on their minds. When the car would not shift, this was the kind of place worth knowing about. 03-06

Established in 1948, the shop served Fresno drivers for more than half a century. Rodney Meseke Sr. owned and operated the business for roughly 40 years before A R Transmission acquired it in November 2006 and consolidated operations at its McKinley Avenue location.

UPDATE: The former garage has been repurposed as PDM-La Segunda, a secondhand and liquidation business. The old transmission-shop sign has been removed, and its whereabouts remain unknown. 09-26