A 1939 postcard featuring the Green Spot Cafe and Annex (the hotel – which is still standing – is across the street).

In the golden age of neon (from about 1920 to 1965), nearly every sign was made with custom lettering. Some were roughly based on preexisting models, but rarely would you see a sign so directly drawn from a typeface as this one for the Green Spot Cafe, built circa 1935. The letters are derived from Hobo.

The cafe was a tourist stop and getaway for Hollywood stars in Victorville, California on Route 66, at the edge of the Mojave Desert. It burned down in 1953.

A cropped detail of the previous image, with a Hobo (Adobe’s digital version) below for comparison

Later, the original sign was moved around the corner and replaced with a more elaborate sign referencing the dude ranches of the area. This postcard clarifies the Green Spot logo found in multiple places on the building, and at the center of the Hobo sign: a splat of green.

A Modern Motel 26 Units – 13 with Kitchen Facilities Large airy rooms of all sizes for family accommodations. Homelike. Comfortable and Quiet. On Highway 66 – East Y Gallup, New Mexico Air Conditioned – Swimming Privileges

Alfred McCarr Adv. Ser. AAD-242

For sale at Oliver Wood. Rare books, photographs and archives:

First edition, one of just 400 copies of the first and most important book in ‘the most renowned series of artist’s books in the history of the genre’ (The Photobook). This copy signed and dated by Ruscha in 1966. Twentysix Gasoline Stations was published 1963, the year that he staged his first solo exhibition at Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles.