Modern American Marquees
By Kaylan Moore
SOMETHING BORING CAN BECOME EXTRAORDINARY
SIMPLY BY TAKING A CLOSER LOOK.
Boring.
The first thing that comes to mind when I see a Marquee sign is “boring”. No, not the flashy Broadway-esque Marquees that have the fancy vintage bulbs and metal lettering. I’m talking about their subtext. The plastic lettering that slides in place on the corrugated blank rectangle, that gives little tid-bits and fluff pieces about the place.
Nowadays, they are commonly found under fast food signs, gas stations, liquor stores, concert venues, schools, churches, and many others. Aren’t they outdated, you ask? Yeah. Are they efficient? Sometimes. Are they common? Absolutely. They are the most mundane source of communication today’s modern day America has—besides snail mail—and I love it.
More often than not, each sign has relatively the same sans serif black (or red) type. Their lack of color and effort is one of their attributes that inspires me. Society has become cluttered with noise from all the businesses and corporations that keep trying to one-up each other on being the “next big thing”, and to do so they create flashy advertising for every single promotional detail. It’s obnoxious, really. The Marquees are not flashy in any way, except for when their light is broken.
I was originally drawn to these signs because of their ability to convey a message with minimal flaunt. They are straight to the point and they do it with personality. Once I decided on the Marquee signs as my topic, my brain went into overdrive. I started noticing each and every sign: what they were saying, how they were saying it, and what it looked like. I realized—though mundane and boring—how unique they all are.
There is an certain art to them. I found myself truly drawn to those that are more messy, truly ugly, and flawed. I loved it most when a sign had imperfections. For example, a number replacing a letter, a letter flipped sideways, falling over, crooked, or perhaps some that are completely missing. It is most likely unintentional, and just an issue of running out of letters and having to make due. What I had originally thought of as boring actually turned out to be genius and quirky in its own way.
AUTO NO MOUS.
Automotive stores have got to have the most catchiest jingles of all time. Well, at least in my opinion. Everytime I see an O’Reilly sign while I am driving I instantly have that wonderfully catchy song stuck in my head. I kept singing the jingles while creating this book, and managed to get it lodged in everyone elses head. Now you are singing it. You are welcome.
At the end of my photo adventures, I took out my SD card and loaded my photos. I found that there were a decent amount of auto stores that I had captured without realizing it.
I would drive around for hours looking for any hint of a marquee. Anything in black and white my eye was immediately drawn to, sometimes without realizing what it actually was that I was actually reading and capturing.
I had made the same mistakes that everyone else has been doing, and it reaffirms my point that I am trying to make. They aren’t flashy or exciting. I ignored them even when I was intentionally taking their photo. I was only acknowledging their presence. I only focused on their overall composition, or if there was something wrong with it.
It wasn’t until after I loaded my SD card where I actually got to sit down and take a good look at the pictures. This time without distractions of the road, and I wasn’t racing the sun, traffic, and trying to get home before dinner. It was a blast trying to find the little “easter eggs” hiding in the signs for me to discover.
The UHAUL sign strikes me as interesting because it on one side it is nice and neat. Relatively clean with no errors, and just your run of the mill irregular spacing.
On the flip side (pictured in the polaroid on the previous page) it is completely falling apart. The letters are overlapping. The sentence doesn’t make sense. A few of the letters are crooked. Most of all, there is a random letter “I” falling off and overlapping with another letter. It doesn’t belong, and I have no idea where it is actually supposed to be. All the other letters are spelled correctly and nothing is missing. So what the heck is it doing there?
My next favorite masterpiece in this chapter is the Crossroads Auto Works (right). It is distinctly an auto store. However they failed to even complete the word “AUTO”. In fact when I first saw the sign I thought it read UFO REPAIR. Sadly, I was mistaken. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone named Crossroads Auto Works did repair flying saucers. You never know. I’ve seen a lot of strange things in 2019.
Anywho, the auto marquee signs are definitely one of my top favorite series to photograph. They are perhaps the most boring out of all the marquees. However, the ones I captured turned out so great. The atmosphere worked perfectly to create the run-down mundane American body-shop look. They also had the most severe compositions out of all the photos I took.
LET’ S GET TO GE THER
I’m a sucker for the old-fashioned. Especially the vintage 50s and 60s style movie theater. Man, I wish I could see them in their prime. I could pick out my black and white saddle shoes and high waisted skirt and pin up my wavy hair, whilst arm and arm with a cute date. Well... I suppose I still could, nothing is stopping me! I’ll be at the Granada sipping cherry coke the next time a concert rolls around.
My favorite thing about these venues that I shot are that a lot of them have this vintage aesthetic. Or were at least designed to look old. In poor Auntie Mae’s case it’s just old. Not vintage—though the inside was a whole different story—and not very special, but a great place to hang out and have a beer.
While I was in Manhattan, KS for the homecoming parade—which also happened to be the week before halloween—I found this nifty place. Which is now used to advertise the events occuring in the town of Aggieville. It has three different signs, all with different messages. I just happened to notice that there is a missing T. These letters are also special and different from the rest of my collection, they are 3D.
I discovered that the only place where the 3D lettering could be located, at least in the state of Kansas, is at these retro movie theater places. The right one is in Manhattan, same with the bottom left picture on the next page. The top left was taken on Massachusetts street in Lawrence.
The way these letters are made and function allow for more errors. They are easier to go missing, to fall off, and less easy to create new things out of them, since they really only have one direction to be placed.
Although they do have a certain charm to them. I like the way they have ridges on the sides and they are almost lego-like. They remind me of my childhood a bit. You know the magnetic letters that help children spell? The ones that somehow always end up on the fridge in homes, and usually always go missing because they fall off and get kicked under God-knows-where. It probably happens to these letters too, come to think of it.
The bottom left photo is also a top favorite of mine. Something about the tilt of the Y and the shadow that it casts. Everything else is so artfully placed but that one. It is curious how it is holding on, what is keeping it attached? It looks as if it can just fly away at a sudden gust of wind.
I really enjoyed these compositions because not only were they different but they all have a common purpose. They all bring people together. They tell people what to do, where to meet and when. It’s a very special thing that not all signs have. Their human connection is what inspired me to create this chapter.
FOO D INDUS TRY
Isn’t it weird how every rest stop or highway exit looks almost exactly the same as the last one? You could go any place in America and take a picture, and I guarantee it will be almost identical to the last. Each would consist of a gas station or two, lots of signs, auto shops, and fast food restaurants. At least America is consistent and reliable.
A lot of these rest stops proably consist of marquee signs. Whether or not you actually notice them is the question. It was the first thing that I noticed when I got off the I-70 and entered Manhattan. They. Are. Everywhere. Manhattan definitely takes the win for the most Marquee signs.
I found that it was harder to hunt them down in Overland Park. There were a few restaurants and a few churches and what not, but they were hard to find. At one point I drove thirty something minutes to find one, and at that point I wasn’t sure if I was still in Overland Park, until I pulled up my maps. My unofficial hypothesis is that these signs only really appear in older areas. Like directly off the highway, or strips that are basically exclusively fast food chains. In Lawrence, I drove down 6th street and found four fast food restaurants in a row with Marquees. It is certainly interesting, don’t you think?
My favorite restaurant that I captured happens to also be my all time favorite photo. To the left—and on the cover—is a picture I took at Popeyes in North Overland Park. I love the colors in the photo and the way that the composition looks. It didn’t take long for me to notice that the W is actually an M upside down. I only noticed because I’ve repeatedly taken type classes where we study each letter...otherwise I would not have noticed. I’m sure the person designing the sign didn’t care to notice or care to change it, because despite the mistake, it still gets the job done.
HEJP WANT3D
As I sifted through my SD card—now filled entirely with Marquee signs—I started collecting a bunch of restaurants or businesses that are hiring new employees. This collection of pictures contained many “happy accidents” as Bob Ross would say.
The Arby’s sign on the top left was taken in Overland Park, KS. I took interest in this sign because of the numerous imperfections it has. The spacing is un even, and once again the W is actually an upside down M. The B is also upside down, which apparently is a very big mistake that Arby’s makes. On the back side of this same sign there are two other B’s that are flipped. It’s quite comical to visably see oblivion and carelessnes within something as simple as a sign.
On the other hand, these little imperfections are what made me admire the signs in the first place. Take a look at the sign on the bottom left, at the restaurant and bar in Manhattan, KS. I know I say I have a lot of favorites, but come on, this one takes the cake. Hands down. I don’t know for a fact, but I think they deliberately cut off the hook of the letter J to make an I. That alone takes some dedication.
Of course, everyone’s eye will automatically go to the “G” that is just hanging out. I can’t think of a good explanation for this. Perhaps wind? All I keep imagining is some kid jumping up and sliding it over. Who knows? It’s like an art piece in that sense. I could keep looking at it and try to find a deeper meaning or a story, and it can be different for every person.
Although, the stories behind “now hiring” signs are pretty straightforward. They don’t need further explanations.
The Burger King photo at the top left of the next page was one of the first pictures I took towards this project. It was the first picture where I realized how cool and unique marquees can be. (I think it’s safe to say I’m officially a Marquee nerd) It uses red lettering and then a number one to replace the letter I. I think everyone’s seen that before, beyond the marquees. I would try and make words out of numbers on the calculator during school, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, and I’m sure they weren’t all appropriate words for that matter.
On the right, I found two stacked marquee signs. These were like gold. The whole sign itself has so much going on with it. My favorite part about it is the different type sizes. It looks like they have two different kinds of letters mixed throughout, giving it the serial killer lettering look.
JNTO THE MELTlNG POT
Churches have created a different breed of advertising. Most that I have seen have some sort of saying about God or Jesus or the Holy Trinity. Sometimes they try and persuade you by saying “you are a sinner” or something along the lines of “you need Jesus”.
They are clever, I’ll admit. I don’t think they are always successful, or even make sense or would ever persuade me to actually attend the church. Though, some of them have been amusing. Not the laugh out loud amusing, but the kind where you exhale-a-littleharder-out-of-your-nose-and-roll-your-eyes kind of amusing. Even still. I found a few gems.
I will say, the churches all have their marquee signs together. They are not missing letters, full spelling, even spacing, and for the most part they are in overall great shape. However, the containers and the physical signs themselves are in rough shape, making it look pretty gross in appearance. They have yellowed plastic, the cloudy-headlight-looking glass, with rusted bolts around the edges and little bits of dirt that have snuck their way in and stuck onto the cracks.
I was surprised when I was driving by all the different kinds of churches. America is known for having diverse and religious freedoms, but the only churches that had any sort of signage were Catholic and Christian churches.
On another note, it’s interesting how more than half of the signs that I took are not even advertising for the church. Instead, they are statements. Usually these signs are used to give information, but in the churches case they are stating information at you. Which is a perfect metaphor of what churches do, in my opinion.
As I took pictures of each sign throughout my journey around Kansas. No one asked me what I was doing. I was sure people were staring and wondering what I was doing. For the most part, no one cared.
Except for when I took the picture to the left. It is located at a local church in Lawrence. I was just wrapping up with a few more photos, when a lady who lives near by the church walked up to me and interrogated me with crossed arms.
I explained the project I was doing and how I admired the sign. She uncrossed her arms and she smiled, and then invited me to the church. Then, we parted ways and I went to my car.
BOTTOM S U P
I always have found that bars and pubs have the most comical advertisements. There is so much creativity put into it and almost always they get a good reaction. People love it, and they know it.
Alcohol has been a prominent money maker in American society ever since the first settlers came over. Therefore, advertising for a beloved American tradition really has no limits.
Most of what I captured were pretty generic, and they advertised their sales or their latest specials. Other times, the business used a funny quote or gimmick about alcohol and alcohol consumption.
My favorite establishing shot (on the previous page) is an example of this quote. It’s pretty common quote that you may find on a college student’s wall decor, though I still thought it was clever. I also love this photo simply for the modern day renaissance artistry it has. There is so much going on in the photo it’s impossible not to be amused with it. To begin with there is the marquee. Then there are a bunch of people and little kids dressed in costumes, and then a car is being towed. I was so pleased to capture this shot.
To the left is a picture of O’Malley’s that I took in Manhattan, KS. It has a lot going on with it and I honestly don’t know the third line says. Once again, they used an M as a W. Then on the fourth line, they use a letter I as a lowercase L, and what I think is a faded E as an F? Oh, and I found Waldo.
To the right is my favorite restaurant ever, advertising their best selling product: Margaritas. This sign was the first (and only) serifed marquee sign I have seen.
While I was in Aggieville in Manhattan, KS, I noticed their main street has multiple Marquee signs in a row. On the top left, I captured the venue that I mentioned earlier and two bars in a row.
To the left, I thought it was interesting and clever how they used a cents sign as the letter C.