What was this sign made for?
4801 Central Avenue NE, Albuquerque NM, 87102
What…was this?
I’ve observed this strange sign for the past 14 years but could never figure out what is may have originally advertised. What was is made for?
It’s unique shapes are strange against the way it has been painted and used for advertising. At the top, a severely spiked arrow on the south side, with a half bell and speech bubble beneath it, and on the north side a rhombus with a point on the top left. This strange shape was once painted in orange and yellow, and later painted like the flag of Mexico, with one green, white and red column, which remains today. The businesses are advertised in a portrait-oriented rectangular light box, protruding from the sign about 6 inches. Their logos have been printed on a piece of lexan, or plexiglass or acrylic sheet.
What did it look like when it was originally made? I have yet to find any photos of it.
Street View into the Past
Using Google Street View I was able to go back to 2007, the earliest GSV available, to see what the business has advertised and how it has changed. Google Street View and other resources helped me to piece together a timeline:
2001 - 2006: Country Vittles
2006 - 2007 November: Don Yasmany Cuban Restaurant and Bakery (Weekly Alibi Review) (NMGastronome Review)
2007 - 2011 August: Guicho’s Mexican Restaurant (NMGastronome Review) (Yelp Reviews)
2011 October: Nothing
2011 November - 2015 April: Kasbah Tunisian, Moroccan and Greek Restaurant (NMGastronome Review) (Yelp Reviews)
2015 - 2020: Middle Eastern Food and Kebabs (NM Gastronome Review)
2021 - Present: Business in the building is Ballpark Motors, sign still says Middle Eastern Food and Kabobs
Zeon Files in the Center for Southwest Research
This week I went to the Center for Southwest Research in the main library at the University of New Mexico Library to look at the Zeon Files collection.
The Zeon Files were discovered by Ellen Babcock, Associate Professor of Art at UNM and Founding Director of Friends of the Orphan Signs, in the shop yard of Electrical Products New Mexico (Zeon Signs), around 2013. Boxes of old shop drawings from the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s were placed outside because the abundance of paper posed a fire hazard, and the drawings were not of any use to the shop anymore. Ellen asked if she could take the boxes away, and when she realized their historical importance she approached the CSWR about donating them to the collection.
When I met Ellen at the research room this week, she had a large folder full of sign drawings opened to one drawing in particular.
“What is this sign? I swear I’ve seen it before,” she said.
That’s it! I knew I recognized that unique shape. I looked up the details of the drawing in the CSWR Archives Online to cross-check the address.
Under Additional Description I found it:
Install Location: 4801 Central NE, Albuquerque, NM
I wanted to better understand what the sign might have looked like when it was originally made, so using the sign drawing as a template I built it out in Photoshop. You can find out a lot of interesting details about the signs on the shop drawings.
This drawing has a few interesting notes:
Gold Zeon (neon tubing) on 20” to 18” LTRS.
6’ x 7’ Plexiglas section interior illumination
Revision of Existing “Lionel’s Hamburgers” Sign.
This Stufy’s shop drawing is from 1970. But according to this sign maker’s notes on it, it was something else when it was originally made! The original Lionel’s Hamburgers sign was made—by Zeon—in 1959. This Stufy’s sign was a retrofit of a previous sign.
So the hunt continues to know what this sign was made for, and what it looked like in it’s original form.
I dug a little deeper and located that in the CSWR Archives Online here. Apparently the original drawing is in Oversize Folder #22. That will be the next place I look.
These days you will see a very different Stufy’s sign in town. This is an example of why the classic old signage was so special. Today’s sign printing materials, if a business owner has a south-facing sign and wants to make their signage with a limited budget, will not withstand the southwest’s intense sunlight for more than a few years.
