The good news last week was that one of the refurbished neon signs at still-operating Whiting Bros. station in Moriarty, New Mexico, was relighted to much fanfare.
The bad news was, because of technical problems, the second sign didn’t relight.
Here’s a video from the Mountain View Telegraph newspaper of the relighting. If the embedding doesn’t work right, you can skip to the 3:18 mark.
Roger Holden of RETRO Relive the Route said in an email about the second sign:
The sign was restored along with the long one and the lights worked at one time. It may be as simple as finding out which breaker turns it on.
Holden didn’t have an ETA of the second sign’s relighting, but indicated he didn’t think it’d take long.
The relighting of the signs was supposed to happen by summer, but the group delayed it until a family of barn owls that took up residence in one of the signs moved out.
An image of the refurbished signs by day:
RETRO Relive the Route received a $3,700 cost-share grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program to restore the signs. The group raised $1,500 through the sales of 150 specially made T-shirts.
The Whiting station in Moriarty has been operated by Sal Lucero since 1985, though the station dates to 1954.
Whiting Brothers started in 1926 and boasted more than 100 gas stations and several motels in the Southwest. The chain declined rapidly during the 1970s, mostly from stations being bypassed by the interstates. Ruins of several long-closed Whiting stations still stand, but the one in Moriarty remains the lone one still operating on the Mother Road.
(Top photo courtesy of Andy House of the New Mexico Route 66 Association)
I have an old, large very heavy metal two sided Whiting Bros sign with neon. Looking for a home for it, anyone interested?