The neon sign of the Western Capri Motel in southwest Tulsa was replaced last week with a less interesting sign, I discovered Wednesday.
The motel is on the Skelly Drive alignment of Route 66, near Interstate 44 / Oklahoma 66.
I talked to Dara, who was working the front desk of the motel. I asked why the sign was replaced. She replied: “I didn’t work good … it was too expensive to fix.”
I asked what happened to the old sign. She shrugged and said, “I think they put it in the garbage.” She didn’t seem certain, however. She didn’t remember the sign company that took down the old sign and replaced it, either.
I figured the old sign dated to the 1960s. But according to an obscure reference I found, it appears it dates to at least the 1950s.
Below is a photo I took of the new sign.
Sigh.
Oh, I hate to hear that cool, old signs are taken down. Particularly neon signs. Ohhhh.
Hello we here at the Muscle Car Ranch would like to have it and preserve the sign as well as put it up, with all of the other motel signs here and numerous are from Route 66, if any one would find out a contact or have info mail me a line or two, visit http://www.musclecarranch.com, thanks Curtis Hart