An article this week in the The State Journal-Register answers one question in the wake of the demolition of the Bel-Air Motel in Springfield, Illinois — what will happen to the neon signs?
The short answer: They’ve been acquired by two local residents, where they likely will be restored.
Retired Springfield businessman Ron Metzger and local commercial real-estate specialist Ron Skeeters purchased two large Bel-Aire Motel signs, including one that had to be taken from the roof with heavy construction equipment.
Metzger said the partners planned to restore, and possibly sell, the signs.
“I looked at it every day when I’d go by there,” said Metzger, who noted that the Bel-Aire was a part of Springfield motel history.
“I just wouldn’t want to see them taken out of Springfield,” said Metzger.
I snapped the photo above of the signs a couple of weeks ago after they were taken down amid the demolition.
The Bel-Aire’s sputnik sign was acquired by a local sign company. It will be restored and displayed in its sign museum.
About the only thing left of the motel is a fountain in the shape of a seal that sits in the former parking lot. The president of a local neighborhood association and the newspaper tried unsuccessfully to contact the property owners to determine the seal’s fate.
The long-troubled Bel-Aire Motel, built along Route 66 during the early 1950s, was torn down by the city this summer after hundreds of code violations. The city a few years ago proposed buying the property and converting it into a Route 66 tourism center or museum but lacked the money.
I always loved the old mom & pop motels along the Illinois route. Most of the old route still looks the same as it did in the 50’s. Sadly, most of them are slowly disappearing.