The president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association reported parts of the neon sign for the Brookshire Motel in Tulsa were sold off piecemeal to a local collector, and the rest likely will be gone soon.
Rhys Martin on late Sunday passed along on Facebook the news he received:
I’ve been working with various groups for a long time to try and save what’s left of the Brookshire Motel in Tulsa, in whole or in part. Today, I received the disheartening news that their old neon sign was being dismantled after being sold off in a piecemeal fashion.
I drove by to see it for myself. The beautiful blue arrow and the red ‘No Vacancy’ sign are indeed gone. I’m sure the top part will be gone soon, too. I wish I knew more about the future of the sign. From what I’ve been told, it’s someone in the area that’s been trying to buy it for years. Persistence pays off, I suppose.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed for our fading roadside icons. If the owners can’t be persuaded to preserve them, one day they’re just gone.
Martin said he did not know who specifically was purchasing the sign parts, other than it being a local.
One commenter noted a treasure trove of old neon signs can be found at the Stokely Event Center in southeast Tulsa, though its owner isn’t the only such collector in town.
As has been noted before by Route 66 News, old neon signs have disappeared along the historic highway at an accelerating rate in recent years, with many of them being sold to collectors. A way to slow or stop such losses is landmarking ordinances, which face an uphill battle being enacted by municipalities because they butt up against property rights. A lengthy report about the issue can be found here in the wake of the disappearance of several Route 66 signs in New Mexico.
A fire damaged the main building of the closed and condemned Route 66 motel in February, but the Tulsa Route 66 Commission stated it wasn’t giving up on the property and remained hopeful of finding a new buyer. In March, Preservation Oklahoma put the Brookshire on its annual list of the state’s most endangered historic properties.
The Oklahoma Family Empowerment Center Project floated a proposal this summer to buy and redevelop the closed and fire-damaged Brookshire into a gift shop, sandwich shop, farmers market, offices and classrooms. As usual with such preservation projects, funding remained a significant hurdle.
According to Tulsa County property records, David Silver of Plano, Texas, bought the property from the Nathu Patel family living trust Nov. 8 for $70,000. The fair market value is $228,400.
Little is known about the Brookshire’s history, although its architecture indicates it likely was built in the 1940s.
(Image of the Brookshire Motel neon sign in Tulsa in 2005 by Tom Baddley via Flickr)