A few months ago, we tracked down who had painted hundreds, perhaps thousands of distinctive signs along the Route 66 corridor from the western Texas Panhandle to eastern New Mexico. It was Rudolph Gonzales, who has crafted his work along the Mother Road since the mid-1950s and is one of the last to do so by hand in the computer age.
Last weekend, Emily and I met Gonzales for the first time. Part of the reason for our visit was to see what he and his one-man shop, Signs by Rudy in Tucumcari, N.M., were like. But we also were there on business.
Gonzales’ business sits in the northeast edge of Tucumcari, on an old dead-end alignment of U.S. 54. A sign on one side of his building bears his lettering style.
Inside, after being greeted by the affable Gonzales, you seen a number of mock-ups and drawings for his clients.
One of those clients is the classic Palomino Motel in town, which is getting a new advertising sign.
Also scattered about Gonzales’ shop are a few of his paintings. He says he’s “too much of a perfectionist” to think they are worthy of sale. One of paintings he displayed he’s been dabbling with since 2003, trying to get the sunset colors just right.
Gonzales also mentioned that he makes violins on the side. Here, he shows a violin that’s all but finished except for the varnish.
I asked him whether he played the instrument. He replied, “A little,” and proceeded to do this …
If you don’t know the melody, it’s “Faded Love” by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. It is the official country-and-western song of Oklahoma, and has pretty much become an American standard.
A young Bob Wills met Gonzales’ father many years ago at his barbershop in Roy, N.M. Wills heard that the elder Gonzales was a good fiddler, and encouraged him to join a band. Gonzales said his father nearly kicked the persistent Wills out of the shop because “he didn’t think a gringo could play” — that is, until Wills started sawing with that bow. Wills spent the early days of his music career playing around New Mexico, and learned how to play in front of varying audiences.
Gonzales also showed a few photographs of what he considered his best work, including this Dairy Queen billboard.
There also were old photos of sign-painting colleagues and of himself, including this image from the 1970s.
Gonzales sat down at his bench and showed his lettering technique, using a mahl stick to steady and guide his hand.
He said being left-handed gives him a distinctive style and helps him make letters quickly, especially italics.
Gonzales said it took him less than a year to master lettering when he started in the sign business at age 20. But he said it took him many more years to become adept at composition, with the spacing between the letters and words. He said that’s where many sign companies, despite their high-tech computers, fail their clients because they’ve never mastered composition.
Back to business. Emily commissioned this decorative sign from Signs by Rudy for Route 66 News:
Despite being one of the last of the hand-lettered signmakers, Gonzales acknowledged he’ll probably learn to use a computer soon. That’s because he wants to write a book about the history of the sign business as he experienced it, and he admits such a book will have to be laid out on a computer.
And Gonzales inferred that he might as well learn something new with a computer. “I figure I’ll be around 10 to 20 more years to cause trouble,” he grinned.
Ron,
It’s heartwarming to see genuine craftsmen plying their trade in this era of computerization. Like wood carving, neon bending etc.,sign painting by hand is a skill that will soon vanish.
Beautiful work – I wish I had his talent!
Wow. Great story … and love that he played a song for us. Thanks!
Cheers and good form my friend, I’m glad you guys finally got a one of kind Sign by Rudy! He is definately an original. Doug and Sharon are back in town now too, have opened an Art Gallery right on Route 66 and Doug’s also been doing some sign painting by hand. We are very fortunate to have some original artisans in our community. If you haven’t seen his work, give me a heads up next time, and we can get you out Wolfgang Bauhms as well, where you can see some of his one of a kind handmade Teardrop Trailers he builds, there’s all kinds of interesting craftsmen in our area! He’s got an awesome one he’s been working on, that is Nautalus (Captain Nemo) themed and an old Studebaker sitting outside his shop… Tucumcari has a veritable treasure trove of artisans and crafts people, still working their trades today.
That’s my uncle! Thank you so much for showcasing his unique talent and personality.
Tio Rudy, what a character to silently keep working at his passion through out his lifetime. His persistance enables him to live his life on his terms. He is so dedicated to his craft. All my respect to you!
Rudy is also my uncle. It is great to see you sharing his talents with all. His talents are truly unique and being lost to technology.
RT: I’ve long thought Tucumcari could capitalize on its plethora of fading motels by buying them up, bringing them up to code, and then holding a juried art show in which artists from around the country were invited to decorate a room in the most creative manner they could think of. A project like that would get enormous publicity, and the rooms would become an instant tourist draw. Plus, I’m sure the city could buy the motels for a song and sell them at a tidy profit once the artists’ work was done. It would take some creativity and effort to put it together, but I think the payoff would be tremendous and would help establish Tucumcari’s reputation as an artists’ enclave.
That’s a very interesting idea, and one we will definately share with those that have the talents! This spring a “Facade Squad” is slated to start with painting some of the buildings on both Main Street and Route 66, which we hope will be successful and continue to grow? On the City’s side, it will take patience at this point, as they are grappling with budget woes, shortfalls, tax hikes and raised utility rates, much like the state itself. Hopefully we’ll have a strong Spring and Summer season this year, to offset some of their financial challenges, and then maybe we could look forward to some purchases the next year? There’s not many songs left though, that aren’t without their structural challenges. The Pony Soldier never sold, because they wanted upwards of $400K, otherwise it would have made a great turn-around property. Main Street has some other exciting projects in the works at the moment though, and if they pull through on them this Spring, there will be something new (shhh – but old) and exciting to report from Tucumcari. The Chamber’s back in full force with their efforts as well now, and with continued grass roots small business development on Route 66, we may be on the mend for now? While we will likely still loose a few more old treasures along the way, we remain optimistic and focused on the ones already in the improvement process, and continued efforts to save them one by one with long term committments. This Spring alone, there will be no less than 4 new Route 66 businesses, and 1 old one going through a remodel. One by one, slow and steady, everyone is starting to pull in a common direction and make a difference…
Great story, thanks!