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Shopping Center Signs (page 2)

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Brentwood Center
Denver, CO		 University Hills Plaza
Denver, CO		 Firelite Shopping
Center [gone]
Orange, CT
The Brentwood Center shopping center was built around 1952. This photo is from 2012. By 2014, the neon had been replaced with backlit plastic letters. [map]

The University Hills Plaza shopping center was built in 1956. This sign is probably from then. In 2021, the sign's neon was replaced with LED tubing. For more, see this website. [map]

The Firelite Shopping Center was built around 1960 for a fireplace store at this location. It was adapted for the shopping center. In 2022, the sign was removed and destroyed.

More Colorado:
Ideal Broadway Shops (Boulder)
Garland Center (Northglenn)

More Connecticut:
Groton Shoppers Mart (Groton)
Hamden Plaza (Hamden)

Southgate Shopping Center
Lakeland, FL
The Southgate Shopping Center was built in 1957. It was preceded by the Northgate Shopping Center in Winter Park, FL which was built from 1955-1956. The Northgate started with just a single store, a Publix supermarket. To the right of the store, was a giant arch, similar to but predating the Gateway Arch in St. Louis by nearly 10 years. Vertical steel cables under the arch supported a giant, neon S&H Green Stamps sign. As other stores were added to the left of the Publix, a duplicate of this sign was added to the far left with a curved black, neon text panel reading "Northgate" and a digital time/temperature sign below it. In 2008, this shopping center was demolished and rebuilt. Both of these signs were demolished.

The Northgate and Southgate signs were both designed by Donovan Dean, a prominent and prolific Lakeland architect. Dean designed other Publix signs and buildings, including those for their headquarters. While the Northgate signs each had flat horizontal elements, the Southgate sign's arch was spanned by a "gullwing" element and an additional third "leg" at the back. The sign is 70 feet tall and weighs 67 tons. The Southgate sign was lit in three colors: the gullwing and "Shopping Center" in green, the arch above the gullwing in orange red, and the Southgate letters in white. The neon went out around 1999 and the sign was lit with spotlights. In 2019, the neon was replaced with 1,125 feet of programmable LED tubing. There are eight colors which can be used for holidays and special events. [map]

West Central
Shopping Center
St. Petersburg, FL		 Britton Plaza
Tampa, FL		 Apopka Plaza
Apopka, FL		 Southway Plaza
Titusville, FL
The two identical West Central Shopping Center signs, one at each entrance. They were installed in 1959. For more, see this website. [map]

The Britton Plaza shopping center was built in 1956. This sign is from then. A twin sign was built at the same time at Northgate Plaza in Tampa. For more, see this website. [map]

The Apopka Plaza shopping center was built in 1965. This sign appears to be from then. Around 2018, the neon was removed and the letters were replaced with backlit plastic. This same design was used for the Southway Plaza sign in Titusville. For more, see this website. [map]

The Southway Plaza shopping center was built in 1965 and this sign appears to be from then. [map]

Western Way Shopping Center
Orlando, FL
2009: 2021:
Western Way Shopping Center opened in 1955 and this sign is from then. The cowboy once had an animated lariat. For more, see this website. [map]

More Florida:
Westgate Shopping Center (Bradenton) [vintage; gone]
Jitney Jungle Shopping Center (Panama City) [vintage; gone]

Garden City Shopping Center
Garden City, GA		 Pines Shopping Center
Decatur, IL
The Garden City Shopping Center sign is probably from the 1950s. [map]

These photos of the Pines Shopping Center signs are from 2009. By 2010, the main sign was replaced with a new SAV-A-LOT sign. The entrance and exit signs still remain. They are probably from the 1950s. [map]

Towanda Plaza
Bloomington, IL
The Towanda Plaza was built in 1958. It was expanded in 1966 and this sign might be from then. For more, see this website. [map]

Northgate
Shopping Center
Aurora, IL		 Lombard Pines
Shopping Center [gone]
Lombard, IL		 Crawford Church Shopping Center [gone]
Skokie, IL
This Northgate Shopping Center was built from 1959-1960. The sign was built in 1960 and is about 65 feet tall. It features a giant "S" with starbursts on each end. The "S" is a reference to last name of Harry Stoner, the property owner at the time. The sign was restored by Federal Sign in 1986 and it was landmarked by the City in 1988. At that time, the letter blocks were still painted the original blue and the neon was operational. The "S" was lit in red, the starbursts in yellow, and "Northgate" was backlit in white. It is not known when the letters were painted green. The sign has been dark for decades. [map]

The Lombard Pines Shopping Center sign looked like it was built in the 1960s. This photo is from 2006. I'm pretty sure that this sign was gone by 2009.

The Crawford Church Shopping Center sign appears to be from the 1950s. This photo is from 2009. The sign was still there in 2012 but removed in 2015.

Cermak Plaza
Berwyn, IL
2009: 2012:
Cermak Plaza was built in 1956 and was one of the first shopping centers in the Chicago area. The sign shown above on the left and its twin went up around 1958. During the shopping center's renovation in 2012, the signs were deemed too far gone to refurbish. It would have cost twice as much to restore them as to replace them. Two new replica signs were built for about $80,000 each. They were built as close as possible to the originals. The signs are about thirty feet wide and feature sequentially lit bulb arrows and neon letters. Sometime around the 1980s, the neon letters were lit with orange tubing. During the restoration, the letters were returned to the original coral and aqua color scheme. For more, see this website.

Cermak Plaza also has two backlit plastic signs (see photo on the right above) which were installed in 2008. They were modeled after the neon signs. The signs' purpose is to provide a list of the shopping center's stores. Cermak Plaza is best known for the sculpture which was installed in the parking lot in 1989. "The Spindle" consisted of eight cars skewered on a 50-foot-tall spike. When the sculpture was demolished in 2008, the metal spike and the top two cars were saved by the Berwyn Arts Council. There is a possibility that they may be displayed somewhere in the future. [map]

More Illinois:
Beverly Woods Shopping Center (Chicago) [gone]
Scottsdale Shopping Center (Chicago) [gone]
La Grange Highlands Shopping Center (Countryside) [gone]
Pines Shopping Center (Decatur) [gone]

Gateway Plaza
Jeffersonville, IN
The Gateway Plaza shopping center sign is probably from the 1950s. [map]

Gage Center
Topeka, KS
2010: 2023:
The Gage Center shopping center was built in 1959. The peeling green paint revealed the original red paint underneath. The neon was gone by 2012. Around 2017, the sign was repainted white and blue. [map]

Brookwood
Shopping Center
Topeka, KS		 Edgemoor Plaza
Wichita, KS		 Wyandotte Plaza
Kansas City, KS
The Brookwood Shopping Center was built in 1959 and this sign is probably from then. [map]

The Edgemoor Plaza shopping center opened in 1954. For more, see this website. [map]

This Wyandotte Plaza shopping center was built in 1961 and this sign appears to be from then. The plastic panels at the bottom were added around 2014. For more, see this website. [map]

Kentucky:
Eastland Center (Louisville)
Hazelwood Shopping Center (Louisville)
Iroquois Manor Shopping Center (Louisville)

Shopping Center Signs
(page 1)		 Shopping Center Signs
(page 3)		 Shopping Center Signs
(page 4)		 Shopping Center Signs
(page 5)		 Main SCA Article
Companion Page		 Main Signs Page