2005jan27. Cora’s Coffee Shoppe sign. Santa Monica. My most favoritest sign in recent history. I mean, other than the “Shoppe” bit. I mean, the word “Shoppe” not the neon “Shoppe.” The way that I get around this disconnect is to look at the signs upside-down. Then, after I take a photo of them upside-down, I flip them in [generic image-editing program].
Sit in the driveway for eight hours, patiently, patiently ... PRESTO!
Cora’s has been around for 67 years, and according to one worker, the sign has been on all that time. Day, night. There’s a web document floating around that indicates the Santa Monica City Council has declared this sign (and several others) to be “meritorious” which means something like “oh, be so very glad your local government hasn’t decided to zone it out of existence.” Three cheers for government!