Don Juan's Mexican Restaurant, Casper Wyoming

Casper has seen some murals enter its downtown space recently and this is a nice example.  Don Juan's Mexican Restaurant, which has been in this location now long enough to be regarded as a Casper staple, had this very nice mural depicting scenes of Mexican rural life painted.

This mural is just across the street from the Women of Wyoming mural added last yeaer, which depicts a contemporary Native American woman, and just down the block from Jacob Reeb mural, so some of the diversity of Wyoming is being added through these depictions.

 

Tumble Inn, Powder River, Wyoming.

 

As this institution is in the news, and as I knew I'd taken these photographs, I looked to see if I had posted them.

Of course, I had not.

The Tumble Inn was a famous eatery and watering hole in the small town of Powder River for decades.  As odd as it seems now, particularly as it would have been practically impossible to leave the establishment without having had at least a couple of beers, it was very popular for travelers and people in Casper, who'd drive the nearly 30 miles for dinner and then drive back.

Open well into the unincorporated town's decline, in its final years the restaurant, which had rattlesnake and Rocky Mountain Oysters on the menu, closed under new ownership and in its final stage was an alcohol-free strip club.   Apparently it recent sold and the new owner has taken down its famous sign in an effort to preserve it.

On that sign, I don't know how old it is, but from the appearances, it dates from the 40s or 50s.

The recent news article:

Powder River’s Iconic Tumble Inn Neon Cowboy Hasn’t Blown Over, It’s Being Restored

West of Surrender, Denver Colorado.

 

From a bar and grill, West of Surrender, in downtown Denver.

The Bars of Baker Montana

The Corner Bar in Baker Montana.

This is a little off topic for here, as these aren't really examples of painted signs on buildings, but they are interesting in context.  These are bars on the main street of Baker Montana.

 Heiser's Bar in Baker Montana.

Baker is a town in far eastern Montana, nearly in North Dakota.  It's a long ways to Baker from everywhere and as a result its managed to retain the classic bar/grill/restaurant in strength that so many places have lost.  It's likely too far away for chains to locate in and therefore the old establishments keep on keeping on.

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Related posts:  Lex Anteinternet: Is Beer the Most Distributist Product Ever? It would appear so.

The Gaslight Social Club, Casper Wyoming, at night.

One of several new eating and drinking establishments in Casper Wyoming, the Gaslight Social Club occupies what had originally been the American Nuclear building, and thereafter part of the Houston Plumbing Supply Company, at which time its upper floor was converted into an apartment, one of the very first older buildings in Casper to see such a conversion.

The interior of the building features Prohibition Era speakeasy murals.

Urban Bottle, (Pacific Fruit Warehouse), Casper Wyoming

This is the old Pacific Fruit Warehouse which as been remodeled as Rocca's Sicilian restaurant and Urban Bottle, a liquor store.  Urban Bottle features a new painted sign resembling those that were common in southern Europe, with that look no doubt being intentional.

View House, Denver Colrado

The sign for the View House cites it was established in 1915.  I don't otherwise know anything about it, other than that it's right across from Coors Field.

Bar, downtown Denver

Not sure of the name, but its next to Wax Tracks in Denver Colorado.  An example of a contemporary bar mural, advertising Pabst Blue Ribbon.  This place obviously also offers pizza.

Pepsi Cola sign and The Dutch Mill sign, Champa Street Denver Colorado.

Sometimes the photos are just bad.  The nature of snapshots, I guess.

Pepsi sign and The Dutch Mill sign, Champa Street, downtown Denver.

Silver Dollar Bar & Grill, Cody Wyoming

The Silver Dollar Bar & Grill in  Cody Wyomign, which features a painting of Buffalo Bill Cody on its side.

GB Fish and Chips, Denver Colorado

I've passed by this location a million times, and have looked at this strangely compelling and simultaneously repulsive mural every time. 

This is the mural on the side of GB Fish and Chips on Colfax Avenue in Denver. The apparently well regarded chain of local fish and chips shops features giant flags from the United Kingdom in all of their several locations, apparently.  This particular mural also has three figures on the Union Jack, one of whom can't been seen in this photo taken from the back window of my pickup truck.  It's probable that all three depict actual people, with the one on the right in boxing shorts, and all three of whom are wearing boxing gloves and bloodied.  The middle figure in the top hat is Winston Churchill.

I find this mural impossible not to look at, but also very odd.

Tripeny Building, Casper Wyoming

The building on the right, with the "Sanford's" sign, is the Tripeny Building. The Sanford's sign is covering the Tripeny name on the masonry, but it is there.  The tile work at the entry way, however, remains.

The Tripeny Building was built as an pharmacy, but the store was much more than that.  Still in operation when I was young, the store had a substantial jewelry counter and an old fashion soda fountain.  It was a neat place.  I can distinctly recall the juke box and a very old arcade game the store had in which the player attempted to shoot down bombers passing over a city.

After the death of the proprietor the store ceased operations and then became Giansanti's Pizzeria, a restaurant well remembered by Casperites of a certain age.  When Giansanti's ultimately closed, the location became the home of the Casper expression of Anthony's, a restaurant that had started in Jackson Wyoming (it can be seen, getting busted up, in the not so great movie Any Which Way But Loose).  Again, for Casperites, Anthony's was the Casper, not the Jackson, location, event  though they were both excellent.  The restaurant was always very popular and had a huge lunch crowd, but as with all restaurants, it too eventually closed.  Since that time, the building has been occupied by Sanford's, a regional restaurant chain that originated in Gillette with a restaurant called Humphrey's there, and which has expanded throughout the state.

Sanford's uses a style which involves featuring a lot of stuff in and outside of the restaurant in a manner that's clearly intended to recall the 1970s television show Sandford & Son.  For those who need a bit more of a clue, the menu titles provide it.  At this location it was involved in a bit of a spat with the city of Casper over an effort to convert its liquor license to a specialized cheaper variety intended only for restaurants, but the city gave it a bit of a bad time about that, resulting in the "$1 Pint" program, which must have been popular, as it continues on.  In spite of the big restaurant sign and the pint banner, observers can still pick up the details of the building if they look closely.

I'm not sure of this buildings age but I believe that it dates to the 1920s

Svilar's, Hudson Wyoming

 

 

This is the building housing the legendary Svilar's Restaurant in Hudson, Wyoming. Svilars is a first rate restaurant, and at one time the small town of Hudson housed Wyoming's two highest rated restaurants, this one, and another one owned by the same family which was located across the street.

This restaurant has been in business for many years and I don't know what this building was originally used for. Today it has a restaurant scene on one side.  On the other there's a remnant of a sign for a baseball game in Hudson, but when the game, or games, were played, I have no idea.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Denver Colorado

This is an usual modern example of a painted building logo, this one located on the roof of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in Denver, Colorado. Bubba Gump's is a chain, but I doubt all have this feature. This painted logo, viewed here upside down as viewed from the Embassy Suites, is painted so that the logo is visible from the hotel across the street.

This was photographed on a snowy day, so the logo is not entirely clear.

Virgin Mary Mural in Salt Lake City

I'll admit that this is a bit unusual for this page, but this is a spectacular mural of the Virgin Mary in downtown Salt Lake City. These photos, taken on my cell phone, do not do it justice in any sense.

This building serves as an art gallery and a pizzeria.