Logansport’s Old Style Inn used to have a great neon sign over its door. I was disappointed a few years ago to discover it had been removed.

Old Style Inn, Logansport

Hard telling how old this sign was, but it was a classic to be sure.

Old Style Inn, Logansport

I was pleased on my recent Logansport trip to find that the Old Style has a new sign in the neon style. It’s probably not actually neon — so many modern neon-like signs are actually flexible LED lighting. But it’s pretty well done.

Old Style Inn, Logansport

Margaret and I stopped here for dinner before we went home. Our server explained that the Old Style had formerly been just a bar. When it remodeled and became a bar/restaurant a few years ago, the owner felt new signage was in order. Here’s hoping the original sign was saved, and isn’t sitting in a landfill somewhere.

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Comments

13 responses to “New neon at the Old Style Inn”

  1. J P Cavanaugh Avatar

    My suspicion would be that you can charge more for “spirits” than you can for “liquor”.

    I wonder if the name was related to Old Style beer, but perhaps Logansport is too far from Chicagoland for that.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Have you ever noticed how the liquor store chains in Indy sell “fine spirits” up in the north suburbs? So I think your theory has merit.

      I do believe the bar’s name was related to Old Style Beer. The old bar had an Old Style Beer neon sign in the window.

  2. Heide Avatar
    Heide

    I join in you hoping they saved the old sign — it was a classic (especially the “Jonesy’s” part)! But it’s good at least that the bar itself is still a going concern; so many of these little places are disappearing among the big chains. Anyway … great image, and equally great story!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Logansport has had its share of disappearances. The old Whitehouse burger joint was just a couple blocks down the street before it closed a few years ago.

      https://blog.jimgrey.net/2014/08/25/goodbye-whitehouse-restaurant/

      1. Heide Avatar
        Heide

        Ah, of course … I should have known this was one of the holdouts. Sigh.

  3. Nancy Stewart Avatar
    Nancy Stewart

    I guess it does look better with the new awning, and as stated above, it’s good that the business is still going, but it would have been nice to see the old sign incorporated into the new design somehow. Those lettuce wraps sound good.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I agree. I don’t fully understand why the old sign had to go.

      The Old Style has a good menu and our dinners were very well prepared. So do stop in next time you’re out that way!

  4. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    I always hate to see on old neon go, I hope too it’s not in the landfill…BUT, always a lover of the “girl in a champagne glass” motif!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Is that what that is? Holy cow, yes, that’s what that is! I didn’t recognize it in the neon, but it’s clear as day on the awning.

  5. Dan Cluley Avatar
    Dan Cluley

    Nice work getting the exposures right for the building and the sign, that can be tricky,

    The tallest building in Lansing has a red neon clock. They redid it with LEDs last year and I was pleasantly surprised how well it matches the look of the old tubes.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I credit my camera for that good exposure: I walked up, turned it on, composed, and pressed the button.

      LED tubes really do look like neon when lit. It’s amazing.

  6. M.B. Henry Avatar

    I hope they saved the old one. It would be a shame to toss something like that out. But here’s to success for the new one!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Someday it too will be the old sign!

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