Mission Signs, Or Lack Thereof

Interesting raised relief street names at 26th and Mission:

It was the location of the former Tip Top Inn.

This is a cool building — I love the detail.  You can see it in this shot taken from Mission and Cesar Chavez (nee Army) in 1931 (it’s the one with the Redlick-Newman sign on top).

Since we’re talking about signs, Redlick Newman Furniture were the guys who made old the “17 Reasons” sign above 17th and Mission.

Why 17? Just some dudes trying to sell furniture. The Redlicks and the Newmans got in a feud and the Redlicks were trying to distract customers from the name change.

“My father developed this slogan after much study, asking everybody and their cousin,” he said. “He’d gotten the idea from Heinz 57 years back. They had 57 brands of food or pickles, whatever.”

The 17 did refer to the fact the store stood on the corner of 17th Street. But what were the reasons?

“People would ask what the 17 reasons were, and we would guff it off. There were no 17 reasons,” he said.

Tip Top Inn, gone.  In 2002, 17 Reasons replaced by a Miller Genuine Draft billboard.  (And Mr. Pickles, WTF?)  We seem to be losing all our cool signs.  No wonder Ribity and Girafa are so popular.