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Rexall Drugs
Video

Remembering Rexall

When I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s almost every town big and small had at least one Rexall Drug Store. The bright orange and blue signs were hard to miss.

The small town where I spent most of my youth, Quincy, IL had 4 Rexall stores that I can remember. Three of them were known as Brown’s Rexall and the one in the big shopping center on the edge of town (that one day was made into and enclosed mall) was called Key Rexall.

Over the years we spent a lot of time at the Rexall refilling prescriptions, and buying the necessities like aspirin, shampoo and Rexall’s famous Hot Lemon Cold & Flu Remedy.

But my fondest Rexall memory, was the yearly visit from the Duncan Yo-Yo Demonstration Team. I rarely missed their visits to the Key Rexall, and still have a few of my Duncan Imperial and Butterfly yo-yo’s tucked away.

Sadly, due to a hostile corporate takeover most Rexall’s faded away in the mid 1980’s. And while many of the drugstores stayed open, they were no longer affiliated with Rexall, and it wasn’t quite the same.

These days as I travel throughout the south I’m amazed by the fact that you can still see a Rexall sign from time to time. Most of the drugstores are sadly long gone, but I’m thrilled that other people still share my fondness for those old Rexall signs.

Many of these signs lost their neon years ago, but I can tell that folks like me just aren’t ready to part with the memories of their hometown drugstore. I’ve compiled a short video to share some of the signs I’ve recently found in my travels across Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. Some are still lit, but sadly most are just holding on…

The soundtrack for this trip down memory lane is: “Water Droplets on the River” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The History Of Memphis

Advance Rubber Stamps

For as long as I can remember I’ve had a love for neon signs. Sadly, they are becoming more rare. They’re expensive to maintain and repair, and aren’t the most ecologically friendly option for signage.

Over the last year or two I’ve been seeking out all the neon signs I can find and taking photographs of them for my Instagram. I wish I could say it was part of some save the neon campaign, but it’s not. It’s just a passion I’ve found that I share with many other Instagrammers.

Over the Labor Day weekend I was in Memphis on business and found some time to take a few pictures. One of my favorites from the weekend was a picture of the neon sign that once advertised Advance Rubber Stamps. I caught the picture just before sunset, and using a couple of filters got a great shot.

Advance Rubber Stamps

Sadly from what I can tell, Advance Rubber Stamps went out of business a couple of years a ago so I wasn’t able to actually see the sign light up. Fortunately I have some VERY creative friends and we were able to get some sort of idea what the rubber stamp might have looked like a lit up….

Advance Rubber Stamp

My dear friend Randy from Silvertone World, one of the two men who taught me about computers back in the day put this together. It’s not the real thing, but it’s a great simulation!

Truth In Advertising

For a few years back in the late 1980’s, I lived in Huntsville, AL.  To say it was an interesting few years would be an understatement.  While Huntsville is home to the world famous Space and Rocket Center (Home of Space Camp), and at the time had the third highest number of PhD’s per capita, it was also a city where you could still see a George Wallace for President bumper sticker nearly 15 years after he had last run for the office.

Now this post isn’t actually about Huntsville, but a unique place close by.  The reason I reference Huntsville, is because one of the things that I remember about living there, was hearing stories from some of my co-workers about a gentleman’s club up the road that they used to spend “frequent” time visiting.  I’m not a big fan of gentleman’s clubs (or strip clubs if you prefer).  Sure, I’ve been to a couple over the years, but it was usually for a bachelor party, or I was dragged to one with a bunch of people.  I don’t personally, have any issues with them, they’re just not my thing.

But the one gentleman’s club that my Huntsville friends always had stories about truly had one of the most memorable names; the Boobie Bungalow! The Bungalow (as they called it in mixed company) wasn’t actually located in Huntsville, it was situated about 25 miles north of town on the Tennessee side of the Alabama/Tennessee border in what I think is technically Elkton, TN.

Exotic Dancing Show Girls

I hadn’t actually heard about, let alone thought about the Boobie Bungalow for years. But recently, my wife and I were heading south on Interstate 65 and lo and behold, off in the distance just off Exit 6 was the bright yellow and red sign. The Boobie Bungalow was still around! I had to stop and take a couple of pictures (outside of course).

I had seen the signs before, back in the days when I was making frequent trips from Huntsville to Nashville; never once being curious enough to stop. But this time I had to. I had to stop long enough to snap a couple of pictures of this southern entertainment legend.

Gentleman's Club Go-Go Girls

We were passing through about 4:30pm on a Saturday, and from the looks of things, they were probably getting ready to open at 5. Both the signs and the building itself, looked a little worn, and probably would benefit from a new coat of paint, but it made me chuckle to think that “the Bungalow” was still there after all these years. I asked the wife is she wanted to stop in for a drink, but she passed. I’m not surprised.

If you’re ever in the neighborhood and stop by, let me know how you enjoyed yourself. Or at least share the details you can. You can’t miss the Boobie Bunglaow. It’s the first building just past the giant chicken.

Oh, the giant chicken? That’s a story for next time!

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Only In The South

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words….

Call Billy Bob Cheep Cheep
Call Billy Bob Cheep Cheep


Recently, I was driving down Lebanon Pike in Mount Juliet, TN when I passed a little strip shopping center that I’ve passed by hundreds of times. But this time the signs above the doors of a couple of the unoccupied shops caught my eye.

I’m just glad that I had my camera with me, because you probably wouldn’t have believed me if I’d just told you what the signs read. I’m sure that it’s a joke. At least I hope it is!

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Larger Than Life #2

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Today we have update to our ongoing series of picture posts that look at some of my favorite attractions and oddities across America.  If you missed my first Larger Than Life picture post, you can check it out right here.

Today, we’ve got a look at what could be considered a cousin to our first oddity, Mr Bendo.  Actually, if you’re a fan of these kind of oddities, you might know them as kin to the “Muffler Men”.

Muffler Men are these giant statues that were created in the late 60’s to early 70’s and were used as promotional tools for a variety of businesses all across the US.  Many of the Muffler Men are long gone, and the ones that still exist have morphed into a wide variety of similar giants.

Both Mr Bendo and today’s “Larger Than Life” statue are considered part of the Muffler Men family to those in the know.  But if you’ve ever traveled through Tennessee on Interstate 65, you might have encountered this giant and not known the Muffler Man connection.  Today we focus our spotlight on a giant that we call the Cross Plains Indian.

Unlike Mr Bendo, this statue doesn’t have an official name, but since he’s located in Cross Plains, TN it sort of makes sense to call him that.  The Cross Plains Indian is located at the Sad Sam’s Fireworks Outlet (and BP Gas Station) just off Interstate-65 Exit 112.  This exit is second exit before (or after) the Kentucky border depending on which way you’re travelling on I-65.

From what I’ve been able to find on the internet, the Indian used to be located across the road at the Red River Antiques Mall.  It closed down a couple of years ago, but fortunately the folks at Sad Sam’s valued him as much as his fans, and he was moved across the road.

He was down for awhile after he was damaged in a severe storm.  The repairs even included replacing one of his arms which had been stolen.  Once he was repaired, he was given a fresh coat of paint and now looks great!

Some people online also mention a Loco Joe’s Fireworks stand that he may have been a part of, but I don’t know if they were confusing that with Sad Sam’s, or that perhaps another fireworks seller was once in the area.

Every time I travel North out of Nashville on I-65, I always make sure to check him out as I head his way…. The Cross Plains Indian:

The Muffler Man The Muffler Man

The Muffler Man