I Would See This And Wonder

THIS SIGN TOOK ME OTHER PLACES...

The first time I recall seeing this sign it was the early 60's and I was heading up Reseda Blvd. in Reseda in the back seat of our '51 Chevy Belair...

Dad was driving and Mom was shotgun...

I peered out the window as we drove by a saloon that had a rustic look..

It was a bar and restaurant...

Today I have no recollection what the name of the place was...

I NEVER went there, but I could imagine what it was like inside... 

I pictured lots of wood, like in a mountain cabin with a long dark bar 

and a dinning room on the side with plenty of American fare on the menu...

But the most important thing was what they offered
outside on that sign...COLOR TV

Yes, this was when there were few COLOR sets anywhere..

It would be a few years later when I got to see 

and learn more about COLOR TV 

at the RCA exhibit at the New York World's Fair in 1964...

Back in that year  (1962) 

I went across the street from my home in Northridge 

and watched "Bonanza" for the first time 

in COLOR on the neighbor's set...

Also saw a show I will always recall with a slate of stars...

It was called "Empire" and it was an early type version of "Dallas"...

Here is a clip of the opening in B&W 

but it WAS broadcast in living COLOR back then...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFybiaBMgIU

Big ranch, lots of strife...that sort of thing...

Richard Egan was the lead along with the family patriarch, 

Anne Seymour...

Here's another clip of the show in COLOR......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIW6xIDSdS0 

Also in the cast was a baby faced Ryan O'Neal, Terry Moore, and a young Charles Bronson...

It featured lots of outdoor settings from their New Mexico location that looked dynamite on the image orthicon tube...

Since those days I have seen that sign in front of motels, bars, restaurants 

and other places where folks gather...

Even today you can still spy one or two here and there...

Little did I know that I would enter the world of COLOR TV later in my career by working at TV stations and Cable TV operations selling advertising on the good old COLOR TV...

Funny how one little moment can mean 

so much more in your life in later years...

I'd like to find one of those signs and hang it on the wall...

It has meant so much to me...So much...