When I first visited America nearly 20 years ago I was awestruck by the big, no, gigantic signs reaching high into the sky announcing hotels, restaurants, fast food places, shops and gas stations etc. It was so American. Everything was big. Big signs, highways, traffic lights, intersections, cars, big gulps and big flags.
The very tall signs, particularly, were so unique to America. It made America stand out. It was different and exciting. We videoed and photographed them and talked about them with enthusiasm and fervor. I remember being asked to speak at the Rotary Ann's evening about my experience in America when I returned to South Africa and I described this uniqueness. It resulted in 4 out of 15 ladies and their families visiting Orlando.
I have lived in Orlando for nearly seventeen years now and as the years have passed those big, tall visible signs are virtually no more.
A few days ago, when I was looking for a Burger King in an unfamiliar neighborhood in Orlando I couldn't find it because of the new short stumpy signs. These, so called, better looking signs are often hidden by parked trucks, low hanging tree branches or untrimmed bushes. Unlike the lofty, giant signs that could be seen blocks away by the motorist, these miniatures, by comparison, are mostly impossible to see until you are on top of them. Very irritating.
Granted, they may "tidy" up the neighborhood and look more "classy" if you will, but at the same time the neighborhood becomes ordinary and looks like any other in the world. The signs don't tower above the treetops in a good old fashioned American exceptional way.
I'm saddened that we have had to say goodbye to the more than life-size signs so unique to America.