In this age of vinyl banners and computer-cut lettering, classic hand-painted metal signs are rusting away, their neon shattering. Endangered Architecture uses technology to re-create yesterday's signs. Signs of Tucson refrigerator magnets are computer-illustrated, laser-cut sign miniatures. You can see and buy them in the online store, at Bohemia in the Lost Barrio on South Park Avenue, Old Town Artisans downtown, or visit the gift shops at the Tucson Museum of Art or the Los Angeles Museum of Neon Art.

Signs joined the Endangered Architecture repertoire quite unexpectedly. In the summer of 2002, I took several photos of the Tucson Warehouse and Transfer Company building as a reference for the first Endangered Architecture model facade. Atop the building is a prime example of the sort of neon sign they just don't make any more... except maybe in Vegas. Its size, neon, chaser lights, and a well-rendered Mayflower moving truck make this sign a Tucson landmark.

Several days later, in a windy monsoon, the top half of the truck vanished. I suppose it's on the roof now. Looking back at my photos, you can clearly see the rusty seam that failed.

My resolve to capture the building and its sign in model form was cemented that day, and I got to thinking about other classic signs of Tucson, such as the one for Vince's Italian Restaurant. One day several years ago it was felled like a tree. Someone rescued it, and Vince stands again, for now, in a lot on North Main Avenue, serving up pizza on one side, and spaghetti on the other.