How about this? Has anyone ever come across something they missed for years and fallen in love with it?
This past week, I noticed the Sunflower Motel on Glenwood. It consists of an older hotel-style building and a more traditional L-shaped motel structure, tightly packed on a small lot with a modest pool between the two. The office is located in the older building so since there's no office in the motel portion, I'm inclined to believe the two structures have always been linked to one another.
Here's the website (very rough... very old-school):
http://www.sunflowermotel.com/
What the website doesn't highlight is the awesome neon sign on the side of the motel building. It's vertically-oriented with a sunflower that "grows"- the lower part of the green stem appears, then the upper section, then finally the yellow sunflower itself. The neon is on both sides of the sign, and both sides are flawless.
I was shocked to come across this because the motel is a block from the boardwalk (and less than a block from where we have parked our cars for decades) and somehow I never noticed it, nor do I recall it ever being the topic of conversation in any previous forums. It's been hiding in plain sight all this time, or at least in my eyes (I suppose it's possible everyone else has always known about it).
Some more photos here on TripAdvisor, where it has a stunning number of good reviews (either the owners post five-star reviews every few days, or people actually love it):
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g46931-d1723958-Reviews-Sunflower_Motel-Wildwood_Cape_May_County_New_Jersey.html
For "new", I like the Wawa for some reason. I don't even shop at Wawa that much. Sometimes for milk or mozza sticks, but I like the design.
I had noticed their sign too! Im happy to hear that it's a good place as well. Found this pic on Flikr of the sign... https://www.flickr.com/photos/sethgaines/7244695446/
I only noticed The Sunflower after many years of going down also. It does look nice and well-kept. I also like the Surf Comber and The Fountain motels on Atlantic Ave., and The Sea Kist on Ocean (too bad about the destroyed view for that one). Then there's the little Sea Chest down in the Crest -- although now hidden deep in the valley of the shadows.
Cool idea for a thread. I will be on the lookout this summer for this one, and others. I recall last year seeing one that I never saw before and it didn't look pretty- The Pilgrims