Welcome to West, Texas. In West Texas? Wikipedia: "Despite its name, the city is not located within the region of West Texas; area residents sometimes call the community "West comma Texas" to avoid repetition."

Also: "As of 2012 it has one of the largest concentrations of Czech Texans of any city in the state." Hmm? I had no idea:

Czech Texans, often informally called Czexans, are residents of the state of Texas who are of Czech ancestry. Large scale Czech immigration to Texas began after the Revolutions of 1848 changed the political climate in Central Europe, and after a brief interruption during the U.S. Civil War, continued until the First World War. Concentrated in Central Texas, Czech Texans have preserved their identity through the Czexan style of music, the Painted Churches of Texas, regular Czech dances and festivals, bakeries specializing in Czech pastries, and Czech and Czexan fusion cuisine.

Czexans. I like that.

1869 Coffee was a Texas brand, perhaps - there’s a restored sign in Waco that touts the brand. I found an online store that sells an enamel sign - a reproduction - that credits the Shear Coffee Co. of Waco.

Three for three, occupancy-wise; not bad.

Weathered remnants of previous occupants. Inscrutable now.

It’s a small town; don’t know how much museum they need.

But it’s good that they’re proud enough to have one.

I defy anyone to tease the name out of that mess.

You see it below, which might be why they don’t fix the sign.

Next door, the sign’s in fine shape.

Gawd.

Underneath that dreadful “Tudor” rehab and the ugly mansard-shingle mushroom cap, there’s probably an old bank building.

Nothing says “Mexican food” like the A-frame Swiss Chalet style

You never see Moorish facades like this anymore. Few were built and most are gone.

This one’s in bad shape.

OUMB, but it could be worse.

The late 60s - early 70s broad arcade with the tell-tale arches of the post-baroque modernism. It’s scarcity-era architecture.

I see a sign like that, and I think “It belongs in a museum!” Except that it doesn’t. It belongs on the street, lighting up the night.

When you put the neon signs in museums, they seem like sad animals in a zoo.

I know, I know, it looks like a skull that had its jaw blown off, but that was the original style for auto-related buildings.

Nothing to recommend it, except for the faint traces of an old sign.

Nothing to recommend it either, except for the strong remainders of an old sign and a previous purpose.

And that, as Matt Dillon used to say, was the West.