GOLDENROD MOTEL, Huntsville AL
   
 

If that sign falls in the pool, it’s going to electrocute everyone.

Seems rather insubstantial, but it did the trick; no doubt which way the Goldenrod laid. The lights, I’ll bet, scrolled around and rolled into the arrow. The card said the Goldenrod had “Telephones” and “Television” – which could suggest that each room had a phone but the entire motel had but one TV, and it was in the manager’s office, and no, you can’t watch it on account’a the game’s on. Huntsville's finest? Perhaps not, but any sign with an udder that says TV is okay by me.

Finding the place today was no small feat, since the internet is full of conflicting addresses. But a story about a pioneering Huntsville Mexican restaurant, El Palacio - the favorite of Werner Von Braun! - said that the original was bulit on the site of the Goldenrod at 2008 S. Memorial Parkway, and sure enough: move the Google Map around to the right . . . and there it is. Or was.