The iconic sign for the former No-Tel Motel on Oracle Road has been returned after being taken late last week.
According to Jude Cook, owner of Cook & Company Sign Makers and founder of the Ignite Sign Art Museum, it was returned Friday morning.
“He thought he was saving them from demolition,” Cook said of the person who took the sign faces. “I’m pleased to have them back. No harm, no foul.”
The signage was taken from the site of the former motel at 2425 N. Oracle Road, which has been turned into a low-income senior housing complex.
Last Saturday, Cook and his crew went to pick up the sign from the property and move it to his museum where its history would live on.
“I will admit that it’s tacky, but it’s been here since I moved here in ’83 and it just seems like it’s part of Tucson that really deserved to be preserved,” Cook said.
However, when he and his crew arrived, its faces were already gone.
“I got ahold of the superintendent on the job and he said, ‘Well one of your guys came by yesterday and took the faces out.’ and I said, ‘None of my guys were scheduled over here yesterday,’” Cook said.