Image from Google Maps Street View

I grew up just a mile from the Starlite Motel, which sported one of the classic vintage motel signs in the Valley of the Sun. The motel itself was pretty ghetto, but its sign quickly cemented itself into my emotional memory bank. I haven’t been back to that intersection in years and years, but I still fondly remember that neon sign. Earlier this week, Arizona Highways posted an article about the sign and the role it played in a father-son relationship.

Dad and I watched the diving girl sail down from the neon sign into water of wavy, blue neon. Over and over again, her blonde hair, tan body, and green one-piece swimsuit would light up at the top of the sign like a 1950s Jantzen ad. She would first appear gracefully folded at the waist, blink out, light up again straight as an arrow, blink out, and then reappear splashing into neon water with perfectly pointed fingertips.

Sure, we probably both fantasized of the sign artist’s curvaceous model, but it was the handcrafted bending of neon tubes, the engineering of the sheet metal, and the electrician’s circuitry that held something far deeper for us.

The beacon for the Starlite Motel soared above old U.S. Highway 60 in Mesa, the once-popular route to Phoenix, now bypassed by the freeway system. I remember on that warm evening, back in 1992, how I pointed out the sign painter’s brush strokes in the diving girl’s weathering patina. Dad talked about the sequencing of lights and the work in the vertical stack of big, block-letters spelling “MOTEL,” the reason for the eye-catching marvel of engineering in the first place.

I remember hearing that the sign had been damaged and I’m glad to hear that the sign is being restored—and I hope to get back there soon to see her diving once again.

If you haven’t already checked out a Culture Pass, you need to. They’re available for “check-out” from your local Phoenix-area library and will admit four adults for free to one of several museums:

• Arizona Museum of Natural History
• Arizona Museum for Youth
• Arizona Science Center
• The Bead Museum which is now closed
• Cave Creek Museum
• Children’s Museum of Phoenix
• Desert Botanical Garden
• Heard Museum
• Mesa Contemporary Arts
• Phoenix Art Museum
• Phoenix Zoo (only two admissions)
• Pueblo Grande Museum
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

It’s a great way to get in your culture fix without spending any extra cash. However, you’ll need to get a bit lucky, as the passes aren’t always easy to come by. In fact, the rack is nearly always bare at the popular libraries, less so if you’re willing to travel to some of the ghetto locations.

But you shouldn’t despair if you can’t snag one of those passes – many of the museums participating in the Culture Pass also have regular free admission days. Here’s the list, which is current as of May 20, 2009. I’ve included links and phone numbers so you can verify a museum is still participating before you show up.

Arizona Museum of Youth
Noon – 5pm first Sunday of each month
35 N Robson St, Mesa – 480-644-2467

Arizona Museum of Natural History
Noon – 5pm first Sunday of each month
53 N MacDonald St, Mesa – 480-644-2230

Children’s Museum of Phoenix
6 – 10pm first Friday of each month
215 N. 7th St, Phoenix – 602-253-0501

Heard Museum
11am – 5pm second Sunday of each month
2301 N Central Ave, Phoenix – 602-252-8848

Heard Museum North
11am – 5pm second Sunday of each month
32633 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale – 480-488-9817

Heard Museum West
10am – 5pm second Saturday of each month
16126 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise – 623-344-2200

Mesa Contemporary Arts
Noon – 5pm first Sunday of each month &
10am – 8pm Thursdays
1 E Main St, Mesa – 480-644-6560

Phoenix Art Museum
3pm – 9pm Wednesdays &
6pm – 10pm first Friday of each month
1625 N Central Ave, Phoenix – 602-257-1222

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
10am – 8pm Thursdays
7374 E 2nd St, Scottsdale – 480-874-4666

This is a great way to check out some great museums – leave a comment if you really enjoyed a particular place or if you find any other locations with free admission days. Thanks!

Update: As mentioned in the comments, Bank of America customers can now show their cards at the Phoenix Art Museum and The Phoenix Zoo the Musical Instrument Museum on the first full weekend of every month to receive free general admission. Check out more details here.

Photo credit: Rail Life