Lori Najvar was cruising down Ben White Boulevard in South Austin early Tuesday when she noticed something was amiss with the area’s landscape.
Najvar, a local graphic designer who moved to Austin in the early 1980s, said it was her own little tradition to glance at the iconic cowboy hat sign reading “Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich is Delicious” as she drove past the fast food chain restaurant near South Lamar and Ben White boulevards.
On Tuesday, though, Najvar noticed her tradition had abruptly come to an end.
The Arby’s at 4411 S. Lamar Blvd. permanently closed and its nearly 50-year-old sign was being removed.
“I was fascinated by them taking it down,” Najvar said to the American-Statesman Tuesday, adding that she immediately pulled over to take a closer look.
Najvar said she instinctively grabbed her camera and started taking photos and videos of the process.
After reading an old Arby’s ad from the Austin Public Library, Najvar learned the sign was first placed at the location in 1972.
The iconic cowboy hat sign was the last of its kind in Austin, with the nearest now in Buda.
The American-Statesman requested a statement from Arby’s Tuesday explaining why the restaurant shut down and what will happen to the sign, but did not immediately receive a response.
Najvar on Tuesday said she felt the sign was worthy of attention because she’s noticed many iconic neon signs being removed from South Austin in recent years.
If Austinites would miss seeing the Arby’s sign like she will, Najvar said she hoped more people would help preserve local history by keeping vintage signs around.
“In our city it seems like we take those iconic signs down, while in San Antonio and Seattle they keep some of those old signs up even though there are new businesses there,” Nejvar said.
“I thought, why couldn’t they have kept this one?”
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