EYE ON SAN ANGELO
It’s neat to see a glimpse of the past around some local corner, and America definitely has a nostalgia for vintage advertising that’s survived into the modern world.
San Angelo has a few of these, and one of them is located on the side of the last building in the 500 Block of South Chadbourne Street.
This group of buildings was constructed between 1900 and 1909, and for many years hosted small grocery stores, florists, a monument business, and eventually poultry and feed stores.
This ad most likely dates to sometime after 1910.
The “Uneeda” biscuit was an early product of Nabisco.
In that era, crackers were baked and then packaged, shipped, stored in — and sold from — large barrels, where they tended to go stale quickly.
Nabisco’s Uneeda crackers were lighter, flakier, and individually packaged so they stayed fresh longer.
According to company history, beginning in 1896, Nabisco spent $1 million in a campaign to compete with Cracker Jack (not the candied popcorn treat), a well-known national brand.
Nabisco’s packaging featured a boy in a raincoat, to symbolize the product’s resistance to moisture by using a waxpaper envelope inside cardboard.
This particular ad was visible up until the late 1930s or early 1940s, by which time the address belonged to Angelo Feed, who in 1944, enlarged the building on to the south side to add warehouse space.
At that point, the Nabisco ad was entombed in a mortar-like compound around 1-inch thick, blocking it from human eyes — and the sun’s rays — until a fire in 2008 collapsed the building that had been hiding the colorful wall.
South Oakes Drive Inn
The South Oakes Drive Inn was built in 1946 by Frank Baca who operated it as a cafe, and although it has been operated by the Mikuliks since the mid-to-late 60s or early 70s, the building has said South Oakes Drive Inn the whole time.
Which I like.
I think the painting on the side may have been reapplied at some point, but it’s been a while, so it has that appealing vintage look.
Also; their sausage is really, really good, by the way.
If you like sausage, and have not tried it, you really should go get some. They are located at 1527 South Oakes St, and close on Wednesdays and Sundays.
The Lone Installer
I had a chance to watch an advertising specialist the other day, working where Old Christoval Road runs into Paint Rock Road, an installer from Lamar was putting up a fresh display.
I was close. But not close enough to catch all of the action with the camera, because these guys are a lot faster than I would have guessed before watching him.
Starting from a blank billboard when I first spotted him, he had the printed banner tucked into the top two corners by the time I could get my camera pointed in his direction, and then without ever hurrying or looking rushed, he steadily used a gaff to put the sheet under the correct tension, until it looked just right.
Which did not take very long.
Not a job for anyone who’s afraid of heights, but I bet he gets some unique views from atop those signs.
Advertisers are Lovin’ It!
Advertising is big business, and according to industry experts, total spending on advertising in the United States is projected to reach $455.93 billion in 2025.
One company that has been very successful with advertising campaigns over the last 60 years is McDonald’s.
According to the company, there are currently 13,637 McDonald’s restaurants operating in the United States, and more than 40,000 worldwide.
According to website Statista.com, McDonald’s spent an estimated $445 million on advertising in 2024.
The Hamburger Ad
After launching as a franchiser in 1955, McDonalds quickly developed a reputation for clean, efficient restaurants, and catchy advertising, both of which proved popular with the public.
In the late 1960s, the parent company began requiring franchise owners to cough-up 1 percent of their earnings for a special advertising fund, boosting their war chest from $5 million to $15 million in 1969.
By 1970, McDonald’s brought a $5 million advertising account to Needham, Harper & Steers, working to promote the Big Mac hamburger launched in 1967.
By 1974, that ad agency talked the company into launching a $60 campaign built around a jingle that became famous worldwide.
In living rooms all over, people were singing along with an ad for “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.”
McDonald’s next big move was to get into chicken with the advent of McNuggets, launched after 1981.
And the rest is history.
