Capri Motel
Capri Motel
Local businessmen Jack DiBenedetto, Sal Arrello and Phil Forte opened the 15-unit Capri Motel at the corner of Independence Avenue and Paseo Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri in 1962. Its attention-grabbing neon sign was designed and built by the United Sign Company of Kansas City.
Like many free-standing motel signs from the 1950s and ’60s, this colossus stands 72.5 ft. tall and 23 ft. wide. Its Googie design (derived from the Googies Coffee Shop of Hollywood, CA, designed by John Lautner) was inspired by cars, jets and the atomic age. Today, it’s considered mid-century modern.
The LUMI Neon Museum acquired the Motel Capri sign from the Kansas City Museum in 2022. According to Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera, the sign is a “wonderful piece of roadside Americana that absolutely needs to be preserved.” Denise Morrison, Director of Collections, was instrumental in transferring ownership to LUMI. We are grateful to both Anna Marie and Denise for their foresight and generosity so that future generations may be enlightened by this classic neon and its story.
Local businessmen Jack DiBenedetto, Sal Arrello and Phil Forte opened the 15-unit Capri Motel at the corner of Independence Avenue and Paseo Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri in 1962. Its attention-grabbing neon sign was designed and built by the United Sign Company of Kansas City.
Like many free-standing motel signs from the 1950s and ’60s, this colossus stands 72.5 ft. tall and 23 ft. wide. Its Googie design (derived from the Googies Coffee Shop of Hollywood, CA, designed by John Lautner) was inspired by cars, jets and the atomic age. Today, it’s considered mid-century modern.
The LUMI Neon Museum acquired the Motel Capri sign from the Kansas City Museum in 2022. According to Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera, the sign is a “wonderful piece of roadside Americana that absolutely needs to be preserved.” Denise Morrison, Director of Collections, was instrumental in transferring ownership to LUMI. We are grateful to both Anna Marie and Denise for their foresight and generosity so that future generations may be enlightened by this classic neon and its story.
