By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
June 17, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The iconic Motel Capri neon sign has officially been saved from the wrecking ball.

At the most recent meeting, the city’s Parks and Recreation Board of Commissioners unanimously approved to have the sign carefully de-installed and preserved as part of the collections of the Kansas City Museum.

“This sign,” said Museum Director Anna Marie Tutera, “is a wonderful piece of Roadside Americana that absolutely needs to be preserved.”

According to Thomas Cobian, nicknamed the Neon Warrior at the Downtown Neon Gallery, the sign is an outstanding example of an bygone era, that of the old Route 66, before the burgeoning growth of the Interstate Highway system. The sign was built and installed by the United Sign Company of Kansas City in 1963 or 1964.

“That sign is a porcelain enamel sign,” Cobian said. “We just don’t see that much anymore. Once we get this down, the Museum will be able to buff this out and it will look almost new again. I’m very impressed with the condition of the sign. The neon is almost 90 percent intact. This is just a great piece of history.”

The Motel Capri was originally built by three area residents, Jack DiBenedetto, Sal Arrello and Phil Forte. The trio of businessmen saw the need for a Motor Hotel (Motel) at the intersection of Highways 71, 24, 56, I-35 and I-29. Opening in 1962 with a modest 15 units, the motel expanded quickly and was popular among locals, as well as business and recreational travelers.

“Back then, that was the nicest restaurant and lounge in Northeast,” Jack DiBenedetto Jr., son of the original owner, said. “We had all kinds of characters in there: Mafia guys, FFA conventioneers and country music stars, even former Police Chief Clarence Kelly was a regular patron. Everyone knew the Capri.”

DiBenedetto and his partner sold the motel in 1988 and it quickly became a transient apartment motel. This past April, Dr. Marc Hahn, C.E.O. of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, announced the university purchased the motel with plans to turn the land in to green space fronting The Paseo Boulevard. Preservation of the sign, however, was still a question.

Local Historian and Publisher of The Northeast News Michael Bushnell contacted the Kansas City Museum to see if they would welcome the addition to their collections. After a brief meeting with the Museum Board and Denise Morrison, Collections Manager for the Museum, the decision was made to attempt to preserve a piece of local history.

Tutera contacted Kansas City University and Charles Caccioppo of Industrial Wrecking, the company demolishing the old motel, to see that the sign was spared the wrecking ball. Once the ground work was laid, Downtown Neon Gallery and CEI Mechanical were brought in to assess the condition of the sign and to begin the careful work of deconstructing the sign panels and preserving not only the neon, but the main body of the sign itself.

“To work with these community partners on this project and for them to recognize such a wonderful piece of area history is really exciting,” Tutera said.

“This is a win-win-win for the city of Kansas City, Missouri as well as the Northeast neighborhood,” Hahn added.

Following the deinstallation, the sign will be carefully catalogued and archived in the Museum Collections.