GPS IN VAN: Continue on Highway 1.
[phone ringing]
MIKE: Dani D, what's up?
DANIELLE: Good morning.
ROBBIE: What's going on? MIKE: What's going on, man?
DANIELLE: I'm just enjoying this lovely day.
You ready for a lead?
'Cause I'm going to send you out to meet
Juan and his son, John.
MIKE: Okay.
DANIELLE: So I've been talking to John.
And he says that his dad, Juan, is in kind of a situation, like
the city's coming down on him really hard about his property.
He's a jukebox repairman,
so he's been collecting for 30 years.
Juan's backyard is full of killer stuff - signs, radios,
gas pumps, I don't know, Coke machines.
MIKE: And the city's coming down on him?
DANIELLE: Yeah.
He's got like a week left to clear the place out.
ROBBIE: What!?
MIKE: Really!?
DANIELLE: Yes.
So he's like...
MIKE: So he's motivated to sell some stuff.
ROBBIE: Sell.
DANIELLE: Totally motivated, and on top of that, he's a
really nice guy.
ROBBIE: Awesome.
MIKE: Good.
Alright.
ROBBIE: It's right up our alley.
DANIELLE: Okay.
I'll let him know you're on your way.
MIKE: You know what they have out here besides sun?
Amazing donut shops.
DANIELLE: Ah.
[chuckles]
MIKE: There's like a donut shop on every corner.
[laughs]
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Thank you, Dani D.
DANIELLE: Alright.
MIKE: Bye.
♪ ♪ ♪
ROBBIE: You sure we're in the right spot?
Doesn't look like there's anything here.
MIKE: She said it was behind the gate or something, remember?
Grab a flyer.
MIKE: You never judge a pick by its curb appeal
when you're in the city
or a neighborhood.
Because city and neighborhoods have ordinances.
[honks horn]
MIKE: And those ordinances can be a real style
cramper if you're a collector.
Because you got to kind of harness your
passion into one area.
And that's why we're here, that's the situation.
MIKE: Hello!
JOHN: Yo!
MIKE: What's going on, man?
JOHN: What's up? Can I help you?
MIKE: Yeah, I'm Mike. This is Robbie.
You talked to Dani on the phone?
JOHN: Oh yeah, I spoke to her earlier.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah, man. How's it going?
JOHN: Pretty good.
ROBBIE: It's like Fort Knox around here.
JOHN: [laughs]
MIKE: Yeah, I like this... I'm shaking, I'm Mike.
ROBBIE: Wow.
JOHN: Nice to meet you, John.
MIKE: How're you doing? My brother, Robbie.
MIKE: Give him the flyer, Robbie.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: So when John opens the gate,
it's not a normal gate, man.
It's like a floodgate!
There's like signs everywhere.
So we're walking back, and there's Coke signs,
and there's milk signs, and everything's porcelain.
And there's so many signs,
they're like layered up against each other on the fence.
And then you walk in the backyard and it explodes.
ROBBIE: Holy Toledo.
MIKE: Yeah, I know.
JOHN: Hey Dad!
ROBBIE: There's a lot of good stuff here.
MIKE: Hey Juan!
JUAN: Hey.
[laughs]
ROBBIE: Juan. How're you doing?
JUAN: Okay.
MIKE: What the heck's going on here, man?
JUAN: Heh.
ROBBIE: Holy cow.
MIKE: This didn't happen overnight.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Hey, I'm Mike.
ROBBIE: How're you doing?
JUAN: Nice to meet you, nice to meet you.
MIKE: My brother, Robbie.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: My name is Juan. I like signs.
I collect all kinds of signs, you know.
Yeah I love signs, you know, that's the main thing for me.
MIKE: Yeah. So you got...
ROBBIE: Some stuff we're looking for.
MIKE: Jukeboxes, old signs, Coke machines.
ROBBIE: The stuff you got laying around here.
JUAN: Yeah, I got a lot of stuff here.
MIKE: I know, so what's-so what's-
ROBBIE: So what's going on with the city?
JUAN: They don't want me to have any more stuff!
[laughs]
ROBBIE: They don't want you to buy anymore stuff?
JUAN: No more.
JUAN: Well, the reason I'm selling my stuff right now is
because the city is, you know, on me.
I've been cleaning for the past 3 year already.
They don't want to give me any more time.
Now they give me tickets.
But right now, I have a $400 ticket, and I need the money
to build, you know, some storage to keep
some of this stuff inside, you know.
I can't have any stuff outside anymore.
MIKE: How can they even see this stuff back here?
JUAN: I think they fly a drone or something,
because they have pictures-
MIKE: A drone?
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: They sent him an aerial shot of his property, because
there's no way you could see anything from the curb.
He's got that buttoned up.
MIKE: So when did you build this?
How long ago?
JUAN: 6 years ago.
MIKE: Wow.
MIKE: You know, he's got this petroliana art installation gas
station, right in the center, and it's really cool.
It represents a time and place that Juan romanticizes about.
Because that's what we all do as collectors, you know, if you're-
if you're into the 1930s, the '40s, the '50s, the '60s,
whatever it is, you know, you start to romanticize about
childhood memories, or just places and time periods that
you wish you lived in. You know, if you look at this
gas station that he's built in his backyard,
it's got visible pumps, so it's early.
The great thing is,
he's creating things with his collection.
MIKE: So you into this stuff too?
JOHN: Yeah.
MIKE: Are you?
Good job, dude.
JOHN: I love this stuff.
MIKE: That's awesome, that's awesome, man.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: How long have you been buying?
JOHN: Uh... 30 years.
MIKE: Really.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: So are you married?
JUAN: Yeah.
[laughs]
MIKE: Is your wife-does your wife collect too?
She into this?
JUAN: Uh... not really.
MIKE: No.
JUAN: She likes the stuff inside here,
but she hates the stuff outside, you know.
She wants me to have everything clean, nice, grass,
and build a swimming pool, you know, stuff like that.
MIKE: Wow, this goes back pretty far.
ROBBIE: Wow!
MIKE: What building do they want you to tear down, or
what's going on?
JUAN: Yeah, they don't want the building,
because that's too big.
MIKE: Wow.
JOHN: They're saying that like, the next time that they're
here, that they need to see improvements, in the backyard...
ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah.
JOHN: or not, they're- they're going to take into
action and start issuing more fines.
ROBBIE: Wow.
MIKE: So, if it's a size of the building,
I mean, what's the alternative?
JOHN: So pretty much the solution would be for
us to build 3 storages...
MIKE: Okay.
JOHN: And that where we would put all the stuff inside.
MIKE: And how big could those be?
JUAN: 10-by-12.
That's the biggest they'll allow, yeah.
ROBBIE: That's it.
MIKE: Alright.
So even if you build 310-by-12s,
you're still in a situation.
JOHN: Yeah, I don't think...
JUAN: Oh yeah, yeah no...
JOHN: I don't think there's going to be enough
room for all this stuff.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: So out of all this stuff, like, what are you into?
Do you like the Coke machines more or the signs?
Like what do you, what's your passion?
JOHN: I'm more into the Coca-Cola stuff, yeah.
MIKE: Okay. ROBBIE: Yeah.
JOHN: Just 'cause, you know, I grew up with it.
MIKE: You guys are passionate dudes.
JOHN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: You know, you are.
You love what you do, you know.
JUAN: Yeah, I love, yeah I love my stuff.
JOHN: But I think I got to be going now...
JUAN: He's, he's going to be lte, very late.
JOHN: It's about that time I head out.
MIKE: Dude, thank you.
JOHN: It was good meeting you guys, honestly,
I wish I could stay longer, but I got to go to work.
MIKE: Yeah, I wish you could stay too, man, this looks like
a lot of heavy stuff.
GROUP: Yeah... [laughs]
JOHN: Alright, it was nice seeing you guys.
ROBBIE: Nice seeing you.
MIKE: Alright, thank you.
MIKE: Wow.
JUAN: Bye Johnny.
MIKE: When we get a call from a collector,
they've made their decision on their own, or with their family,
that they're ready to sell.
But this situation is completely different.
Because for Juan, his hand is being forced a little bit
because he has to make the decision in a short amount of
time, what he's going to sell and what he's going to keep.
JUAN: Yeah, this is one...
I lost my garage in a fire...
the storage...
MIKE: Oh you had a fire on this property?
JUAN: Yeah, big fire, yeah.
My whole garage burned.
ROBBIE: What was in the garage?
Juan: [sighs] 30 years of collection.
[laughs]
MIKE: Really.
ROBBIE: Wow.
JUAN: My garage burnt in 2006, I lost about 100 signs,
they got burnt, jukeboxes.
It was a big loss, you know, a big loss.
My neighbor's kid, he was playing with bottle rockets,
so one of the bottle rockets landed behind the garage,
and it was some dry grass there.
So they, you know, that's where they started the fire,
behind the garage.
JUAN: I lost like 100 signs, and a lot of stuff.
MIKE: No.
JUAN: And behind the garage, there was pumps,
Coke machines...
ROBBIE: Everything.
JUAN: everything, yeah.
MIKE: Now that that building's gone, and so much of his
collection is outside, it's harder than ever to clean up
his yard in the time frame that the city has given him.
MIKE: Um...
I already see something I'm interested in over here.
JUAN: Aha! Okay...
[laughs]
MIKE: What's going on with that?
I can just see a piece of it.
JUAN: That's a front plate for a neon sign.
MIKE: I can barely see the green,
the black, the red, and the font.
MIKE: Woo...
ROBBIE: Man, it's hot.
MIKE: It's Grain Belt porcelain sign,
that at one time, was neon.
ROBBIE: Oh...
MIKE: Whoa!
MIKE: After moving all of these layers, Robbie dives in to get
the sign and it just like, disappears into the abyss.
[laughing] You know but...
the-the great thing about the sign disappearing,
is that you're seeing other signs.
ROBBIE: Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!
MIKE: Got it?
He's got it, he's got a monkey grip on them.
Look at that, look at that guy.
ROBBIE: Ugh!
MIKE: Look at that guy!
ROBBIE: Ugh!
MIKE: Alright.
ROBBIE: Ugh.
MIKE: Alright, alright...
ROBBIE: on outta here... ugh.
MIKE: Here, let's put this back.
ROBBIE: Oh my foot's in there!
MIKE: Wait, his foot's in there.
Juan: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Ugh!
JUAN: Okay.
ROBBIE: Okay.
MIKE: Woo... whoa...
God-dang, that's hot.
JUAN: Dang, that's hot.
ROBBIE: Dang!
MIKE: Yeah. Look at this thing.
ROBBIE: Whoa.
JUAN: That's in nice shape.
ROBBIE: Man...
MIKE: Yeah. Alright.
How long have you had this sign?
JUAN: About 50 years. Yeah.
MIKE: Yeah?
When was the last time you saw it?
JUAN: I know... I know...
[group laughing]
MIKE: You've got some layers in here, man.
JUAN: Yeah, yeah.
MIKE: So the way to do this, obviously,
is to have somebody build the can...
ROBBIE: Can.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: and then have them do the neon.
JUAN: The neon, yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: And that'll like...
ROBBIE: Yeah. Pop that.
MIKE: Take it to the next level.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: It's unusual to find this beer out here.
JUAN: Yeah. Um -hm.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: It's a Minnesota, Wisconsin beer.
MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: Grain Belt is a beer that we grew up with
because it's a Midwest beer.
It's made in Minnesota,
it's been around since the late 1800s.
It's still around today, and it still tastes the same.
[laughs]
MIKE: What did you grow up drinking?
JUAN: Uh, Corona.
[group laughing]
MIKE: You know, hey, you know what I like?
I like a friggin' ice...
JUAN: Corona, yeah.
MIKE: no, ice cold Modelo, dude.
ROBBIE: Modelo.
Oh yeah.
JUAN: Modelo, yeah.
ROBBIE: Heck yeah.
MIKE: Modelo is my jam.
ROBBIE & JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright, what are you thinking on this thing?
Or is this something you'd even sell?
JUAN: Yeah, I'd let it go, yeah.
ROBBIE: I think the retail number on that's going
to be between 25 and 3.
JUAN: Oh okay.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
You know, it's got a couple of hits on it.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: I mean, it's-it's bright, vibrant colors.
ROBBIE: You got to put-yeah.
MIKE: I mean, the biggest whammy's right here.
ROBBIE: You got to build a can, you got to do the neon.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: I mean, if it was completely done,
probably going to be...
right around 45 to 5 grand.
JUAN: Oh.
MIKE: It's going to cost what to get it done?
ROBBIE: Almost 1,600 to get it done.
MIKE: Would you do 17 on it?
JUAN: 18... the best price.
MIKE: I'm going to do it. Alright, 18.
JUAN: Thank you. MIKE: Alright.
JUAN: I paid 500 for the Grain Belt sign, a long time ago.
And it was good investment, because you know,
I tripled my money, you know.
That's the first time I've ever sold for...
a long time, I mean believe me.
And I'm really going to miss that sign.
You know, I love that sign.
MIKE: What...
ROBBIE: Let's take... that's cool. Yep.
MIKE: The D-X is killer.
ROBBIE: That's- that's pretty cool.
Yeah, there you go, there you go.
MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: D-X was a big company. It was a gas station.
Their signs aren't that hard to find, but this 3D version
is extremely hard to find.
MIKE: Do you remember where you got this?
JUAN: In Bakersfield.
MIKE: Was it at a meet, swap meet?
Or were you junking, or what- how did you come across that?
JUAN: No, I went over there to buy a Coke machine.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: And then the guy has that in the back too...
ROBBIE: The guy has that.
Yeah, yeah.
JUAN: and I buy that and the Coke machine.
[laughs]
MIKE: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ROBBIE: That's awesome.
MIKE: You know, I've been there, man.
Ppens, I went to see one thing...
ROBBIE: Oh yeah.
JUAN: and then I find something else.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: There's a lot of desirable pieces here.
He has incredible taste.
ROBBIE: What are you thinking on this one?
JUAN: I don't know...
1,600 or...?
MIKE: Would you do 15?
JUAN: Mm... no. I want, I like to get 16.
ROBBIE: They're very hard to find.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: This is not a sign you find every day.
JUAN: Yeah.
Mike: [exhales]
ROBBIE: If it was really nice, 3,500.
I mean, it's still- here's the deal.
It's a 3-dimensional.
JUAN: It's worth it.
MIKE: Alright. JUAN: Alright.
MIKE: Alright, brother, alright. We're doing it.
♪ ♪ ♪
ROBBIE: You know, I wanted to ask you about that bull nose.
Typically, most of the bull noses on signs,
they were always missing.
ROBBIE: This bull nose is a neon piece that
was attached to an existing sign.
ROBBIE: This would have been an ornamentation
to the end of the sign, basically.
It just... you know, sat like that.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: If you have a flat sign or a vertical sign hanging off
a building, that's a square sign,
this would give the rounded edge on the end of it.
Just a decorator piece.
ROBBIE: This has got great color on it.
JUAN: Yeah, I like the colors, yeah.
ROBBIE: It's just an unusual color.
I mean, the fact that it's not red or blue, you know.
You'd have to find that sign that this went to.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Um... 375.
JUAN: Uh... what about 4?
You know, it's porcelain and it's kind of rare.
ROBBIE: Yeah, when you find it, you buy it.
Mike: [laughs]
JUAN: Okay, alright.
Alright, man.
ROBBIE: Thanks, man.
JUAN: Thank you.
MIKE: Very cool.
MIKE: Alright, Juan.
Look at that.
JUAN: Ahh, yeah...
MIKE: You want to sell that?
JUAN: Ahh!
MIKE: You got the hanger,
and you got the porcelain shade on each side.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: That was probably for a Coke sign.
JUAN: Yeah, it's for a Coke sign.
MIKE: Okay, do you want to sell this?
JUAN: No.
[laughs]
MIKE: I don't blame ya!
MIKE: If you have a sweaty looking sign, then you need
something to hang it on that matches that.
The ornamentation on the front of this,
the lights where they would have gone,
I was just imagining this in my shop already and he's like,
'no way, man.' I love that he said 'no way' because,
he knows exactly what it is, he knows that
this can turn up the volume on any original sign,
and it's not for sale.
It's a cool piece.
MIKE: Here, pull this out, Robbie.
JUAN: Yeah...
MIKE: Move this sewing machine...
alright, so 'vacancy', you can barely read that,
but you can read a little bit.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: I mean, what you can do with it, it says...
ROBBIE: Be-that'd be repurposed one.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: You can repurpose that.
JUAN: You can put anything...
MIKE: Believe it or not, they are reproducing stuff that
looks exactly like this.
But this is the real broke-down deal.
MIKE: Here's the great thing about this - awesome size.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: With the bigger, bigger arrows, you seem to be limited
to what you can do with them, you know.
So this is a chaser bulb, you know.
JUAN: Yeah, it goes around, yeah.
MIKE: It's a chaser bulb, meaning the lights
would go around on it.
And really it's a blank canvas.
You could paint anything you want on it,
you could barely see 'vacancy', but it's a great size.
You know, you hang this on the outside of any business,
and people are going to think you've been
there for at least 60 years.
MIKE: This thing works.
JUAN: Yeah, it works, believe it or not.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: That's what I do, because I fix jukeboxes, you know.
MIKE: You were restoring jukeboxes?
JUAN: I restored jukeboxes for years.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: I started with my dad when I was 15.
JUAN: My dad used to fix radios and TVs, that's when he started.
And then he moved into the jukeboxes, you know.
He teached me how to fix machines from
the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
MIKE: Was he collecting the old machines?
Or did he have a vending route?
JUAN: We have a vending route, yeah.
MIKE: No kidding.
JUAN: Yeah.
But I also collect some machines too, yeah.
MIKE: Is that how you got into all this?
JUAN: Yeah, I got into all this stuff, yeah, yeah.
ROBBIE: Really.
MIKE: So you remember like going to like taverns, and...
JUAN: Yeah, we go everywhere, yeah.
MIKE: Everywhere, the VFWs and all that stuff.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: Juan was lucky enough to start in this business
with his dad, who was also his mentor.
And all of that knowledge was passed on, and unfortunately,
a lot of it just stops there, because younger people aren't
interested in working on old radios, old jukeboxes,
old pinball machines, they didn't grow up in
that time period, they don't have a connection to it.
So if they don't have a mentor like Juan did, and Juan could
be to somebody else, then it dies there.
MIKE: You know, like us in Nashville - Music City.
It has taken us forever to come across a guy
that can work on jukeboxes.
We have one guy that does that.
MIKE: Do you want to sell it?
JUAN: Yeah, make me an offer.
MIKE: 2-and-a-quarter.
JUAN: I want 300.
MIKE: How about 275?
JUAN: No, I like to get 300, because I know it works,
because I tried it before, you know.
Okay, thank you.
ROBBIE: It is a good size.
MIKE: Thank you. Appreciate you.
ROBBIE: It's a great size.
JUAN: Thank you.
MIKE: Appreciate it.
JUAN: They have a good eye, because they picked the stuff,
you know, I really like.
MIKE: Let me see this thing.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: What is this for, what are you doing with this?
JUAN: It's a basketball game.
MIKE: Oh okay, I gotcha. Argh! Ugh!
ROBBIE: Ugh...
MIKE: Alright, ugh... right there. Alright...
ROBBIE: There you go.
MIKE: Ugh!
ROBBIE: Go ahead...
MIKE: God-dang...
ROBBIE: The most iconic thing in gas and oil, in America...
MIKE: Agh!
ROBBIE: is the Pegasus horse.
ROBBIE: It's a '32.
ROBBIE: In 1931, the Pegasus horse was introduced
to the United States market.
The fact that this is a 1932 is one of the earliest versions
you're ever going to find.
ROBBIE: So it's got the hangers, big plus.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: In our business, you have to know a
little bit about a lot of things.
That's how you make a living doing this.
But you also make a living in specializing in certain things.
Like I specialize in turn -of-the-century bicycles,
early American motorcycles.
My brother's passion is advertising,
and it's one of his specialties.
So it's nice to have him here because
he's on top of things, man.
ROBBIE: What's the other side look like?
MIKE: The other side...
JUAN: About the same, yeah...
ROBBIE: Yeah. It's condition.
JUAN: No, it's- that side is better.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
Still on the hit.
MIKE: A little bit, it's got the Pegasus.
ROBBIE: The Pegasus always got hit.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Doesn't have any bullet holes in it.
JUAN: This is...
MIKE: You're right, this, this is the better side.
JUAN: I actually pull it out from the pole.
MIKE: Oh when you bought this, you took it off the pole.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: Where was that at?
JUAN: Old gas station, I couldn't believe it, it was
still there from all these years.
MIKE: The guy that finds the sign, in its natural state,
on an old building, off an old business?
That's the luckiest guy of all.
Because he has a connection to that sign
like no one else will have.
MIKE: That had to be a long time ago.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: 15 years, yeah.
ROBBIE: 15 years ago?
MIKE: What are you thinking on something like this?
JUAN: Hm... 1,200?
MIKE: This Pegasus sign, this is an extremely hard sign to
find now, but I can remember years ago, when sometimes,
I could find 3 or 4 of these laying together in a barn.
And even though this sign isn't in really good condition,
it's still an extremely valuable sign.
MIKE: You said 12...
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: I'm going to say 15.
JUAN: Oh okay, thank you.
MIKE: 15.
Alright, buddy.
JUAN: Okay. Yeah, thank you.
MIKE: Appreciate you.
JUAN: Yeah, I want to use the money to build my...
ROBBIE: New building.
JUAN: build my new building.
JUAN: All the money they're going to go today,
I'm going to use it to build, you know, buildings to put
the stuff that's going to be left, you know.
MIKE: So where were these originally, on display?
JUAN: They used it for the theater when they,
when the movie come out.
ROBBIE: This was at the theater.
MIKE: Oh this was in the theater lobby, in the lobby.
JUAN: Yeah, in the theater, yeah.
Yeah, it was a big... yeah...
ROBBIE: If I remember right...
there was a bench that they went on.
ROBBIE: This was a set that sat on front of the movie theater.
ROBBIE: You have the rest of these?
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: You want to sell them?
JUAN: Uh... no, I like it. [laughs]
Mike: [laughs]
ROBBIE: You're like me, I like characters.
JUAN: I have one extra one. Bart, yeah.
ROBBIE: You have an extra Bart.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: You want to sell that?
JUAN: Yeah, for the second one, yeah.
MIKE: What shape's it in?
JUAN: In good shape, yeah.
JUAN: That's the only storage that I have...
ROBBIE: This is it?
Juan: [laughs] Yeah.
MIKE: This is what you got left, huh?
Storage-wise?
JUAN: Yeah, that's, yeah. Come in.
ROBBIE: Wow!
MIKE: God-dang, you- you've have a lot of...
ROBBIE: Dang, this place...
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: Whoa... sheesh...
ROBBIE: When was the last time your wife put
the car away in the garage?
MIKE: Wow...
JUAN: Aha! Never. [laughs]
MIKE: Where's Bart at?
JUAN: Right here.
[laughs]
MIKE: Oh he's right there.
Oh he's missing a leg.
JUAN: No I have it, I have it.
MIKE: Oh you got the leg?
JUAN: Yeah, it's right here.
ROBBIE: What? MIKE: He's right there.
ROBBIE: Oh he's missing- oh you got a leg?
JUAN: I-I have another one, but...
ROBBIE: You have, you have another leg, or...?
JUAN: Yeah, I have the leg, it's right hee, somewhere...
ROBBIE: It always amazes me when you go, hey that
thing's missing, and the guy looks at you and goes,
I know where it is.
MIKE: Look at that, that's cool, man.
ROBBIE: Alright, hold on here.
We're going to find it.
It's right in here.
Let me do my thing here.
Put him over here.
Now we'll take this, I'm going to pick this one up,
this one's in our way...
nobody over here... right there.
Ugh... you think it's down in here, huh.
Let's see here, that's not it...
not down there...
JUAN: [mumbling]
JUAN: What the heck... actually here,
I know, for sure, for sure...
ROBBIE: It's in here for sure.
JUAN: Yeah, it's in this area. I know.
ROBBIE: Alright, I'm trusting you, buddy.
MIKE: Yeah...
ROBBIE: Alright, let me do this.
I got, I like doing the splits here, okay?
JUAN: Okay.
ROBBIE: So hold on. Ugh... huh... let's see here, ugh...
MIKE: Hey Juan!
ROBBIE: Dang it...
JUAN: Yeah?
ROBBIE: Dang! Ugh! Ugh!
MIKE: Here, Juan, what are you thinking?
ROBBIE: Dang!
JUAN: I can't see...
MIKE: Would you sell that?
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: What do you need?
JUAN: Make me an offer.
MIKE: $60.
JUAN: 60?
How about 75?
MIKE: You know what she's off of?
JUAN: No, I found it like that, I don't know.
JUAN: He's in there.
MIKE: Find it?
JUAN: He's there. I know for sure, sure it's got to be here.
It's got to be around here.
ROBBIE: He says it's got to be right here, I'm like...
JUAN: I saw the... [mumbles]
MIKE: My brother's going crazy trying to
find a Bart Simpson leg.
And it's hot as hell in here.
[laughing] And he's freaking out...
ROBBIE: It's not on the ground here, Juan.
JUAN: No?
ROBBIE: No.
JUAN: Oh it's right here! Sorry, sorry, sorry, here.
ROBBIE: Ha!
JUAN: Sorry.
Mike: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Man, Juan's getting me to work my butt off over here,
and what are you going to do, it pop it right out of there.
ROBBIE: This... is not the right foot.
It's like a reproduction foot.
JUAN: Yeah, somebody made it, but that's the way I found it.
ROBBIE: Alright, so that just needs to be fixed and painted.
JUAN: Yeah, you just screw it on, yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: Somebody had somebody working fiberglass, you know.
ROBBIE: Right, right.
ROBBIE: Bart Simpson, he's the most iconic little
cartoon dude in the world.
I mean, why wouldn't you buy him?
ROBBIE: 400 bucks.
JUAN: Alright.
ROBBIE: I'm doing it. Bart Simpson.
♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: Oh my God, it's massive!
JUAN: That's heavy...
ROBBIE: Single-sided. MIKE: Ahh...!
ROBBIE: That's why I said it went on a refinery.
JUAN: Single-sided, single-sided.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: It's the biggest one I've seen.
MIKE: Ahh... you know, I just want to cuddle
up with this porcelain, baby.
Juan: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Yeah. Woo...
MIKE: Yeah... would you even sell that?
JUAN: No... [laughs]
MIKE: No?
ROBBIE: That's a big one.
What kind of value do you put on that?
JUAN: I paid like 2,000.
But it was, I don't know, 10 years ago.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
JUAN: Probably more.
MIKE: I know, everything's changed.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: You know, seriously, any more it changes almost monthly.
ROBBIE: Monthly.
MIKE: Signs have accelerated in value over the past few years.
Every 3 months, you know, when there's a big auction,
the sign prices go up.
ROBBIE: I'm a neon freak.
Is that going to be for sale?
JUAN: Uhh... [laughing]
I like that sign a lot.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: I'm thinking 2,800.
MIKE: He does 28 on that one, I'd do 3 grand on that one.
Some-something to think about.
JUAN: Let me think about it.
[laughs] Yeah...
'cause I like it...
Mike: [laughs] Something to think about.
MIKE: When people look at a collection like this, they
don't realize how much energy, time, and miles it takes to
accumulate this much stuff.
ROBBIE: Now look at the-look at the color
on the back of that.
One hit right in the ear...
MIKE: Right...
JUAN: Most of this stuff, I found it, you know,
driving around, and going to the flea markets, to shows,
to antique stores, estate sales, all over California.
And I'll go to everywhere in California.
MIKE: It just keeps going. Urgh...
ROBBIE: This one's a monster.
MIKE: Juan's been buying stuff for a very long time.
Something like 30 years.
Chasing stuff 30 years ago with no technology, no cellphone,
no internet, you know, it was like an episode of Dragnet.
[laughs] You know, you would hear about something,
you go talk to Mrs. Clancy,
and she's like, 'oh I sold that sign weeks ago.'
You know, and then you go chase down who she sold it to,
and then you have to sit there and connect the dots,
and you're writing all this stuff down.
I, like, literally, I had notepads full of notes on leads
that I would chase, for sometimes years.
But every once in a while, not very often, but every once in a
while, maybe 1 out of 100, would pay off.
You know, and that one 1 of 100 that paid off kept you doing
what you were doing, kept you excited, kept you going,
kept you chasing the leads.
And Juan and I and Robbie,
we all feel that connection with each other.
When we pull a sign out of the pile, and he's shaking his
head, he's like, I don't know, we know what that's like.
We know what he went through to get that sign.
We've all been there.
MIKE: How about that one, would you sell that one?
JUAN: I like that.
[laughs]
MIKE: You like, hey I get it.
I mean, obviously you like signs.
JUAN: Let me think about it, maybe, let's...
MIKE: Obviously you like signs.
[laughs]
JUAN: Yeah, I like signs.
[laughs] Yeah.
ROBBIE: I know.
MIKE: OST, baby! Whoa... [beep]
ROBBIE: Is this a local company?
JUAN: Yeah.
JUAN: Oh the credit card one. [laughs]
MIKE: How about that one?
ROBBIE: Yeah. Oil company.
JUAN: Make me an offer, I don't know.
MIKE: 500.
JUAN: Okay.
MIKE: Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it.
ROBBIE: 650. That work?
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Alright.
MIKE: Cool.
MIKE: Alright. Holy moly, Juan.
JUAN: [chuckles]
MIKE: You got a situation going on here.
JUAN: There's a lot of stuff in there.
MIKE: Alright. I can see a lot of this stuff
was probably in the fire, huh.
JUAN: Yeah, some of the stuff here...
MIKE: Whoa! Whoa!
JUAN: The fire got big, because it was jukeboxes and all kinds
of, plus I had tools and I had some paint thinner,
stuff like that, you know, so there was a big fire,
believe me.
JUAN: When the garage burnt...
ROBBIE: Yeah?
JUAN: I built this, you know, to put the rest,
some of the stuff.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
And that's when the city stepped in and said hey...
JUAN: Yeah. This is too big.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: Yeah, they want me to take it out.
MIKE: The reason that Juan built this building to store
all these parts, is because he knew they could be
donors for other people that collect jukeboxes.
Obviously all of this stuff means something to him.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: I can see all those burned up jukeboxes.
JUAN: Yeah, I guess so.
I already throw away a lot.
ROBBIE: That's got to be like the worst feeling in the world,
to have this great collection, and...
JUAN: Yeah... I hate it... yeah.
ROBBIE: and then it burns up.
Uurrghh...
MIKE: So the emotional connection that Juan
had with his jukeboxes, now lies here,
in this building, in these parts.
MIKE: I mean, this is where you were going
to be put the gas station?
JUAN: Yeah, I was a building a gas station.
Yeah.
MIKE: The further you get back onto this property,
the more you can start to see what Juan's vision was.
ROBBIE: This is pretty badass,
if you can see the freakin' island right here.
MIKE: I mean, he's got an island, you know,
he's got the gas pumps, he's got the island lights.
ROBBIE: Oh it's got power out here too?
JUAN: Yeah. Um -hm.
ROBBIE: Yeah. So freakin' cool.
MIKE: If you think about what he's been through
with the fire, and with the city,
and building a structure and it being too big,
and a lot of the collection being outside.
Man, it just breaks my heart to see so much
of his plans being covered over in weeds.
ROBBIE: Man, I've never seen that before,
that's an art deco building.
JUAN: It's uh... for tires.
ROBBIE: Tires, yeah.
JUAN: Texaco, from Texaco.
MIKE: Wow, look at this thing!
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: And that was a tire rack.
JUAN: Yeah, a tire rack.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: Exactly, yeah. Um -hm.
ROBBIE: Yeah, it's so cool.
I've never seen one.
JUAN: No?
ROBBIE: How much is that thing?
MIKE: How would you get it out of here?
ROBBIE: Be quiet.
Juan & Mike: [laughs]
MIKE: He's got the most incredible tire cabinet on
the back of the property, that I've never seen.
Art deco, it's huge and it's beautiful.
And then when you climb on top of that,
you see the gas pumps all lined up in the back of it.
MIKE: Whoa... man, this building is insane!
ROBBIE: To me, it's like 1930s.
MIKE: [faintly] Alright, Juan...
JUAN: Yeah, it's from the '30s, yeah.
MIKE: Standing on top of this tire rack, looking out over his
property, you can see the amount of space that
he has to work with, but you can also see
how much inventory he has left.
Inventory adds up to dollar signs,
and that is what's going to help him move forward.
MIKE: Uugghh!
JUAN: Oh [beep] you got it out...
MIKE: So sometimes there is absolutely no
rhyme or reason to what you buy.
It's like you either like it or you don't.
Obviously this thing has been through the ringer.
But I can still see the potential in it.
MIKE: It's got potential. [chuckles]
JUAN: [laughs]
JUAN: That sign was nice.
Until it got burned in the fire, yeah.
They got destroyed.
MIKE: What was the advertising there?
JUAN: It was for an auto shop.
MIKE: God, it's cool.
JUAN: Yeah, it was...
it said 'auto repair', and it was a plastic, it lights up.
MIKE: Was it-was it...
oh yeah, yeah, man, yeah.
JUAN: And the whole thing goes,
ch-ch-ch-ch... around, you know.
MIKE: Juan bought this sign when the advertising was in it,
when the lights were workin.
He bought it when it was beautiful.
And I think that he appreciates that I see its beauty the way
it is now.
You know, there was a connection there.
MIKE: What are you thinking on it, Juan?
JUAN: Make me an offer.
MIKE: I mean...
JUAN: I don't know.
MIKE: 125 bucks. You want to do it?
JUAN: Take it, yeah.
MIKE: Alright, man.
Let me see if I can get it out of here.
♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: Robbie, look at this!
ROBBIE: I think it's badass.
MIKE: I know, it's got...
it's got its issues.
ROBBIE: It's cool.
MIKE: Alright. What do you got?
ROBBIE: 76. At least I got the 7.
Mike: [laughs]
JUAN: No, the 6 are there.
ROBBIE: There is a 6 here?
JUAN: Yeah, there's 2 sets, yeah it's back there somewhere.
ROBBIE: Ah, hold on here.
Let me... ugh...
MIKE: I got it...
ROBBIE: Oh here. Here's a 6.
JUAN: Yeah, there's a 6.
ROBBIE: Here's a 6.
You have 2, you have 276s?
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Okay.
JUAN: The other one is over there,
and it has neon around it, see?
ROBBIE: Yeah.
You got to bolt the whole thing together.
JUAN: Yeah, I take all the screws because it was so big.
ROBBIE: Oh, it's gigantic.
JUAN: I can't move it around.
[laughing]
ROBBIE: Yeah, how big's the ball?
It's like 10-foot?
JUAN: 6 feet.
ROBBIE: 6 feet.
JUAN: 6 feet.
ROBBIE: Round.
ROBBIE: I've never seen a porcelain 76 ball.
99% of the balls that you find, are plastic.
ROBBIE: Urgh... ugh! There's one.
ROBBIE: The most iconic gasoline station in America was 76.
Every NASCAR ran on 76 fuel.
If you remember the NASCAR track, they had a 76 ball that
was hollowed out and the camera guys were in the 76
ball filming the NASCARs going around the track.
This was in the early '70s.
The fact that this is a porcelain 76 ball,
is unheard of.
ROBBIE: This is one half.
JUAN: Yeah, one half.
ROBBIE: Right here.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Like that.
MIKE: Woo.
ROBBIE: 70...
MIKE: We get the- we get the gist.
ROBBIE: 6. It's upside down.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: You have the other numbers.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: You're positive?
JUAN: Yes. They're over there.
MIKE: They're over here? Well, look for them.
ROBBIE: You know, looking around here
and how this backyard's laid out,
you wouldn't think any person would
understand where anything is.
MIKE: Behind that blue piece?
JUAN: If you can see it, it's way in the front, you see it?
ROBBIE: Now?
JUAN: Oh...
ROBBIE: I don't see them.
JUAN: Maybe me and...
ROBBIE: Yeah, I was going to say,
Mike's got the right idea, you got to go up top.
JUAN: Walk onto the... holy shoot...
MIKE: Whoa...
MIKE: still don't see them.
JUAN: No?
MIKE: No.
ROBBIE: I see a ton of signs back here, holy Toledo.
MIKE: Ugh...
ROBBIE: I'm right here.
See that? Right there.
JUAN: You found it?
ROBBIE: Dang, Juan, you got [beep] everywhere back here.
MIKE: [chuckles]
ROBBIE: Huh.
ROBBIE: I'm looking, I'm looking...
yeah, you sure they're back here, Juan?
JUAN: Yes. Ow. Yeah, there behind...
ROBBIE: You know, he's like, no it's down there,
it's down right there, right there!
ROBBIE: Right there.
JUAN: The wall.
ROBBIE: Right there. JUAN: You found it?
ROBBIE: I see them, I found them.
ROBBIE: Bam! I found it.
He knew exactly where it was.
ROBBIE: Dude, for a guy that's got this much stuff,
it's funny you remember where everything is.
JUAN: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Holy Toledo, man.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Agh!
MIKE: What's that sign back there, Robbie?
ROBBIE: Right here? I don't know, let's see.
MIKE: Yeah, keep going.
Behind that door, the yellow one.
JUAN: It's mission, yeah, mission...
MIKE: Yeah, mission, what's that.
Yeah, let's see that.
ROBBIE: It's mission...
MIKE: That looks good...
ROBBIE: Nope. It's toasted.
Mission Orange.
MIKE: How much for the toasted orange?
ROBBIE: Mission.
JUAN: Um...
ROBBIE: It's bent up pretty good.
That thing's... it's pretty fried.
Mike: [chuckles]
ROBBIE: It's fruit juice.
JUAN: I paid like, 150.
MIKE: How much?
JUAN: 150. ROBBIE: A buck fifty?
JUAN: Because I like the bottle. [laughing]
I was thinking of cutting them up,
keep the bottle.
ROBBIE: Cut the bottle off.
JUAN: Yeah, cut the bottle off... yeah.
JUAN: 150.
ROBBIE: It's an unusual one, it's all I'm going to say.
JUAN: Yeah, it's old, very old.
ROBBIE: It's a wall-hanger...
MIKE: Alright, would you sell, would you sell it for
the 150 or you got to make 10?
JUAN: Yeah, I'd like to make 10.
[laughing]
MIKE: Alright, would you do 160?
JUAN: Yes.
ROBBIE: Alright.
MIKE: Alright, dude. Appreciate ya.
ROBBIE: Doing it.
MIKE: Appreciate you, buddy.
ROBBIE: Alright.
JUAN: Okay. Yeah, it's very old.
ROBBIE: Hey, since I'm back here, Amoco.
JUAN: Oh yeah, Amoco, yeah, I know...
ROBBIE: With the hanger...
JUAN: Double-sided. And it has the hanger.
ROBBIE: Double-sided, with a hanger.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: It's almost like Juan has bought every sign out
of southern California, for the last 30 years.
ROBBIE: It's a later version... it's in good shape.
JUAN: And it's in good shape, it's in good shape, it's not...
ROBBIE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: You know, this sign by itself doesn't turn a lot
of heads. But the fact that it's got the frame,
it's got the flame on it, everything's there,
make's it more desirable.
ROBBIE: 2,300.
JUAN: Hm... 25.
ROBBIE: I'm doing it.
JUAN: Yeah, it's in good shape.
ROBBIE: I'm doing it. 25.
MIKE: Alright, you got to get it out of there.
ROBBIE: I'll get it out of there.
MIKE: You want help?
Alright here, take that. And hand me the Shell.
Whoa, whoa, whoa...
MIKE: The reason Juan has all of this stuff is because
he was buying it when you could buy it.
I mean, all these signs were plentiful at one time,
you know, a lot of signs he's talking about,
hey I had that 15 years, had that 25 years.
You know, imagine going back in time, man,
and that's what this pick is like, going back in time.
Because you're seeing so much of something
that you used to see.
MIKE: Juan, grab it!
JUAN: Yeah...
ROBBIE: I got a hold of it...
JUAN: Okay.
MIKE: We're alright, we're alright, we got it.
ROBBIE: Damn, man...
MIKE: Alright, dude.
ROBBIE: Ouch!
MIKE: You alright?
ROBBIE: I'm fine... [group laughing]
JUAN: Sounds like...
MIKE: Yeah, baby.
JUAN: Look at how clean this sign is.
MIKE: Oh so clean...
JUAN: It's beautiful.
JUAN: You know, you saw the condition, it was perfect...
don't have a single chip, you know.
ROBBIE: Juan, 76.
ROBBIE: One thing about gas and oil signs, you always
look for the rarest. This fact that this is a 76 ball
that's porcelain and it's neon, no one's ever seen one.
MIKE: Here we go...
ROBBIE: Get this thing, we'll carry it out.
MIKE: You guys got it?
ROBBIE: Yeah, we got it.
MIKE: You got it?
ROBBIE: There.
I mean, when you bought this, was it all together?
JUAN: Yeah.
JUAN: The 76 ball, I found it in Pasadena.
Put it in the back of my truck, you wouldn't believe, I was
driving for the freeway and everybody going,
beep-beep-beep!
Wow, that's a good one!
[laughs]
MIKE: [panting]
ROBBIE: That looks like an aerial, doesn't it, Mike?
MIKE: I was going to say, aerial.
Looks like an aerial.
ROBBIE: Yeah, went through the fire.
MIKE: You sell that?
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: 50 bucks.
JUAN: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright, 50 bucks.
ROBBIE: The biggest thing for me on this 76 ball,
is I want it for my shop.
It's got to go up in the air, and it's got to go on a rotator.
JUAN: Make me an offer. [laughs]
Because I like it too.
ROBBIE: I know how that is.
So it's porcelain, so it came probably
late '40s into the '50s.
JUAN: Yeah, it's '40s.
ROBBIE: And yeah.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Do you remember where these came from?
JUAN: Yeah.
They removed them from the front of the refinery.
ROBBIE: This actually is all 4 pieces.
It creates a sphere, it's round.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: And then 76 is on the one side, 76 on the other side.
JUAN: On the other side, yeah.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: And it had neon on it.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: What do you got to have?
JUAN: 3.
ROBBIE: 3,000?
JUAN: Yeah.
If I can't get 3, I don't want to sell it. I like it.
[laughs]
MIKE: Yeah. I don't blame ya.
JUAN: I like it.
It's a piece, you know, that's hard to find,
I mean, something you can't find...
MIKE: When was the last time you saw one for sale, Robbie?
JUAN: That's the only one I ever seen.
I checked every...
ROBBIE: I've not seen any porcelain ones.
JUAN: Yeah. Okay.
ROBBIE: Listen...
JUAN: Ahh, he's shaking my hands...
[laughing]
ROBBIE: don't cry, don't cry.
I will put it back together, seriously.
JUAN: You have to send me pictures...
ROBBIE: I'll put it together.
JUAN: I want to see it.
ROBBIE: This will be the ball dropping in my shop at
New Years Eve.
JUAN: Oh you're going to put it in your...
[group laughing]
♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: This one?
ROBBIE: Lunch, yeah.
MIKE: Yeah.
You want to sell this big bastard?
JUAN: Depends, you know.
And at the corner, can you see the year?
ROBBIE: '35.
JUAN: 1935.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: Those colors they used in the '30s, yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: The Coca-Cola sign, everybody typically
shies away from the size of it.
But these in the last 5 years have demanded
some serious dollars.
MIKE: What's the-what's the I-would-sell-it price?
ROBBIE: Your comfortable price.
JUAN: I don't know...
ROBBIE: This one's got more hits on it.
Juan: [laughs] That one...
MIKE: It does got some bambo-jambos.
ROBBIE: It's been touched up.
MIKE: Been touched up, somebody's touched
it up over the years.
ROBBIE: They tried to save it from rusting.
I always take that stuff off.
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: I always strip it down.
JUAN: Oof... something like that...
probably like, 28, something like that.
ROBBIE: 2,800?
JUAN: Yeah.
ROBBIE: 2,800?
ROBBIE: The fact that this Coca-Cola sign says
'fountain lunch' on it makes it even more desirable,
where you could actually go to the drug store
and eat a sandwich and have a fountain drink,
and have ice cream, and pick your prescription up.
All those things.
Everybody's looking for these signs now.
MIKE: Go ahead... pull it...
ROBBIE: Hang on... ugh... here I got it, ugh!
Let me slide this down there.
Ugh, there, right there, Mike.
MIKE: What else you got here?
ROBBIE: You got... Sinclair...
MIKE: Sinclair, and behind that, Texaco, I think.
ROBBIE: Yeah, you got them stacked up
in here like cordwood...
Sinclair HC.
MIKE: Ahh!
ROBBIE: There it is!
MIKE: Ugh...
ROBBIE: 6-foot Flying A.
JUAN: Double-sided.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: One thing about collecting gas and oil,
it's all about distribution.
This was distributed in California.
And the associated brand was all over the West Coast.
So when you're in the West Coast, what do you buy?
The Flying A.
But only if you could find it.
MIKE: What about on that one?
Juan: [laughs] Make me an offer, I don't know.
That's a good one. Double-sided.
ROBBIE: 6 grand for the pair.
MIKE: 32 for this, 28 for that.
ROBBIE: 6,000.
JUAN: 6,000?
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JUAN: Alright.
MIKE: Alright, brother. So we gotta...
pull that out... here...
ROBBIE: I gotta freakin'... almost,
hold it... right there...
hold on, I got it.
JUAN: You want help getting it out of there?
ROBBIE: Ugh! I got it, ugh!
MIKE: Let me know when you're done.
ROBBIE: Agghh!
Whoa... ho no...
MIKE: Are you done?
ROBBIE: I'm done!
MIKE: Alright.
ROBBIE: I'm done.
JUAN: Push it.
MIKE: Aha! Agh...
JUAN: I, I can use the money now, so I have to let it go,
you know, I just close my eyes and let it go.
ROBBIE: Woo, dang.
MIKE: Hey, whenever I can buy a Coke sign from a
guy wearing a Coke shirt...
JUAN: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Seriously.
MIKE: [laughs] I know, I know how hard it is
for you to turn it loose, man, I know.
JUAN: I know how it feels, yeah.
ROBBIE: Dude.
JUAN: I love signs, you know.
MIKE: Juan.
Do you sell Coke signs very often?
JUAN: Yeah, it's the first time...
MIKE: it's the first time you've sold a Coke sign? Ever?
ROBBIE: Ever?
JUAN: Yeah, I don't like to sell any Coke signs.
[laughs]
JUAN: I don't think I'm going to sell any more signs, [laughing]
that's it for today.
MIKE: I know, right?
ROBBIE: Damn... [beep] this is like, heavier than hell.
MIKE: It was an unfortunate situation
that brought us together today.
MIKE: Alright, buddy.
MIKE: But working side -by-side with Juan,
and him knowing that we understand how important
this stuff is, I think brought him some closure
and hopefully got him a little closer to
where he needs to be.
JUAN: Thank you, I appreciate it.
ROBBIE: Thank you so much.
From one parent to another, it's a pleasure.
JUAN: Thank you.
ROBBIE: You got the kingdom back there, is all I can say.
MIKE: Hey, good luck with the city.
Juan: [laughs] I know.
MIKE: And if you're figuring out you need
a little bit more room...
ROBBIE: Yeah, just give me a call.
MIKE: Give us a call.
JUAN: Oh yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Alright.
JUAN: For sure.
[honks horn]
ROBBIE: Thanks, Juan!
JUAN: Alright! Bye-bye!
ROBBIE: That was a good day, man.
♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: We're covering some ground today, man.
ROBBIE: Alright, now the thing's spinning again,
it says rerouting.
MIKE: [laughs]
♪ ♪ ♪
ROBBIE: I'm starving.
MIKE: You getting comfortable?
MOM (ON PHONE): Hello.
ROBBIE: Hey Ma.
MIKE: Hey, I'm happy you called to check on us.
ROBBIE: Love you.
MIKE: Love you, Mama.
♪ ♪ ♪
ROBBIE: I know you told me to get this thing down.
DANIELLE: Yeah, I guess I just don't understand
why you didn't take it down last week.
ROBBIE: Dani.
DANIELLE: No, I mean, I'm just saying, 'cause I need it down
like, stat, 'cause Mike's going to be pulling up any minute.
ROBBIE: Okay. Give me 2 seconds here.
MIKE: I finally got the call, I got the heads up from Dani.
I can now go down and check out my brother's building that
he's been working on for 7 months.
She's been pulling me back, she's been
keeping me away, because...
she says... hm...
she says he wants to make me proud. So...
uh you know, he wants to, he wants to do
this building on his own.
ROBBIE: Here.
DANIELLE: Okay, ready?
ROBBIE: Yeah. Hold on, I got to hold onto it, alright...
DANIELLE: Oh... wait, wait, wait, I can't reach...
ROBBIE: I got it, alright... got it.
MIKE: The last time I saw my brother's building,
was about 8 months ago.
And when I walked in, I was like, my little brother
might be fighting above his weight here.
Because it's so big, it's 12,000 square feet, and he has
had other buildings before with different businesses,
but nothing this large.
And... to be honest with you, nothing with this kind
of transportation history.
MIKE: I mean, this was built as a body shop in the late '30s,
and it's always been something that served the community
- fixing cars, keeping people on the road.
Everybody's got a story for this building,
because it's so connected to the community.
♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: Our dad left when I was a 2 years old.
And we were raised by a single mom, she raised 3 kids.
My brother and I were only a couple of years apart,
and I never really understood my role as
an older brother until I got older, you know.
And I've realized how much...
you know, I've been there to guide him;
we've been there to guide each other.
But I'm older than him, and he's always looked up to me.
So the fact that he wants to do this building on his own to
kind of show me what he can do, and what he's all about,
is a really big deal.
MIKE: Hey -hey-hey-hey!
ROBBIE: Hey, what's up, brother!
DANIELLE: Hi! Francie!
MIKE: Whaddup!
ROBBIE: Dang!
DANIELLE: doing?
MIKE: Oh my... [group laughing]
DANIELLE: Isn't this cool? Look at it.
MIKE: Uh yeah. Looks a lot different.
It's amazing, it looks amazing, man.
[laughs]
ROBBIE: Hey, all I'm going to say is, it's getting there.
MIKE: Brother.
ROBBIE: Dude.
This freakin' looks awesome, doesn't it?
Look at this place, isn't it nuts?
DANIELLE: Yeah.
MIKE: Well, I'm trying to take it all in, I'm just, I'm-
DANIELLE: It looks like a neon sign museum.
MIKE: Yeah, looks like a neon museum, I know, right?
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Walking in and seeing this place done,
shows me that all the miles, all the towns,
and all of the backroads that we experienced together,
he was listening. My passion projects that were important
to me, were obviously just as important to him.
He's taken all of that, and now made it his own.
ROBBIE: I mean, this-you know, you taught me a lot,
and this is where I come from.
So you know, we both come from the same thing.
MIKE: As a big brother, I couldn't be more proud.
MIKE: Wow.
Okay, so you built this little façade here, obviously.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: But wasn't there a, like a building here?
ROBBIE: The mixing booth, for all the paint was right there.
It was a huge building.
MIKE: Yeah, I was going to say, there was like a
building in a building.
DANIELLE: And then this right here,
if you remember, that was all offices. Those all-
MIKE: Yeah, I remember there was a bunch
of offices over there.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
That was all solid walls right there.
DANIELLE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: With the break room and all that stuff.
We just tore all that stuff out.
DANIELLE: This is my favorite spot over here,
this little like, sitting area.
MIKE: You got a chill area, you created this chill area?
DANIELLE: Yeah.
MIKE: What year was the building built?
ROBBIE: This building was built in 1939, Carl Cleve & Son,
built it as a body shop.
So their business had been in town though,
over 100 years.
MIKE: Wow.
ROBBIE: So their great -grandfather started
doing carriages downtown.
Then he went into Model Ts, Model As, he went into the...
MIKE: Yeah, yeah.
ROBBIE: so the, the evolution of the car, think
about that, of motors across in this town...
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: started with this company.
DANIELLE: Wild.
MIKE: Well you know what, I, I think their family would
be really proud of what you're doing.
ROBBIE: It's...
MIKE: And... and I'm really proud of what you're doing.
ROBBIE: Oh.
DANIELLE: Aww...
ROBBIE: I'm serious. It's friggin' awesome.
MIKE: I am, man, I am.
ROBBIE: It is, it's awesome.
MIKE: I am.
DANIELLE: Get in the middle of that brother love...
I love it.
ROBBIE: Oh...
MIKE: [laughs]
DANIELLE: It's good stuff.