The Big Texan

Hotels, inns, bed-and-breakfasts and other places weary motorists, epicurean adventurers and the average family who seek a rat-race reprieve lay their heads away from home offer diverse personalities. Whether a vintage, urban establishment, a delightfully gaudy, roadside, tourist attraction or an urbane resort, lodging with distinct personality successfully attracts loyal clientele for whom it’s a destination unto itself.

Predictably, signage plays an integral role in developing an establishment’s brand and caché. Whether majestic, modern or “off-the-grid,” boarding establishments harbor a basic need for graphics with character. Whether depicting a handcarved panel, a neon throwback or a larger-than life icon, this roundup may incur a fit of wanderlust despite stratospheric gas prices.

In the late 1950s, Missouri restaurateur Bob Lee migrated to Amarillo, TX, with his family, to realize his cowboy-culture fascination and open the Big Texan Steak Ranch and Motel. A few years later, a ravenous cowpoke challenged him to serve him steak until he was sated. Four-and-a-half pounds of artery-clogging beef later, the man was full, and an idea was born. The Big Texan offers a 72-oz. steak dinner free to anyone who can clear his plate in one hour. Tens of thousands of diners have attempted the feat; according to the Big Texan’s website, roughly one in six succeeds. The 30-room, frontier-style hotel features large, handpainted lettering on most facades, several billboards that tout events and its signature gastronomic challenge, and, of course, the towering, 158-ft.-tall, smiling cowboy that greets I-40 motorists.