THE SIGN SITS above the corner of 33rd South and Highland Drive, a silent reminder that it ain't 1959 any more. No T-birds with tail fins at the stop light below. No eight-tracks playing Diana Ross and the Supremes. No Andy's Smorgasbord just down the street.
Where does it all go? The Deeburger clown with the whirling nose is gone from across the corner, and the bicycling Wonder Bread girl with the rotating legs on the adjoining billboard, she took off too.All that's left are three stationary faces where the bobbing heads of Phil, Dan & Andy used to be - blank relics atop a gutted-out building that was once the very center of the shag carpet universe . . . CarpeTowne.
But wait. There's hope. The Mexican restaurant next door has bought the old CarpeTowne building and is in the process of remodeling the entire corner. And if you don't believe in destiny, then how do you explain the restaurant's name: "Tres Hombres?"
This is a marketer's dream.
Coming soon, "the three hombres" - Felipe, Daniel and Antonio!
Actually, those may not be the faces' new names at all. The owners of "Tres Hombres," Don Bostrom and Mike Gibson, are contemplating a "name the faces" contest in conjunction with the grand re-opening of their restaurant later this year.
But the good news is, the venerable three-headed sign is not only staying but will soon again be swaying.
Don himself went up on the roof a few weeks ago and replaced the electric motor that once kept Phil, Dan & Andy, "the carpet trio," going nonstop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Don also removed a number of different faces that were riveted, screwed or otherwise attached to the sign over the years, giving, as he put it, "new meaning to de-facing a sign."
Some things are so bad they go completely around the spectrum and become good. Like Courtney Love. Like this sign. For decades those goofy heads rocked back and forth at one of the most traveled crossroads in the Salt Lake Valley, hypnotizing one and all.
All around the valley, people would find themselves humming the CarpeTowne jingle ("Phil, Dan and Andy too, that's the carpet trio").
It was not uncommon for kids in the surrounding area to go as the carpet trio on Halloween.
If Bostrom and Gibson had tried to take the sign down, they'd have had trouble and they knew it.
"One lady called," says Don, "and said, `My children would shoot you if you took down the three guys sign.' "
So they're not taking it down, amigo. They're leaving it where it is, and adding serapes and sombreros.
I have some personal history with Tres Hombres restaurant. A church youth group with which I have been affiliated holds its annual All You Can Eat night at the restaurant, taking advantage of Tres Hombres' fine cuisine and the fact that on weeknights you can eat all of it you want for $7.99. A good deal in any language.
I was there the night Theran Selph ate the equivalent of four combo plates; I was there the year Jed Merrill, carrying at the very most 2 percent body fat, did better than that, amazing all the waitresses as they admired the performance from a safe distance; I was there this past summer when Clay Christiansen put away the taquito that set yet another new world record.
So I asked Don Bostrom if he's planning on continuing All You Can Eat night at Tres Hombres' new and improved location next door.
"We're keeping the same menu," he said. "We're trying as much as possible to keep everything the same."
So on the corner of 33rd South and Highland Drive, tradition still counts. Good for them. You can still eat all you want, and the three guys on the roof aren't going anywhere, they're just joining the '90s and getting a facelift.