Vintage neon signs

[LizzieMaine]

Coke used to run "spetcaculars" like that San Francisco sign in just about every good-sized city, but they've been shutting them down one by one for years now. Maintenance and energy costs are a big part of that, but I think the main reason is the same reason they stopped using painted wall signs -- people just don't notice the Coca-Cola logo, on its own, anymore. Make a deliberate effort sometime to count the number of times you see it each day and see how many of those sightings you would have noticed if you hadn't been deliberately trying to notice them. Coke's Boys ran an experiment along those lines and were surprised by the results.

That sign, by the way, makes an appearance in the best post-apocalyptic novel ever written, George Stewart's "Earth Abides," when it's one of the last functioning remnants of pre-global-pandemic civilization.

 

[tonyb]

Somewhere in Humboldt County. (I lifted the image.)

 

[tonyb]

Coke used to run "spetcaculars" like that San Francisco sign in just about every good-sized city, but they've been shutting them down one by one for years now. Maintenance and energy costs are a big part of that, but I think the main reason is the same reason they stopped using painted wall signs -- people just don't notice the Coca-Cola logo, on its own, anymore. Make a deliberate effort sometime to count the number of times you see it each day and see how many of those sightings you would have noticed if you hadn't been deliberately trying to notice them. Coke's Boys ran an experiment along those lines and were surprised by the results.

That sign, by the way, makes an appearance in the best post-apocalyptic novel ever written, George Stewart's "Earth Abides," when it's one of the last functioning remnants of pre-global-pandemic civilization.

A person doesn’t have to a fan of the Coca-Cola Co. to appreciate the style of its logo and the place it occupies in the popular imagination. We have Coke in the fridge and a rusty old Coca-Cola sign screwed above the door of one of our sheds. (It’s really the underside of the lid from an old vending machine, one of those horizontal chest types, but most people wouldn’t know that if they weren’t told.)

I’d think that the civic good will that could be had by preserving that big ol’ sign in SF would be worth the expense. But, you know, maybe that’s just misty-eyed me.

I’m hoping that LEDs will spark a rebirth of spectacular outdoor advertising.

 

[Blare]

A person doesn’t have to a fan of the Coca-Cola Co. to appreciate the style of its logo and the place it occupies in the popular imagination. We have Coke in the fridge and a rusty old Coca-Cola sign screwed above the door of one of our sheds. (It’s really the underside of the lid from an old vending machine, one of those horizontal chest types, but most people wouldn’t know that if they weren’t told.)

I’d think that the civic good will that could be had by preserving that big ol’ sign in SF would be worth the expense. But, you know, maybe that’s just misty-eyed me.

I’m hoping that LEDs will spark a rebirth of spectacular outdoor advertising.

Despite their incredible convenience and adaptability I find the LED screens a bit of an eye sore in many city settings. Added to that is that there can hardly ever be any nostalgia factor as with the convenience comes the artwork changing in an instant and when they are turned off. They are just a big black rectangle. However... They do tend to look well in places that have gone all in on them.

After saying all of this... and as much as we pine for these neon historical relics... I imagine many folks in their time were quite upset in seeing those gaudy audacious structures popping up in their pristine environments. Proclaiming them “Eye Sores!”

 

[tonyb]

I part company with my greener friends and acquaintances when the subject is outdoor advertising — particularly illuminated outdoor advertising. I don’t love all of it, but I am fond of much of it, even the relatively inexpensive, ubiquitous, backlit plastic panels. When I lived near a suburban shopping center — a supermarket, clothing store, branch banks, restaurants, specialty shops, etc., in several buildings separated by acres of parking lots — I often spent a few minutes at dusk taking in the play between the waning daylight and the artificial light from all those signs, as it took center stage.

It has become the unremarkable stuff of our everyday lives, easy to overlook. But there’s beauty in the mundane.

 

[tonyb]

Seattleites of long standing will remember this sign. If you didn’t notice it while driving northbound over the Aurora Bridge at night you really had no business driving.

 

[tonyb]

Another lifted image ...

 

[BobHufford]

Another lifted image ...

Yep ... Kansas City (Overland Park). Stayed there a few times. They still had self-serve (honor system) nickel donuts the last time I was there (late 1980s).

 

[tonyb]

A Seattle landmark for decades. The land is now too valuable for such a use. The sign is now entrusted to the Museum of History and Industry on South Lake Union, maybe a mile away. It’s to be restored and put on display.

 

[tonyb]

Frostop in LaPlace, Louisiana. Image lifted from their Facebook page.

 

[Haversack]

A hive of neon. A trip down Market Street, San Francisco in December of 1966.

 

[Fading Fast]

A hive of neon. A trip down Market Street, San Francisco in December of 1966.

Great video, love the signs and love the streetcars. Thank you for posting it.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Johnny Plath, whose passion was restoring old neon signage along old Route 66, has died of (you guessed it) Covid-19. He restored the fabulous Roto-Sphere in Moriarty, NM, of which I wrote back in Oct. 2015.

 

[tonyb]

Johnny Plath, whose passion was restoring old neon signage along old Route 66, has died of (you guessed it) Covid-19. He restored the fabulous Roto-Sphere in Moriarty, NM, of which I wrote back in Oct. 2015.

Well, damn.

 

[BobHufford]

https://www.route66news.com/2020/12/27/st-robert-begins-restoration-of-stanley-cour-tel-neon-signs/

 

[BobHufford]

This came across on a Facebook group I watch. Diggin' those travel trailers in the background as well.

In Pueblo, Colorado for 80 years.

 

[BobHufford]

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Come on in.

Rob

 

[Zombie_61]

^ ♫ And we'll have fun fun fun 'til her daddy takes the T-Bird awaaaaaaaayyy... ♫

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Palace of Sweets.

Rob