American Sign Museum: Celebrating 25 Years

Book Reviews

American Sign Museum: Celebrating 25 YearsAmerican Sign Museum: Celebrating 25 Years
By Text: Sam Roberts, Photography: Natalie Grilli, Design)
American Sign Museum, 2025
Hardcover & Softcover, 168 pages, Hardcover $84, Softcover $42

Reviewed by Josh Silber

A “Great Sign” will greet you as you arrive at the American Sign Museum (ASM) in Cincinnati. Anyone of a certain age will undoubtedly recognize the iconic totem that once stood out front of so many Holiday Inn hotels in America from 1954 to 1982. And while the Holiday Inn sign remains universally recognizable even after all these years, shockingly, the one outside the ASM is believed to be the “last authentic original” in existence. The surprising history of this Great Sign is just a small bit of the overall story of signage chronicled in a new book, American Sign Museum: Celebrating 25 Years, recently published by the American Sign Museum.

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The Golden Era of Sign Design: The Rediscovered Sketches of Beverly Sign Co.

Book Reviews

The Golden Era of Sign Design: The Rediscovered Sketches of Beverly Sign Co.
By Kelsey Dalton McClellan and Andrew McClellan
Chicago: Heart & Bone Signs and Heavy Pages Press, 2024
Hardcover, 216 pages, $85

Reviewed by William Swislow

It’s not often that you get to see technical diagrams of ghosts, but this book collects around 140 sketches that are exactly that — design drawings, complete with notes, color specs, and other instructions, from Chicago’s prolific Beverly Sign Co.

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Palm Springs Tiki: Polynesia in the Desert

Book Reviews

Palm Springs Tiki: Polynesia in the DesertPalm Springs Tiki: Polynesia in the Desert
By Sven Kirsten and Peter Moruzzi
Kaysville, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2024
Hardcover, 200, $35

Reviewed by Andy Panda Montero

The midcentury modern era and Tiki Polynesian pop culture flourished in the U.S. for several decades following World War II. Who would have considered combining them in Palm Springs, the desert oasis of California? That’s precisely what occurred, and authors Sven Kirsten and Peter Moruzzi bring this unexpected pairing to life in their stunning book, Palm Springs Tiki: Polynesia in the Desert.

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