Petaluma rallies to save its oldest neon sign
Mark Barber, left, and Erik Hernandez of the company Fastsigns of American Canyon hoist the sign onto a truck in Petaluma, Calif. Katherine Rinehart
From SFGATE: Paul Barber reaches into a bucket, retrieving the feathery remnants of a dead bird and a chunk of a wasp’s nest. “The things you’ll find in an old sign,” the veteran sign-maker of over 50 years says with a grin, dusting his hands off on his jeans. “There was a lot of bird’s nest in this one.”
We’re standing inside one of his family’s old shops on the corner of Pennsylvania Street in Vallejo, where a 200-pound neon chick shrouded in butcher paper stands out among endless shelves of tools and ladder-lined walls. A cluster of people — a historian, two neon advocates, the owner of the sign and Barber’s brother, Mark — surround it like surgeons at an operating table, keenly inspecting it for lettering patterns and precise tracings.
After nearly a century of watching over Petaluma, the city’s iconic landmark — and one of the last surviving remnants of its heyday as the “egg basket of the world” — was removed from its roost above a faded brick building. But it won’t be gone for long.
Why Iconic 100-Year-Old Upstate New York Sign Was Removed
From the Hudson Valley Post: An iconic sight on the Electric City skyline in Upstate New York is coming down.
There’s a reason behind the move that should make residents happy.
The General Electric sign that towers above a building on Erie Boulevard in Schenectady is being removed. It features 10-foot-tall steel letters.
At one time, it was the largest neon sign in the country.
Meet the 98-year-old ‘Angel of Route 66’
Johnny Kompar/ Serenity Strull/ BBC
From the BBC: Angel Delgadillo still welcomes travellers to Seligman, Arizona – the town he fought to save when the “Mother Road” was forgotten.
On a dusty stretch of northern Arizona, about an hour west of Flagstaff, the neon glow of Angel and Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop still flickers to life each morning.
Inside, 98-year-old Angel Delgadillo greets the stream of visitors pouring in from tour buses with a handshake and a grin bright enough to power its own neon sign. Its barely 09:00 but the shop is already buzzing with people from around the world searching for a tangible piece of nostalgia: Route 66-themed T-shirts, mugs, water bottles, key chains and other tchotchkes filling the store floor.
Roadside attraction Mystery Hill seeks new owner near Jackson County
The exterior of Mystery Hill, 7611 US-12 in the Irish Hills. The roadside attraction is for sale for just under $300,000. Danielle Salisbury | DSalisbury@mlive.com
From mlive.com: JACKSON, MI – An Irish Hills roadside attraction, known for its oddities and gravitational illusions, is for sale for $299,000.
Mystery Hill, located in the Irish Hills along U.S. 12, was established in 1952. Current owner Dirk Dole is selling the business, hoping to find someone who will continue its legacy, ERA Reardon Realty Associate Broker Fred Hetherwick said.
Dole, from California, purchased the property four years ago. Hetherwick said Dole has spent considerable effort restoring the attraction into a profitable business, which is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Warsaw’s Neon Museum sparks revival of interest in cold war signs and aesthetic
The museum’s collection of cold war-era signs attracts more than 100,000 visitors a year. Photograph: Ilona Karwińska
From The Guardian: As they struggled through the decades of cold war gloom and repression, Warsaw’s neon signs became symbols of light, colour and hope of brighter days. What had started as a form of Soviet propaganda sparked a wave of creativity in the Polish capital that even the Communist authorities could not crush.
But after communism ended in the late 1980s, many of the signs lost their purpose and began to disappear, left to rust where they hung or removed and taken to the scrapyard.
Several decades later, neon is enjoying a renaissance in the city. Many historic signs have been restored as new ones are custom-made for bars and restaurants as a nod to the past.
Meanwhile, Warsaw’s Neon Museum, created in 2012 by Ilona Karwińska, a Polish-British photographer, and her partner David Hill, a graphic designer, attracts more than 100,000 visitors a year to see its collection of cold war-era illuminations.
‘Fabulous 7 Motel’ neon sign from 1966 restored in El Cajon
From CBS8: EL CAJON, Calif. — A piece of history collecting dust and covered in rust is once again shining bright.
The neon sign from the Fabulous 7 Motel in El Cajon has been in the same spot since 1966. It’s since been restored and is now part of the history of the East County Transitional Living Center.
They held a re-lighting ceremony on Wednesday night.
Local woman working to restore, reopen historic diner in downtown Union Grove
From WTMJ: UNION GROVE — Callen’s, situated along Main Street in Union Grove, dates back to the 1940s but has been closed since 2010. Now, Andrea Rafel can be found spending hours at the diner, working to bring the restaurant back to life.
“It is a labor of love, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rafel said.
Rafel and her husband, Travis Cadd, both born and raised in Union Grove, bought the restaurant in November.
100 years of neon: Meet the Tulsa business keeping the Mother Road glowing
The Blue Whale of Catoosa is adding a new visitor’s center featuring a new Claude Neon Federal sign to be on display at the Route 66 stop. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer
From the Tulsa Flyer: Meadow Gold. Mayo Hotel. Circle Cinema. The Brook.
These iconic neon signs light up Tulsa’s night sky, and they share a common origin story. They were all created by the talents at Claude Neon Federal Signs, a Tulsa business celebrating its 100th anniversary this year alongside Route 66.
Joe Kesterson, senior designer at CNF Signs, said he believes the company’s history is cosmically intertwined with Route 66.
“The route is mostly known for neon, and I think that coincided with when Georges Claude, the man that invented neon, started licensing to the United States,” Kesterson said.