Balmoral Hotel’s historic neon sign to be trashed by City of Vancouver
The Balmoral Hotel sign on East Hastings in Vancouver on March 29, 2022. PHOTO BY ARLEN REDEKOP /PNG
From the Vancouver Sun: The City of Vancouver has decided to trash the iconic neon sign from the Balmoral Hotel.
The elaborate sign had been a fixture at 159 East Hastings since the 1930s, and was one of the last survivors of the golden age of Vancouver’s neon.
But the Balmoral Hotel fell into such disrepair it was closed down by the City in 2017. The building is now owned by the City, which has decided to tear it down.
The four-storey high sign was more or less left to the elements the last few years and was looking weathered. The City took it down in three sections June 26 and sent it to Knight Signs in Delta.
Order up! History Museum on the Square opens exhibit featuring Route 66 restaurants
Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader
From the Springfield News-Leader: Dozens of photographs, vintage menus and even a Mason jar full of barbecue sauce make up the History Museum on the Square’s latest exhibit.
“Order Up! The Restaurants of Route 66” opened Wednesday and will run through Sunday, Nov. 6 at the history museum, located at 154 Park Central Square.
The special exhibit features a variety of eateries that welcomed, and some that continue to welcome, travelers along Route 66 to Springfield.
Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor plan Roaring 20s anniversary gala
The restored Serro’s Diner, formerly located along Route 30 in Irwin, is on permanent exhibit at the Lincoln Highway Experience transportation in Unity, operated by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. Tribune-Review
From Triblive: Lincoln Highway enthusiasts can celebrate the country’s first coast-to-coast highway — and those who promote it — during a Roaring 20s Anniversary Celebration from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 20 at Latrobe Country Club.
Hosted by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, the night will include cocktails, buffet dinner, music by Deja Vu, silent and live auctions, 50/50 drawing and cash bar.
The celebration is a belated 25th anniversary celebration for the nonprofit LHHC, designated in 1995 as a Pennsylvania Heritage Area by then-Gov. Tom Ridge.
The organization promotes the legacy of the 200-mile Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania.
Downtown Stamford’s long-lost family stores come to life in new documentary
The new documentary “Remembering The Family Store” attempts to take a personal look at the mid-century shops of Downtown Stamford, including Syl-May Pharmacy. The documentary will screen for an encore performace in August at the Avon Theater. Contributed by the City of Stamford by the Ferguson Library
From the Stamford Advocate: Lou Sabini remembers it all.
When his family’s business, the furniture and appliance store P. Sabini & Company, moved from Downtown Stamford to Shippan, he was just a teenager. Still, he remembers all the shopkeepers on their slice of Pacific Street feeling like family before that move.
He remembers occasionally sharing wares with the other furniture salesmen in the neighborhood in a pinch. He remembers it so clearly that he still dreams of it even now.
“I’m my age now, and I’m with my father, and the store is boarded up — this is after we moved out — and he opens the workshop door, and I walk in, and there’s everybody,” he said in the new documentary.
That documentary, “Remembering The Family Store,” is a tribute to the Stamford of people’s memories, which for many existed from 1945 until 1960.
Spotlight: Let There Be Neon
From the Tribeca Citizen: With Let There Be Neon (at 38 White) celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, I thought it was an excellent time to talk to owner Jeff Friedman (below, with Carl Ozehoski) and get the tour that I have always wanted. The place is a treasure trove of neon art, or art and neon, as well as a real working factory — one of the last of its kind in the neighborhood.
To mark the occasion, LTBN has commissioned work from five artists — Ivan Navarro, Curtis Kulig, Zoe Buckman, Hank Willis Thomas and Steve Powers — each of whom will produce an edition of 10. Stay tuned for more on that.
I was able to watch the sausage get made and chat with Jeff about the history, the highlights and what’s next in the world of custom neon. Short answer: the future is bright.
Rare Lakeview Ghost Signs Saved Just Days Before Demolition Thanks To Donations
Andrew McClellan pries a nail out of the wood panels that hold the rare ghost signs in the 3600 block of North Ravenswood Avenue on Aug. 12, 2022. Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
From Block Club Chicago: LAKEVIEW — Preservationists were able to safely remove rare ghost signs that have brought people from across the country to a Lakeview building just days before it was set to be demolished.
Chicago-based sign painters rallied and set up a fundraiser so they could rescue decades-old painted ads that were found on the building at 3609 N. Ravenswood Ave. when its siding was removed in July. The building and its long-hidden ads were set to be destroyed as developers transform the property.
But this week, the painters got on scaffolding and pried each nail from the nearly century-old wooden boards and gently took down the massive ads.