When a Bar Closes, Who Gets the Neon Sign?
Ashok Sinha for The New York Times
From The New York Times: This is about a bar fight, but not one that involves drunk customers throwing boilermakers — or haymakers — at each other. At issue is a distinctive neon sign that used to frame a dive bar on the Upper East Side, a place where the playwright Wendy Wasserstein said “it makes a lot of sense not to order wine.”
The sign spelled the name of the Subway Inn in red letters — and followed the bar, as it moved from one storefront to another, and another. Then, last month, the sign disappeared — taken, by all accounts, by the new tenant in the storefront that the Subway Inn vacated in December.
The new tenant said that the sign belonged to him because the Subway Inn had not removed it. Steve Salinas, whose family operated the Subway Inn for more than 15 years, disputed that claim and went to the police.
It was once a Black neighborhood’s community hub. Now, North Charleston plans to honor its history.
Plans for the former Al’s Diner on East Montague Avenue in Liberty Hill include turning the building into a welcome center for the International African American Museum. Kenna Coe/Staff
From The Post and Courier: NORTH CHARLESTON. SC — The fate of a vacant diner in Liberty Hill has remained uncertain for years. Now, a plan is in the works to transform the empty building into a community space.
The city plans to purchase the former Al’s Diner property from The Charity Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the nearby Charity Missionary Baptist Church, that has owned the building since 2022. A price has yet to be determined, according to the city’s spokesman, and city council will have to approve the sale.
In October, the foundation listed the property for $711,000. While the city expressed interest in buying the property at the time, the city’s spokesman said an appraisal they initiated valued the property at $111,000 and the city wouldn’t “overpay” the appraised value.
Effort to designate Pittsburgh gay bar as historic meets pushback from founder’s estate
From KDKA: PITTSBURGH — A once-popular Pittsburgh bar is one step closer to getting a historic designation after the Historic Review Commission met on Wednesday.
Donny’s Place in Polish Hill was the hub of LGBTQ life in the city from 1973 to its closure in 2022. If the designation goes through, it would be the first queer history landmark in western Pennsylvania.
“As we continue to lose the people and places that can tell the stories, we feel Donny’s is a good candidate for designation and can inspire other related nominations,” said Elizabeth Anderson, who is working to ensure its history is not lost to new development and nominated it for landmark status.
Restoration Of Historic Tumble Inn Sign Almost Complete
Tumble Inn as seen in the John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive in the Library of Congress
From Cowboy State Daily: CASPER — The 21-foot-tall neon Tumble Inn cowboy that spent decades beckoning to drivers along U.S. Highway 26 in Powder River, Wyoming, is nearly back to life.
After 18 months of work to restore his smile and cowboy hat, his signature red neon thumb that waves back and forth, welcoming people to come on in is working again.
It’s part of a herculean effort to restore the historic cowboy that was nearly lost to the elements and time.
The hope is that sometime in late spring, the long-and-tall Tumble Inn Cowboy will be standing his ground in downtown Casper.
City of Amarillo to restore three historic Route 66 neon signs with state grant
(Raygan Lopez/KVII)
From KVII: AMARILLO, Texas — The city of Amarillo, in collaboration with the Texas Historical Commission, has announced plans to restore three neon signs along the historic Route 66. The restoration project aims to boost the local economy and draw attention to small businesses in the area.
“We’re trying to boost the economy of small businesses,” said Drew Brassfield, assistant director of planning for the city of Amarillo. “Definitely looking to remind folks there are great businesses in these neighborhoods and anything that we can do within the confines of government we certainly want to attract more people to these parts of town.”
How 6 Historic Movie Theaters Maintain the Magic of The Big Screen
The West Shore Theatre’s Art Moderne exterior remains intact. Marc Faubel
From Savingplaces.org: To catch the latest new-release arthouse film in Missoula, Montana, you can head to the Roxy Theater, a nine-lives sort of place that almost burned down in 1994. But the Roxy also offers an international action-movie series called “Inferno of Danger,” in which stars like Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Bruce Lee rule the screen. (Attendees often wear costumes.) In fact, the 1937 theater hosts many different film series a year, all created and curated by staff members with an infectious passion for cinema. “Our programming is the only reason the Roxy is here and is not some kind of North Face store or parking lot,” says Executive Director Mike Steinberg. “It’s just the way the movie fanatics who work here like to experience movies and community together.”
That mix of culture and community is key to the survival of the nation’s remaining historic movie theaters, even while streaming services and the after-effects of the COVID pandemic have wreaked havoc on the industry. Deep-pocketed corporations and film directors have occasionally stepped in to buy and preserve classic movie houses like the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, which Netflix recently purchased and restored. But more common approaches to sustaining a theater’s operations include converting to a nonprofit organization and diversifying offerings to include food, drink, repertory films, or live performances. Hosting film festivals is another popular way to build audiences. “Folks who do film festivals bring together people from all walks and all different intentions,” says Kate Markham, managing director of the independent movie-theater alliance Art House Convergence.