The iconic Santa Monica neon sign will come down for reparations, revealing the community behind the city’s sign makers

As Angelenos turn off lights in their homes at night, the outside world remains aglow thanks to the city’s neon signs. 

For many years, Los Angeles claimed to have produced the first neon sign in the world. Long thought to be the pioneer of neon signage, L.A. car dealer Earle C. Anthony installed two large script neon signs reading “Packard” in 1923. Though recent research reveals the first true neon sign was born in Newark, New Jersey, the city still embraces neon signage as a symbol of L.A. culture.

One business known as Signmakers L.A. works to preserve, restore and create the neon signs the city is known for. From graduation banners to major preservation projects, the group is Los Angeles’ main contact for signage in any form.

Their team uses heated glass tubes, bending them into letters, curves, and shapes. The process, both artistic and technical, attracted Signmakers’ founder, Paul Stoakes. Formerly an engineer, Stoakes assembled a 20-person team to restore the city’s signs. 

Cinema marquees are one of their specialties: Signmakers LA restored the Nimoy Theater in Westwood, the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena, the Vision Theatre in Leimert Park, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

In their latest project, Signmakers renovated the Bob Baker Marionette Theater marquee in Highland Park. 

“The art of traditional neon is something that is dying out, although it is having somewhat of a recent resurgence. We knew that to keep in the spirit of everything that we do at Bob Baker, everything that’s handcrafted and artists made — we wanted to go that route.” Mary Fagot, co-executive director of the BBMT, told LAist.

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The Museum of Neon Art is fighting to prevent traditional neon from “dying out.” Displaying historic signs and neon fine art, the museum has an on-site fabrication facility where visitors can learn the tubing process Signmakers has perfected. “It gives meaning to a neighborhood and to a community,” the executive director of the museum, Corrie Siegel, told PBS. Immigrants throughout Los Angeles have used neon signage to establish their place in the community; the museum showcases signs from Little Tokyo, Lebanese businesses, as well as other minority communities.

Now, one of the city’s most well-known symbols, the arched white-and-blue Santa Monica Pier is being taken down for repairs. Standing at the entrance to the pier since 1941, it has become a locally famous landmark of Los Angeles. The city vows to restore the sign with its historical character once the Pier finishes construction on the Pier Bridge in late 2027.

A company called YESCO in Las Vegas will restore the sign’s neon tubing, remove rust, and rewire some of the structural components. Though Santa Monica did not choose to send the sign to a local repair shop, the city likely chose YESCO due to their past work on the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.

Still, no Angelenos are looking forward to the restoration more than the city’s own sign makers. “The love is really important to being a sign maker because it’s more than just a sign. It is a community beacon. It is a symbol of hope,” said Siegel to LAist. “It is this cosmic call.”