The iconic Santa Monica neon sign will come down for reparations, revealing the community behind the city\u2019s sign makers<\/p>\n
As Angelenos turn off lights in their homes at night, the outside world remains aglow thanks to the city\u2019s neon signs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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 \u201cPackard\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 main contact for signage in any form.<\/p>\n
Their team uses heated glass tubes, bending them into letters, curves, and shapes. The process, both artistic and technical, attracted Signmakers\u2019 founder, Paul Stoakes. Formerly an engineer, Stoakes assembled a 20-person team to restore the city\u2019s signs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In their latest project, Signmakers renovated the Bob Baker Marionette Theater marquee in Highland Park.\u200a<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019s handcrafted and artists made \u2014 we wanted to go that route.\u201d Mary Fagot, co-executive director of the BBMT, told LAist.<\/p>\n
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The Museum of Neon Art is fighting to prevent traditional neon from \u201cdying out.\u201d 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.\u00a0\u201cIt gives meaning to a neighborhood and to a community,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Now, one of the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
A company called YESCO in Las Vegas will restore the sign\u2019s 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 \u201cWelcome to Fabulous Las Vegas\u201d sign.<\/p>\n
Still, no Angelenos are looking forward to the restoration more than the city\u2019s own sign makers. \u201cThe love is really important to being a sign maker because it\u2019s more than just a sign. It is a community beacon. It is a symbol of hope,\u201d said Siegel to LAist. \u201cIt is this cosmic call.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The iconic Santa Monica neon sign will come down for reparations, revealing the community behind the city\u2019s sign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[113290,48,52,51,47,50,49,192438,34462,192439,192440,192441],"class_list":["post-494830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bob-baker-marionette-theater","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-museum-of-neon-art","tag-neon","tag-neon-signs","tag-nimoy-theater","tag-rialto-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}