The move is being mourned by local preservationists who are seeing mixed fortunes for the city\u2019s iconic neon signs as owners of businesses like Gottfred cash in on their private property.<\/p>\n
The future is unclear for another mid-century modern sign outside Pride Cleaners after the historic Chatham business closed last weekend<\/a>, leaving neighborhoods increasingly vulnerable to losing some of their clearest signs of identity.<\/p>\n \u201cI hate to be the guy who takes it out of Chicago, but I don\u2019t know if anyone was presenting Bob [Gottfred] with real opportunities,\u201d Rock said. \u201cHe maintained the sign. It\u2019s not unreasonable to expect a return at the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither would say how much the sign was sold for, but Rock said he \u201cbasically mortgaged the house\u201d to flip the sign for what he thinks could be a six-figure sale. He\u2019s looking for a Chicago collector or organization that will put it up for to public view \u2014 but couldn\u2019t guarantee the sign will wind up back in Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no one to blame,\u201d said Kelsey McClellan, a local sign-maker who is looking to start a nonprofit<\/a> for preserving the city\u2019s classic neon signs. \u201cWe need to figure out how the goal of preservation becomes more important than profiting.\u201d<\/p>\n McClellan said there\u2019s about 30 classic neon signs left in the city, from the famed marquees outside the Chicago Theatre and Wrigley Field to small businesses stretching the city from Candlelite Pizza in West Ridge<\/a> to Fox\u2019s Pub in Beverly<\/a>.<\/p>\n The nonprofit could offer tax write-offs to businesses willing to donate the signs for preservation, McClellan said. <\/p>\n But those same signs now fetch \u201cdemand as a form of art,\u201d Rock said. McClellan\u2019s effort faces challenges from private collectors with deep pockets \u2014 and a public that \u201cdoesn\u2019t know yet there\u2019s a problem,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe city has more difficult issues to face, but we have to collectively make a decision if these signs are worth saving,\u201d McClellan said. \u201cThey are a big part of our community that anchor us to our past and the histories and stories of the small businesses that made it.\u201d <\/p>\n The City Council passed an ordinance in 2023<\/a>, backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, allowing for new building owners to keep up designated \u201cvintage signs\u201d even if their permits expired. The ordinance saved the Grace\u2019s Furniture sign<\/a> in Logan Square after a developer bought the building.<\/p>\n But preservationists say there is little financial incentive for owners like Gottfred to keep signs up as public art after their small businesses twilight. Historical designations aren\u2019t given for signs without also landmarking the building, said Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. <\/p>\n \u201cThe costs fall on owners,\u201d said Miller, who named neon signs to Preservation Chicago\u2019s 2015 \u201cMost Endangered\u201d list<\/a>. \u201cThey could use a little help with waving fees.\u201d <\/p>\n Miller said neon signs used to light up Chicago streets before they began to decline in the \u201960s as new city laws limited signs, raised fees and required street safety inspections.<\/p>\n By the \u201980s and \u201990s, new technologies, like large-format printing and vinyl lettering, reduced skilled labor in sign-making, McClellan said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt effectively wiped out a huge number of sign makers who had learned in trade schools,\u201d said McClellan, adding sign-makers and muralists face a new threat from artificial intelligence<\/a>. <\/p>\n McClellan is seeing small businesses with thinner margins who are choosing to advertise online instead of betting on signs to draw customers. Strict city codes still limit large electronic signs that aren\u2019t grandfathered in, she said.<\/p>\n McClellan\u2019s sign business, Heart & Bone, recently did free restoration work <\/a>for Central Camera\u2019s famed neon sign Downtown. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe few historic signs left, they\u2019ll never be replaced,\u201d McClellan said. \u201cAny minute a business owner can get an offer, and another sign is gone.\u201d <\/p>\n Gottfred held on to his sign even when he had to move it \u2014 and the auto shop \u2014 from its namesake intersection to west of the Chicago River near Milwaukee Avenue nine years ago. <\/p>\n Gottfred never really liked working on cars growing up in the shop. But he stepped up to take over the business after the family\u2019s heir apparent, his stepbrother, also named Bob, died in a water-skiing accident. Gottfred eventually passed down much of the work to his two sons, Jim and Jay.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a dirty job, getting up at 5 in the morning,\u201d Gottfred said. \u201cBut I decided to do it, and 50 years later to the day, we sold.\u201d <\/p>\n The business was started in 1934 by Gottfred\u2019s stepfather, Ivan Goodmonson, the son of Norwegian immigrants who were \u201cbroke farmers\u201d in Bemidji, Minnesota, Gottfred said. <\/p>\n Goodmonson shucked corn in Iowa and hopped freight trains to Chicago with a dream of making it in the city\u2019s budding aviation industry. He rented three stalls in the alley near Erie and LaSalle streets from a \u201cdrunken German\u201d and fixed up cars to get by, Gottfred said.<\/p>\n Eventually, Goodmonson bought the building, and he put up the sign that cemented the business, even as the neighborhood changed around it.<\/p>\n Gottfred counts 2024 as the shop\u2019s best year. The Gerber deal wasn\u2019t the first time he\u2019s been made an offer for it. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always been a sheer volume of cars around Downtown,\u201d Gottfred said. <\/p>\n Gottfred was recently fixing his windshield wipers. Now he\u2019s coming back from a golf vacation in the Dominican Republic with plans for a ski trip. <\/p>\n As he heads into retirement, taking the sign down \u201cto all kinds of reactions, it makes you bluer,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to miss the insurance companies. But the people. The people, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n McClellan said she wishes preservationists had gotten to Gottfred sooner. <\/p>\n \u201cPart of keeping the sign up is keeping the family\u2019s story alive,\u201d McClellan said. \u201cThere\u2019s stories tied to the sign.\u201d <\/p>\n Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_8823-1024x666.jpg\")
The former Pride Cleaners, 558 E. 79th St., now known as Family Strong Fold, closed on Fed. 28, according to managers at the store. Credit: Atavia Reed\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Blank-2000-x-1333-5-1024x682.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
The iconic Erie-LaSalle Body Shop sign was hauled away to an antique restorer in the suburbs after the family sold the 92-year-old business on February 13, 2026. Credit: Nathan Rock<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/030326-Neonsign-4-1024x682.jpg\")
A new Gerber Collision & Glass sign hangs at 1005 W Huron St. on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Credit: Jeremy Battle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/030326-Neonsign-3-1024x683.jpg\")
A new Gerber Collision & Glass sign hangs at 1005 W Huron St. on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Credit: Jeremy Battle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n