2023: A Century of Neon in America

[GJ Design]

In 1923 a guy named Earle Anthony installed 2 signs at his L.A. Packard dealership, introducing neon to America. Contrary to many, neon is still alive & kicking - and soooo cool. To celebrate and to help promote many of the great neon fabricators I work with, I've been featuring some of my favorite neon sign designs in Northern Colorado & fun factoids about neon's cultural impact on my LinkedIn page:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/greg...Lr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.

Come check it out if you're a neon nerd like me or are in need of sign design services.

Here's a sample feature:

Project: 12 ft Tall x 6 ft Wide Neon Blade Sign
Client: Streets at Southglenn, Centennial CO
Conceptual Design: CommArts Boulder
Fabrication Drawings: Greg Jirik
Fabricator: Altitude Custom Signs, Ft. Collins CO (formerly Gardner Signs)
Year: 2009

 

[garyroy]

Very cool for sure, but a little fragile. Easily damaged.

 

[FreestyleSignCo]

Love neon! We have very few people in our whole state who do it. Hate how when you look up "Neon Sign" on google now it's a bunch of faux neon LED lights.

 

[Joe House]

but a little fragile. Easily damaged

I've seen neon signs that are decades old. There aren't a lot of signs put out today that have that kind of longevity. Gold Leaf is another that lasts. It's always fun to see either of these that are well done.

 

[JBurton]

Very cool for sure, but a little fragile. Easily damaged.

Not really, only when care isn't taken while handling it. Otherwise, you'd be amazed how resilient glass is. I got a request to remove this sign, hasn't been serviced since 2009 when it was installed, everything works... but guy wants us to store it until he's ready to do something with it. We'll likely hang it on our building until then, otherwise some dummy will likely bump into it.

 

[ProSignTN]

My and Harold went up on the mountain to retrieve a few sticks of glass about seven feet long with turn-backs. It was real cold and flickering snow, too wet for tape to stick. We laid each tube down in the grooves of the old Chevy truck bed and carefully sprinkled on log chain over the top. Didn't break a piece. Back in the day I serviced glass that was over seventy years old. Magnetek used to be Magnetek-Jefferson and before that just Jefferson. I replaced transformers so old they had a stamped metal plate with Jefferson mug on it.

 

[neutrinocv]

In 1923 a guy named Earle Anthony installed 2 signs at his L.A. Packard dealership, introducing neon to America. Contrary to many, neon is still alive & kicking - and soooo cool. To celebrate and to help promote many of the great neon fabricators I work with, I've been featuring some of my favorite neon sign designs in Northern Colorado & fun factoids about neon's cultural impact on my LinkedIn page:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/greg...Lr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.

Come check it out if you're a neon nerd like me or are in need of sign design services.

Here's a sample feature:

Project: 12 ft Tall x 6 ft Wide Neon Blade Sign
Client: Streets at Southglenn, Centennial CO
Conceptual Design: CommArts Boulder
Fabrication Drawings: Greg Jirik
Fabricator: Altitude Custom Signs, Ft. Collins CO (formerly Gardner Signs)
Year: 2009

View attachment 165257

 

[GJ Design]

Not really, only when care isn't taken while handling it. Otherwise, you'd be amazed how resilient glass is. I got a request to remove this sign, hasn't been serviced since 2009 when it was installed, everything works... but guy wants us to store it until he's ready to do something with it. We'll likely hang it on our building until then, otherwise some dummy will likely bump into it.
View attachment 165264

Agreed - I designed exterior neon signs over 20 years ago that are still in service. There are also a lot of great signs out there just waiting to have glass put back into them.

 

[GJ Design]

Parking Blade Shop Drawings