Sacramento Neon

We will start with some neons no longer in their original places, starting with the Rosemount.

Different restaurants have existed in this space, but now it is empty.  It is common for neon to disappear or move from place to place.  Next we have the Iceland ice rink in North Sac which burned down.

Sometimes I don't remember where they are, like this lovely boat.




I read that this sign is no longer on display and went on sale 2003-05-26.  The life of a neon sign can be brief.  I should photograph more.



I have a friend who is an architect, and she told me an interesting story about why the most common figure in neon signs is the martini glass.  Apparently it used to be illegal in California to say that a business was a bar.  You couldn't call yourself the Brunelleschi Bar as you would in Florence, but you could display a martini glass with an olive in, something that any American would recognize.





This beauty above used to adorn a bar on Broadway in Sacramento.  Only the round window, across the street from Tower Theater, remains.

 

Try not to scream.  This is my friend Jean sitting in the window--I know I asked her to look like that.  She looks like someone in a Hopper painting.  She's very tolerant.




Is it still neon if no one ever turns it on?  This was originally Sam's Hoffbrau but has gone through several incarnations since then.





Swanson's Cleaners signs still look like this, but they are no longer neon.

I love this abstraction, but I can't remember where it is.

This neon used to adorn the outside of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. It has been rescued and hangs near the Old Spaghetti factory.

This is another that I don't remember where it is, but isn't it gorgeous.

The original Tower Records neon when it was in good condition.