Eastbound Memory Lane

One of the most-often-asked questions I answer when conducting museum tours is, “How did you get all these signs?” When I tell them I only started collecting in January, 1999, they are even more amazed.

“A little more than half are purchased; the other half are donated,” I explain. “But even when they’re donated, we still have to get them to the museum, and, in many cases, the signs are still hanging on the building and need to be taken down.”

Often, collectors, or even worse, sign dealers, hound the sign owner about buying these vintage signs, but, rather than see the sign whisked away into a private collection, the owner hopefully decides to donate it to the museum.

A sign, you see, is a lasting memory of the family business – an emotional tie to, or symbol for, a lifetime, even several lifetimes. I was reminded of this repeatedly during our East Coast roadtrip several months ago.

Our roadtrip to pick up signs in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut was long overdue. In some cases, signs had been held for us for nearly a year. Such was the case with the plastic Emerson TV sign, which Mike Lauretano Sr. had picked up and crated for the trip back to Cincinnati.

The 60-year-old Lauretano Sign Group (Terryville, CT) had rendered its services to the museum at least four other times. Lauretano backs its in-kind donations with financial support; the company has been a Sustaining Member since 2005.

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At our second stop, we picked up two signs – a projecting sign and fascia-mounted one – that had identified Bernie’s Army and Navy Store of Johnson City, NY. Just before the business closed, 3i Graphics & Displays took down the signs. 3i’s Scott Baker suggested to former store owner Bernie Smigel that he might want to donate the signs to the museum. Smigel was relieved, and very enthusiastic, to know that memories of the business would live on through the signs.

A 3i crew, comprising lead installer Steve Walker, Chris Bazewick and Sean Toney, took the sign down. Steve Kalafut and Zig Schaeffer loaded the signs on our trailer for transporting back to Cincinnati.

Baker, who coordinated the entire project, said, “I just can’t believe the press this has generated. Three different TV stations and our local regional newspaper were reporting on it. All ran features in their respective media. I’ve also had numerous phone calls from the public, expressing what a good thing the whole project was.”

Our final stop involved a circa-1950, porcelain-enamel, neon sign that had identified Joseph’s Pontiac in Norwell, MA, for more than a half century. Mass Sign, of nearby Rockland, had maintained the sign for many years, but was now servicing the aging sign almost constantly.

Thomas Healy, Mass Sign’s president, had suggested making a sheetmetal, updated (and code-compatible) copy of the sign and further recommended donating the original porcelain version to the museum.

Collectors had long sought this well-known sign, but Phil Joseph, patriarch of the auto dealership/service station, couldn’t part with the sign. However, given the sign’s aging mechanics, he liked Healy’s alternative suggestion. Phil’s nephew, John Joseph, heir to the business, agreed to replace the sign and donate the original to the museum.

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We picked up the sign at Mass Sign’s shop, but not before we met the Josephs and shared in the sign’s history. Everyone in the area knew the sign, and it had been the subject of at least one of the town’s annual calendars. It had also been featured in a promotional campaign for Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, who recently introduced his line of Redwing motorcycles.