LEDs + Lighting

McHale’s Long-lost Neon Sign Found

Published

14 years ago

May 24, 2010

Susan Conner Signs of the Times May 2010 Issue

The website Lost City (www.lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com) reported finding McHale’s Bar’s neon sign inside Emmett O’Lunney’s pub on W. 50th St between Broadway and Eight in NYC. McHale’s had suffered its demise in 2006. The website reported O’Lunney’s owner had made an offer on the sign days before McHale’s closed, and, when he bought it, restored and installed it.
McHale’s disappearance left Broadway stagehands and members of theatrical unions without a primary watering hole. James McHale had bought the bar, then known as the Gaiety Café, in 1953, after having served in World War II. The bar’s long wooden bar hailed from the 1939 World s Fair.

Introducing the Sign Industry Podcast

The Sign Industry Podcast is a platform for every sign person out there — from the old-timers who bent neon and hand-lettered boats to those venturing into new technologies — we want to get their stories out for everyone to hear. Come join us and listen to stories, learn tricks or techniques, and get insights of what’s to come. We are the world’s second oldest profession. The folks who started the world’s oldest profession needed a sign.