There’s Nothing Like a Neon Sign

THAT SIGNATURE GLOW. The eye-catching color. The artistry of the curved glass design. For all these reasons and more, neon has been a star of signage — promoting everything from Vegas headliners to the local bar or barber — for more than a century.

More recently, with the growth of other lighted sign alternatives, including LED-lit channel letters and faux-neon LED, the market for actual neon has become more niche. Clients who seek neon today tend to scope it out specifically for its iconic look and throwback feel.

Here, three signmakers share recent, custom projects that prove wherever signmaking may go in the future, there will always be a market for neon.

Gary Gowwer, Jr. (in photo at right) has experienced a growth in neon work over the past several yeaars.

NICHE SPECIALTY

SHOP: G&L’s Sign Factory | LOCATION: Bethlehem, PA | URL:  glsignfactory.com

Neon has a timeless appeal that works with both vintage and modern aesthetics, says G&L’s Sign Factory owner Gary Gower, Jr., who has been fine-tuning his neon signmaking skills for decades. “It’s something we really take pride in doing here,” he says. “It’s a specialty niche for us. Over the last six years, we’ve really put a focus on neon work, and other sign companies have begun referring people to us when clients are interested in neon.”

Recently, Gower’s neon work has tended to fall within one of two broad categories: repairs of vintage signs, often for residential collectors, and new creations for retail and business owners drawn to neon for its wow factor.

“I have clients who will pick up old neon signs at a yard sale or estate sale, and they want to refurbish or bring them back to life,” Gower explains. “Then there’s the new design projects, like one we’re doing for a local chiropractor who wanted to add some neon in his front window to attract attention for his business.”

Recently, Gower restored a replica neon sign, likely from 2010 or after, with Native American imagery. Meant to copy the style of vintage neon, the piece also has circular bulbs “chasing” around its perimeter when the sign is running.

The problem was, the sign wouldn’t light up. Through testing, Gower tracked the sign’s trouble to a single faulty neon unit. So, he flushed out the old gas, put new electrodes on and refilled the glass tube with new neon gas to restore function. Now back in working order, the sign includes red, white and blue neon plus the row of flashing lights along its edge.

“It’s not a terribly time-consuming or expensive repair,” he says. “Repairs like this typically range from about $70 to $150 for materials, plus labor, per neon unit.”

He also recently got a neon sign that reads “Doll House,” likely from the 1970’s, back in working order for another collector. The sign had exposed wires and electrical connections bound only by tape, so Gower worked to safely rewire and add silicon boots to each neon unit.

“Collectors tend to have an appreciation for what you’re doing, and they want the finished project to look good and be safe — and they’re willing to budget accordingly,” Gower says.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Gower has written a number of online-exclusive columns on neon, available at signsofthetimes.com/gower.

Fresno Neon custom built this sign for local business Grape Harvester Sales & Parts.

ONE-OF-A-KIND INSTALLATIONS

SHOP: Fresno Neon Sign Co. | LOCATION: Fresno, CA | URL: fresnoneon.com

In operation since 1932, Fresno Neon Sign Co. is, these days, doing considerably less neon work than in decades past. Still, the shop employs Daniel Hood, a third-generation neon bender, as a central part of its team, and it has no plans to drop “neon” from its company name.

“There’s so much history with the name,” explains company president KC Rutiaga. “And while we don’t do a lot of neon anymore, we remain the only neon tube bender left in the Valley, as far as I know.”

While its primary markets have now shifted to architectural signs, including channel letters and routed signage, Fresno Neon still sees a steady call for vintage neon sign repairs, even from other area signmakers, who subcontract neon repairs to Rutiaga’s team. “We also do a lot of over-the-counter repairs for people who have neon beer signs in their bars or restaurants, and they’ll bring those in to get refurbished,” Rutiaga says.

Recently, the shop’s neon know-how has also been tapped for unique specialty projects, including an art installation at Arte Américas, an art center in Fresno.

Lying backwards on the work table, a museum exhibit sign reads “Arroz is Arroz” (rice is rice), a line from poet José Montoya.

For this client, Hood is working on creating a new neon sign that reads “Arroz is Arroz,” which translates to “rice is rice” and represents a line from influential Chicano poet and artist José Montoya. Uniquely, the sign is designed to include a clear cover, so that the inner workings of the neon components will be in plain view.

“It’s designed so that you can see all the transformers and wires and everything, so viewers get a sense of how they all work together,” Hood says. For most projects, Hood’s preference is to use EGL electrodes and Voltarc tubing, since both are fairly easy to source.

“For this project, the phrase ‘Arroz is Arroz’ had to be in neon — it was the only medium that could convey the weight and vibrancy of José Montoya’s work while connecting to the cultural history of signage in the Valley,” explains California-based graphic designer Juan Karlo Muro, who co-curated the exhibit in collaboration with Arte Américas.

“For our 2023 exhibition, we had to settle for an LED version due to budget constraints, which always felt like an incomplete realization of the vision,” Muro adds. “Receiving the grant to create this piece in neon allowed us to finally do justice to the work and bring it to life as it was always intended.”

Rutiaga’s team has also completed new neon builds for several small businesses that want the pop of real neon as a statement piece for their workspaces. From projects like a grape piece for Grape Harvester Sales & Parts in Fresno County to a boot sign for Ariat International Inc. in San Leandro, Rutiaga’s team works to create new, custom pieces that capture neon’s timeless appeal.

This year, Rutiaga’s team plans to contribute to another unique neon sign project for The Garage, a new retail development coming to downtown Fresno on the site of a former auto mechanic garage. The plan is to add new pink neon to refurbish the development’s existing vintage pylon sign.

“We were attracted to neon as a way to create something special in Fresno’s emerging brewery district,” says site developer Reza Assemi. “Neon brings with it a nostalgic feel, and it casts such an eye-catching, fun glow on the street.”

CAT Graphics’ hometown client, Public Drug Co., wanted a more extensive neon sign for its new location.

No SUBSTITUTE

SHOP: CAT Graphics Inc. | LOCATION: Great Falls, MT | URL: catgraphics.net

When it comes to neon, “some people just want the real stuff,” says CAT Graphics president Carey Gray. Like Gower and Rutiaga, Gray says she fields steady requests for vintage neon sign repairs, particularly from individuals with old signs they’re hoping to refurbish as showpieces in man caves, bars or garages.

She also sees a fair share of business owners who insist on neon for their signage because they simply love the historic look of it.

For example, Little’s Lanes, a bowling alley in Great Falls, wanted to keep its vintage rooftop neon bowling-ball-and-pin sign looking as authentic as possible, so they were adamant about keeping it in neon rather than changing over to LED. Gray’s team removed the sign, stripped it down to the metal and then primed and repainted it before replacing all the old neon gas with new gas. The process restored the sign to its original glory.

“The customer was very happy with the end result and with the fact that they were able to keep authentic neon glass, just as it had been for many years,” Gray says.

A straight-up strip-down and refurb did the trick for a bowling alley sign client who did not want to switch to LED.

In contrast, CAT Graphics’ design for the multicolor neon wraparound frontage at Public Drug Co. in Great Falls represented an opportunity to pour their talents into a new, labor-intensive original build.

“The client insisted on neon for their new location. Their old location had existing neon, but not as extensive or as beautiful as what we made for them at their new location,” Gray says.

The multicolor, large-scale neon sign has become a landmark of the city’s Central Avenue. And while Gray’s team had to go over budget on labor, the effort was worth it: “The end result is truly spectacular at night,” Gray says.

PHOTO GALLERY (12 IMAGES)