Neon News & Links / April 2020 - Part 2

Some bits and pieces of neon news here to help pass your springtime quarantine and give us all something to look forward to on the other side of the COVID-19 lockdown.  


(Frere Jones)

• Have you heard about the fabulous resurrection of the Essex Market sign on Manhattan's Lower East Side AND the new font it inspired? It's a story that warrants its own in-depth blog post and that's just what it gets via the graphic designers Frere Jones.


(Ephemeral New York)

• From the Ephemeral New York blog, we pause to admire the loveliness of Veniero's Pasticceria and its neon. 


(Coolhunting)

• In Brooklyn, the Turk's Inn has brought some vintage Wisconsin neon to Bushwick.  

 
(ShowBiz411)

• From the this-sounds-almost-quaint-in-our-current-dystopian-reality department: "New York is Allowing Developers to Kill The City" looks at three neon-crowned mainstays that hit the chopping block in 2019. 


(Old Salt Blog)

• From the related subjects department - New York State has banned giant Times Square-style floating billboards from circulating around the harbor on barges. 



(Sign Of The Time / Instagram)

• On Manhattan's Upper East Side, Healthwise Pharmacy has ditched its neon and gone LED.  


(NY Post)

• From the NY Post, a look at Times Square's ongoing LED-ification. 

(Atlas Obscura)

• Via Atlas Obscura: a celebration of Berlin's vanishing commercial typography. 


(Crosscut.com)

• A status check on Seattle's vintage neon, via Crosscut: "The city's most iconic signs are losing their vaunted glow to LED replacements. But not everyone is giving up on neon." 

(Buzzfeed)


• From the why-not department, via Buzzfeed: "Finding Your Soulmate Based On The Neon Signs You Choose." 


(CreativeMarket)

• From CreativeMarket.com, a deep dive into the fake neon trend (reported on in this blog back in 2018) in graphic design. 

 
(Debra Jane Seltzer / roadarch.blog)

• Debra Jane Seltzer has been making the rounds updating her encyclopedic, coast-to-coast documentation of signs and ephemeral architecture.  The news is predictably not good but the findings are as fascinating as they are heart wrenching, and, as with all of Debra Jane's output, meticulously organized.  Some updates by category: 

   - Midcentury Modern Architecture
   - Signs from Arizona to California 
   - Signs from Florida to Louisiana
   - Roadside Architecture - Gas Stations and Eateries
   - Car Dealers, Giant Animals, and Miscellany


(NeonSpeaks.org)

• And finally, something to look forward to, we hope: this September, the third annual Neon Speaks symposium is still on in San Francisco.