HalloNeon

Hurricane Sandy has nixed this year's Halloween Parade, darkened neon all over town and destroyed one of the city's best historic signs (more below).  So here's some spooky neon to brighten this post-hurricane Halloween.

Though I try not to digress too much from NYC-related subject matter, I just had to make an exception for this little Halloween-themed gem from Detroit.  I ran across this while perusing old issues of the Claude Neon News at the New York Public Library.  Published for just a few years around 1930, the Claude Neon News showcased the company's work for promotional purposes.  The March 1929 issue featured this installation, conceived by Detroit's "city authorities" to "keep motorists and street railway passengers apart."  Oh for the days when traffic planners resorted to red neon skull-and-crossbones to keep us safe!

(Claude Neon News, March 1929 / NYPL)

Alas, these little neon Jolly Rogers didn't last long.  In July 1929 the Claude Neon News ran a blurb under the headline "Replacing the Skull and Crossbones."  Some bureaucratic killjoys apparently decided that a simple neon rectangle would suffice in place of Claude’s more spirited traffic advisory.  "The reaction to the Claude Neon skull and crossbone display previously used by the city for the same purpose was that it was a bit too gruesome." 

(Claude Neon News, July 1929 / NYPL) 

IN OTHER NEON NEWS:

• By way of the ATZ Blog, the Shore Theater's wonderful vertical sign in Coney Island has been trounced by Hurricane Sandy.  Utterly heartbreaking.

The old Loew's Shore Theatre sign, lost to Hurricane Sandy. (T. Rinaldi)

•  From the Lost City blog: bad news for Gallagher's Steak House on West 52nd Street, set to close in January after 85 years.

Gallagher's, soon to close. (T. Rinaldi)  

UPCOMING NEW YORK NEON TALKS: 

• Nov. 19, 2012 at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

• Nov. 29, 2012 at the Skyscraper Museum
• Jan. 24, 2013 at the 92nd Street Y TriBeCa 

Jack-o'-Neon

Nothing says "trick-or-treat" like this neon pumpkin, who has brightened my diurnal walk to work from his perch in the display window of the Goodwill Store on West 25th Street near Sixth Ave.  He is emphatically NOT for sale ("boss says I'd get fired if I sold it") but appears to be the work of the Neonetics of Hampstead, Maryland, and can be found on eBay for about $40.

The 25th Street Goodwill meanwhile has some noteworthy neon of its own.  The facade is crowned by a fascia sign with fluorescent blue neon tubes shielded behind a sheet of stainless diamond-plate steel, from which Goodwill's comic-sans-like logotype glows in silhouette when the sign comes alight.  Unfortunately it is mounted rather high up and is somewhat obscured by a big street tree, making it a little difficult to see.  Langston Hughes once said that he liked neon signs "as much, if not better than trees."  While I might agree in some contexts, on West 25th Street I'm content to have both.

Happy Halloween, Goodwill Store!  I'll see you for some last minute costume shopping this Saturday...

IN OTHER NEON NEWS  

I have added a handful of new signs to the main New York Neon site: 

• The Sheraton New York, formerly the Americana (sign gone now)    

• The Essex House, on Central Park South  

• The recently-landmarked Shore Theatre in Coney Island   

• The American Airlines terminal at LaGuardia, and 

• Added a better photo of Queens Wines & Liquors     

And, from Brooklyn, word of new life for Hinsch's Confectionery.