You can’t not notice a neon sign, and that’s why they made them. Think of your father peering through the windshield of the station wagon, through the dark of the highway at the approaching motel’s vacancy sign. That burning red glow of inert gas once transformed America’s cities and its roadside attractions with razzle-dazzle, flickers and flashes of brightness.
Once considered glamorous, neon signs might now be termed the under-class of the light bulb world. All over the country, these one-of-a-kind signs are coming down. Even in Las Vegas, the old “Say I Do and Drive Through” sign is gone. What’s lost when the neon glow goes.
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New England Neon
through September 14, 2003
National Heritage Museum
Lexington, Massachusetts
www.monh.org
Neon Unplugged: Signs from the Boneyard
through January 4, 2004
Nevada State Museum and Historical Society
Las Vegas, Nevada
www.neonmuseum.org
Guests:
Sandra Harris, Executive Director, The Neon Museum, Las Vegas, NV
Dave Waller, whose neon collection is on view at the National Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA.