Participate in the History of Neon in the US

[dydia]

The history of the neon sign industry in the US has not yet been written. What has been written is brief, and mostly focuses on Times Square and Las Vegas, overlooking the realities of the neon industry in other places.

Because neon only began in the US in the 1920s, it's still possible to collect the stories of people whose families have been involved in the industry from the beginning, or near the beginning.

Would you like to contribute your stories, your family's stories, and your business' stories to this history of the neon industry? How long has your sign shop been in the neon business? How long have there been tube benders in your family? How has your shop managed through the changes the industry has faced?

I'm a historical geographer, working with the support of the American Sign Museum on a book that will detail the rich history of this industry in cities and towns all over the country. The book will trace the spread of neon across the US, along with tourism, automobile travel, and highways, to show how neon transformed the American landscape. It will follow the industry from its first bloom in the 1920s and the end of Prohibition, through the Great Depression and the WPA Storefront Modernization program. From the blackouts of WWII to the boom in consumer culture of the prosperous 1950s. From the urban renewal and "Scrap Old Signs" programs of the 1960s-'80s, to the rise of neon art and "retro" neon in the 1980s and '90s. The book will reveal the challenges and synergies the industry has faced with competing technologies -- fluorescents and LEDs, plastic signs and digital message centers -- all have been seen as threats to neon's success and survival, but have also worked together with neon.

Neon in the US is nearing its 100th birthday. Will it survive to see that day? Let your voice be heard.

If you or someone you know has a long tradition in the neon industry, I'm interested in interviewing you.

Please contact me by email (preferred) at dydia@lsu.edu, or by phone at 225-937-9371.

Dr. Dydia DeLyser

Associate Professor of Geography

Department of Geography and Anthropology

Louisiana State University

[Erik Sine]

I hope quite a few members from this site contact you, on board or off, lot's of members here with longstanding family tradition in the neon industry. I don't see neon going anywhere, in fact it appears the demand seems to have been growing lately. Neon's also advanced into other areas of general lighting in the form of CCFL lamps as well.

Neon's been severely mis-characterized in years past, but that seems to be even turning a corner in our trade magazines starting with Signs of The Times.

Book or article?

Best to you on your project! Oh, and welcome to the SS

[jdragun]

I learned to bend in 1993 when I apprenticed in a neon shop. That was a fmily owned shop that was mainly vinyl and paint, but their son went to bending school (Wisconsin I think) and then the shop did it all. I stayed there for a few years then just freelanced with other shops helping when the workload was big enough. I opened a bar and restaurant up here in NY, and have a glass studio attached. I bend all my own beer signs etc. Work started comming in through there.

In the last 3 years opened a shop in the North Country of NY state (65 miles south of Canada.) It's funny how much things change, they stay the same. For all the great improvments, neon is still the only thing that LOOKS like neon. My shop as been getting busier and busier as the years are going by. I am the only bender for about 100 miles (and staying in the USA) and have picked up loads of wholesale work for all the local sign shops. That is the area I'm pushing, no customers to deal with, no sales tax to deal with, just a Corel file to plot, ot broken glass to fix. I have started getting people intrested in decor lighting latley, so let's keep it alive and well.

http://www.dragunsigns.com

John

Edited January 21, 2013 by Westcoast Sign Guy
broken link

[imanut]

A mere babe in the trade. Welcome, and your website in your reply is spelled wrong?

[dydia]

Thanks all so much for your interest! My book will be published by a university press (but that will take several years!). I really appreciate the discussion, and I'm happy to answer any questions on the list or provide more information. If you're interested in being interviewed it's easiest if you contact me off the list at my email address dydia@lsu.edu or on my mobile phone at 225-937-9371, or provide a link where I can contact you off the list so we don't clog people's inboxes.

Thanks again for welcoming me to the community!

Dydia

Dr. Dydia DeLyser

Associate Professor of Geography

Department of Geography and Anthropology

Louisiana State University

[jdragun]

A mere babe in the trade. Welcome, and your website in your reply is spelled wrong?

Heeh...oh yes, I am a babe in this industry, all they guys that I know in it are getting way up there in years! And No, That's my last name, Dragun, so I use that for the website. Hey some of us younger guys need to keep the torch burning , or neon that is......

[imanut]

I figured that was your last name, but until Eric changed your original post, it was spelled wrong, thus the link did not work. Glad to see that there are young guys coming into the neon field..........keep it up. Unusuall tie in between a bar, and doing neon --- I can only imagine your bar is full of novel, original artwork !! And you did not quite come out and say it, but us old farts, well, we are getting old-er.

gn

[jdragun]

I figured that was your last name, but until Eric changed your original post, it was spelled wrong, thus the link did not work. Glad to see that there are young guys coming into the neon field..........keep it up. Unusuall tie in between a bar, and doing neon --- I can only imagine your bar is full of novel, original artwork !! And you did not quite come out and say it, but us old farts, well, we are getting old-er.

gn

lol......I know I kinda like that in my 40's I'm the young guy in the business! As for the bar I have a degree from the Culinary Institiute Of America and have been a Chef for more years that a bender, but this business is starting to kill me, so I'm back at the cross fire and making neon, which I tink is more fun and much more profitable.

The thin gis you older guys have all the knowlage, and al lthe books I have and read all the time don't really teach the nuance of bending glass. Talking to people and trial and error are the real teachers. Thank god everyone I've met in this business is more than happy to chat about how they do things, because it seems we all do things a little diffrent.

John