Neon artist's work is still up in lights

[Erik Sine]

Neon artist's work is still up in lights

By James Mayer, The Oregonian

April 17, 2010, 9:33AM

Stephanie Yao/The Oregonian

Gordie Hays hasn't heard about the controversy surrounding the Made in Oregon sign.

But he still takes pride in it.

Hays was one of two "tube benders" -- neon artists --who made the sign in 1957 when it advertised White Stag Sportswear.

Hays, 93, sits on the edge of his bed at Farmington Square assisted-living center in Tualatin and apologizes.

"I'm sorry, I can't answer your questions," he says in a soft voice.

His sons, Ron and Denny, are on hand to help tell his story.

Hays went to work at Ramsey Signs in 1937. "Times were tough --you took whatever job you could get," he says.

He learned the ropes, was drafted into World War II and then came back to Ramsey.

That's when he made the White Stag sign. According to a 1957 edition of Signs of the Times magazine, an advertising display journal, the sign contained one-eighth of a mile of neon tubing, inset with about 1,000 light bulbs, flashing in sequence.

Ron Hays says his father climbed up every year and installed the red sleeve that gave Rudolph his red nose at Christmastime.

He retired in 1982.

Hays also made two other famous signs, both the size of drive-in movie screens: the Carling Black Label Beer sign that used to be at the east end of the Burnside Bridge and an Olympia Beer sign that sat atop a downtown building. Both signs were destroyed in the 1962 Columbus Day storm.

Ron Hays says his dad used to take the kids on drives to show off his work.

Gordie Hays says he never worried about the danger of working with neon. "I was very careful with it," he says.

But his sons remind him of the time he was jolted by 50,000 volts of electricity. "It knocked you on your keester," Ron Hays says. His dad chuckles.

The sons play a videotape of the time their dad was interviewed on KOIN (6) television in 1979. Hays was said to be one of only about a half-dozen surviving neon artists in the city. "He's probably the only surviving one now," Ron Hays says.

He is shown bending glass tubes and remarking that he would have to train someone to take his place.

Ramsey Signs originally built the sign in 1941 advertising White Satin Sugar. It became the Made in Oregon sign in 1997. More recently, the University of Oregon wanted to alter the sign with a large "O" to advertise its presence in Old Town but dropped the idea when it met with objections by the city's Historic Landmarks Commission and Commissioner Randy Leonard.

Last month, Ramsey agreed to donate the sign to the city, which plans to change the sign to read "Portland Oregon."