Show Originally Aired: 7/7/2003 CALL 1 800-423-TALK
Let There Be Neon
"Simple Simon and the Pieman," Howard Johnson's Restaurant, originally in Reading, PA Email to friend
Easy come, easy glow. The art and history of sizzling, irresistible neon.
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
