Often associated with seedy motels, strip clubs and Raymond Chandler novels, neon signs and even high art are making a surprising comeback in the Bay. Skip to content. All Sections.

And neon signs were popping up everywhere right in the middle of it all. "Neon really hit the U.S. in the late 1920s," Swormstedt says. "By the early to mid-1930s, every small town had at least ...

According to neon historian Thomas Rinaldi, only about 130 of the 75,000 outdoor electric signs from 1923–1956 still exist. Proponents of the shift to LEDs highlight their lower energy ...

The National Neon Sign Museum in The Dalles, Oregon, is popular, too. Founder David Benko says, as interest in neon signs has gone up, so have prices and the number of pieces going to private ...

The first neon sign was installed in New York’s Times Square om 1924 and in Las Vegas in 1928. Doby’s Hotel Court in Montgomery, Ala., in 1980. John Margolies ...