Return to SOHO Home Page


About SOHO
Become a Member
Reflections Newsletter
Coming Events
SOHO Museum Shop
Preservation Links
Giving
Historic Districts
Research your House
Resource Directory
Save Our Heritage Organisation Magazine cover
Save Our Heritage Organisation
Magazine

2008 - Volume 39, Issue 1/2



By George Franck

Neon is derived from the Greek word "neos," meaning "new gas." Neon light can be documented back to 1675, when French astronomer Jean Picard noted that mercury in a sealed barometric tube emitted a faint glow. Another Frenchman, George Claude, created the first neon light in 1855 by applying an electrical charge to neon gas enclosed in a Geissler tube.

The first neon lamp became available in 1902, but neon tubes were quite fragile and therefore difficult to ship. Local production of neon signs exploded when the patent for neon lighting expired in 1932.

While North Park's commercial districts began developing with the arrival of the Streetcar in 1907, downtown North Park experienced it greatest growth in the late 1930s and the decade following the Second World War. The popularity of neon signage peaked during this same period. Today North Park retains a handful of interesting neon signs, but it is uncertain how many neon signs along old US Highway 80, in North Park's commercial core and in its neighborhoods have been lost. During this same pre- and post War growth period, similar neon signage was being included in suburban San Diego town centers and along the region's highways.

Wink's Shoe Repair (1949).

Today, North Park's best-known neon signs are on University Avenue: the 1935 Pekin Café sign, the animated Wink's Shoe Repair sign just west of 30th Street, and the reconstructed North Park Sign, which was initially fabricated in 1935.

North Park's most elaborately detailed neon sign advertises a Chinese restaurant, located just west of the North Park Theatre. The building was originally built as a furniture store in 1921; the Cho Book You Restaurant opened there in 1931. Following the repeal of prohibition, the restaurant emerged as a dinner house with dancing. To advertise this evolution, the restaurant's name was changed to the Pekin Café and the façade was modified in 1935 with the addition of this early neon sign.

Increasing automobile use after World War ll encouraged the development of a suburban commercial corridor along El Cajon Boulevard, with off-street parking lots and neon signage.

Located on a storefront immediately south of the North Park community sign, the animated neon sign for Wink's Shoe Repair Shop was originally designed in 1949 for a shop on Broadway in downtown San Diego. Wink's and this North Park shoe shop became part of the 30-store American Shoe Repair chain during the 1950s; the chain's owner moved the sign to North Park in 1960.

Pekin Café (1935).

Designated as a San Diego Historical Resource, on this neon can sign an elf hammers on a shoe, with his arm and hammer moving into three positions. As the hammer strikes the shoe, neon sparks fly into the elf's eye, causing him to Wink.

Stern's Gym (1948) and New Life Laundry (1961) side by side on Granada Street.



The original North Park sign was purchased with money raised by the community's business group and its women's auxiliary, and first suspended over the intersection of 30th Street and University Avenue in 1935. The original was about the same size as the current one, but it had straight edges and its original color is not known and North Park was spelled with neon letters.

The sign was lowered after the removal of the streetcar wires in 1949 and was fabricated in the current scalloped shape sometime prior to 1958. It was removed for repair in 1967, but

Frank the Trainman's animated sign, when lit up it appears to have smoke coming from the stack and steam from the cylinders as the drive rods and wheels roll.

was never returned. In 1993, the current sign was placed on a column in the median of University Avenue, just west of 30th Street. Shortly thereafter, a new neon sign identifying old US Highway 80 - The Boulevard - commercial corridor was placed at the west end of El Cajon Boulevard, just east of Park Boulevard, also in North Park.

A number of neon signs remain just off of University Avenue. Most notably, the Stern's Gym sign identifies the second-floor gym that Leo Stern opened on Granada Street in 1948. This sign was in use when Steve Reeves (movie's Hercules), Lou Ferrigno (television's Incredible Hulk) and now-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out there. A second neon sign on the same brick building identifies the New Life Chinese Laundry. Founded in 1961, the New Life is believed to be the oldest Chinese laundry still operating in San Diego. To the north of University Avenue, a neon sign locates the FLT-Sunset Temple on the Kansas Street side of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Hall, next to the Claire De Lune coffee shop.

"In the early years neon signs stopped traffic as people stared in fascination and it wasn't long before neon was everywhere. Theater marquee, night club and restaurant signs became an integral part of the streamlined American landscape." - Joan Bramsch

Increasing automobile use after World War II encouraged the development of a suburban commercial corridor along El Cajon Boulevard, with off-street parking lots and neon signage. The streamline Rudford's Restaurant storefront is topped with its name in neon script. Farther west at the up-scale Imig Hotel, now the Lafayette, the location of the Red Fox Room Restaurant is advertised in capital neon letters. Located just to the west of North Park, is Frank the Trainman's neon locomotive, although Frank's store was redeveloped, this wonderful historic sign remains.

Jimmy Wong's Golden Dragon restaurant (1955) in nearby Hillcrest is a San Diego icon.



During the 1950s, bowling alleys appeared in nearly every suburb in America. North Park was no exception, with the Aztec Bowl and its parking lot located on 30th Street just north of the Boulevard. A tall neon sign, with a separate, backlighted Aztec face element was located over the building. When the Bowling Alley was redeveloped for housing, the sign was relocated to the edge of the project and remains visible from 30th Street just north of the Boulevard.

Although located slightly outside of North Park, no list of El Cajon Boulevard neon signs would be complete without noting Frank the Trainman's neon locomotive at Park Boulevard. Although Frank's store has been redeveloped, his wonderful sign was moved to the replacement office building. And, of course, a towering neon majorette used to mark the College Drive-In Theater on the Boulevard to the east of North Park. SOHO now owns this landmark sign, which was relocated to the College Grove Shopping Center when the drive-in was redeveloped.

And back on University Avenue, the Palisades Gardens Roller Rink at Utah Street was demolished in the mid-1980s. Although its large neon word signs are lost, a recent remodel of the replacement building now has cursive neon lettering that again declares: Palisades Gardens, but at a much smaller size.

The North Park Community Association History Committee published a book on North Park last year and is transitioning into an independent Historical Society for the community. The Society is working with several groups to develop historical neighborhood walking tours; the tour of the commercial district was the genesis of this article. As with the first book, the long-range objective of the Society is to document the history of North Park, perhaps with a second book on the community's mid-twentieth century events and architecture. Neon is a part of that history.

A retired SANDAG planner, George Franck (AICP) volunteers with the North Park History Committee and is a member of SOHO's Modernism Committee.


More from this issue



SOHO Home

Copyright ©2008, Save Our Heritage Organisation. Copyright Warning