Neon light sign says it
Maybe I’ve been in the city too long, but I adore neon lights.
Manufacturers can do stunning things with LEDs and lasers and pixelboards these days, but there’s nothing like the old-school, gaudy charm of neon. Expensive, fragile, hard to shape, but timeless. Dangerous and friendly, sleazy and classy all in one.
As a kid, I used to love looking at neon tubes up close. The way you could see the gas flowing and glowing inside the tubes was mesmerizing and magical. I still stop and stare at them sometimes, but as an adult I look like an idiot when I do so.
I pass 48 neon signs on my way home from work - I counted (more on that later.)
So, last night I thought I’d snap a few pictures of the ones near my house. I looked like an idiot doing that, too, but you have to admit they are pretty in their own way.
Dig that phone? It sits on a desk in a street-level office on Queen St. Who cares if it even works?
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 02-05-2007 | 10:02 PM
Posted in: Apocalypse signs
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Even though I now reside in the red neon-lit doorways of Amsterdam… I do get a wee bit homesick when I see the Gilly’s sign on your blog. Miss my east end digs!
The east end is going upscale right quick, but there are a few stalwarts like Jilly’s and the Hell’s Angels clubhouse to maintain our “grit”. There were rumours a year ago that Jilly’s was going to be turned into a boutique hotel, that that was wishful thinking. They could fix their “W”, though…