New England Neon

By Susan Mara Bregman

Explore the colorful history and beauty of neon signs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

The golden age of neon in New England lasted more than 30 years, from the dark days of the Great Depression through the go-go years of the 1960s, but its spectacular legacy remains—if you know where to look. With dozens of original color photographs and informative text, New England Neon takes armchair travelers—and nostalgia lovers—up and down the main streets and back roads of the region, from the shores of Lake Champlain to the tip of Cape Cod. Photographed and written by Susan Mara Bregman, the volume celebrates the style and exuberance of these one-of-a-kind creations in Boston and Brattleboro, Kittery and Cranston, New Haven and Weirs Beach. Evoking an era when New England glowed at night, this book might make you want to go candlepin bowling or grab a hot wiener and a coffee milk.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781439665299

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The neon sign was born on January 19, 1915—truly a red-letter day (and blue, green, and yellow). On that date, French inventor Georges Claude received a United States patent for his system of illuminating by luminescent tubes.

Neon lights are sealed tubes filled with certain gases—often, but not always, neon—with an electrode at each end. The gas glows in the presence of an electrical current. The color of the light depends on the mix of elements inside the tube and the use of phosphors to line the glass. Neon gas glows a familiar red-orange, for example, while blue lights usually come from a combination of argon gas and mercury vapor.

Claude was not the first to work with electrified gases—other European scientists began experimenting with the process in the 19th century—but he was the first to exploit its commercial possibilities.

A Packard car dealership in Los Angeles is often credited with installing the first commercial neon sign in America, less than a decade after Claude received his patent, in 1923. People were said to drive miles to marvel at the modern technology, popularly dubbed liquid fire, and police reportedly were called in to manage the crowds. But researchers have lately cast some doubt on that tale, proposing that neon signs instead made their debut in New York City or possibly San Francisco.

No matter where they started, neon signs quickly found their way to New England, where they lined main streets and back roads, illuminated theater marquees and doughnut shops, and directed patrons to gas stations and bowling alleys.

Today, some people dismiss neon signs as rusty roadside relics. But they are much more. Neon signs represent the intersection of art, science, and commerce.

Neon signs are individual works of art. They are handmade by artisans, known as sign benders, who painstakingly create one-of-a-kind displays.

Neon signs are magical, using science to transform downtowns and highways into extravagant showcases of color and motion.

Neon signs are time-travel machines, bringing us back to an era of mom-and-pop businesses where the waitress and the grill man knew their customers and how they liked their eggs.

Neon signs have tales to tell about the American dream, served up one doughnut at a time.

Neon signs remind us of special times: ice cream on a sweltering summer night, celebrations at a favorite restaurant, or first dates at a downtown movie palace.

In short, neon signs matter.

I covered thousands of miles in cars, trains, buses, and even ferries to research these signs. Sometimes I traveled with sign-spotting friends, and other times I was on my own. I tried the corned beef hash at as many diners as possible, saw an elephant on a rooftop in Maine, and traversed my first covered bridge in New Hampshire. But my favorite part of tracking down these vintage beauties, aside from encountering the magical words breakfast all day, was finding patterns and drawing connections.

Some themes crossed state lines. Enterprising Rhode Island restaurateurs created the New York System hot weiner. The Coney Island hot dog, a similar delicacy, settled into Worcester, Massachusetts. Perhaps in celebration of the region’s long history, New England is full of Colonial Theaters. The oldest of these illuminated their venues with incandescent lights, but others had lovingly restored neon marquees.

Many diners employed a naming strategy to better attract women customers by feminizing their location. The Miss Florence Diner, known locally as Miss Flo, had the most exuberant sign, but I also encountered Miss Portland, the newly refurbished Miss Mendon (née Miss Newport), and several of their non-neon sisters. Not surprisingly, many of the diners in New England were manufactured locally by the Worcester Lunch Car Company (WLCC). WLCC built 651 diners between 1906 and 1957, and each one had a serial number. I included those numbers in the text when available.

I also enjoyed the o-ramas—not to mention the a-dromes—popular mid-century linguistic twists that pepped up everything from bowling alleys to hot-dog joints. (Yes, there is a Wein-O-Rama in Cranston, Rhode Island.) Speaking of that Cranston spot, neon signs also document regional expressions that are largely unknown outside New England—the liquor markets known locally as package stores, the old-school dry cleaners doing business as cleansers, and Rhode Island’s affinity for hot weiners (not wieners, which is the standard spelling). Signs