With its low self-esteem and high urban blight, Hartford is the ultimate underdog city. Sad City Hartford documents the joys, sorrows and eccentricities of New England's Rising Star.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Hartford's Best Neon Sign


Neon is a tough thing. Part tacky and part crass commercialism, neon signs conjure images of gambling and strip bars. Yet with the passage of time old neon signs have reached an age where they are nostalgic if not downright relics from an earlier era.

This neon sign is outside a package store on New Park Ave and in our opinion is damn near a museum quality piece. Everything about this sign just screams a different era, the size, the neon letters, the arrow pointing in, the bubbling martini glass. When do you think was the last time someone went into this package store to get the ingredients for a nice martini? This sign is just straight awesome.

The package store is nothing special. It is small and has a limited selection. Yet like the "Enjoy Sprite" sign outside the Trinity restaurant, the Billy's Package Store sign is a brilliant relic from a bygone era and should be celebrated by the Hartford community. We don't know of anything else in town even remotely like it.

6 comments:

  1. I've always enjoyed this sign whenever I drive past it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi,

    Neon sign is an inexpensive, cost-effective way of advertising your business or small shop that attract a lot of people passing by. This is a super bright and eye-catching sign that is not too small and not to big that will almost cover up your entire shop or business area. This is super effective in terms of promotions because it will attract a lot of passersby and costumers even at a distance. Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ummm Try Again, There are very few sign shops left in the area that even work with Neon any more and Neon Signs that like this one are true Neon are the most highly expensive sign you can buy and furthermore it is by far any where cost effective in fact it costs more to run a large Neon Sign than 30 New Flourescent energy controled ceiling lights in a store, So yes its a great sign, but not cost effective or you would see more of them , and thank goodness the neon bulbs are not worth scrap money like copper and metals or people would be stealing them , Oh and for a good example the old " NO NAME BAR " that was at Asylum and Trumbull used to have a large Martini Glass with an olive and a swizzle stick that appeared to move that Neon Fixture was almost $5,000.00 to make and cost more to run than any other fixture in the Bar.

      Delete
  3. Nice information, valuable and excellent design, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which I need, thanks to offer such a helpful information here. neon beer signs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love this information about Neon signs. Because i need is kind of information so badly from few days. Because i need to know more about neon signs.

    ReplyDelete