Neon indicators have been so well-liked in Vancouver in 1941 The Vancouver Solar had a contest to choose the perfect one
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Neon indicators have been all the fashion in 1941. Large “blade” indicators went up alongside theatres, department shops and inns. Small however intricate indicators went up on numerous small companies.
On Nov. 10, 1941, The Vancouver Solar determined to launch a contest for readers to choose their favourites. Nicely, form of — all 69 indicators depicted within the contest have been by Neon Merchandise, which in all probability sponsored the competition.
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The paper printed two pages of illustrations of neon indicators, and readers have been requested to choose their faves, ranked one to 10.
The reader whose picks have been closest to the general checklist would win $25. Second place was $10; third, $5; fourth, $3; fifth, $2. In case you have been sixth to tenth, you received a buck.
There was additionally a $10 prize for greatest “colored drawing” of an indication, which was presumably for youths — the newspaper pages appeared like a colouring ebook. The winners have been introduced Nov. 17.
Nearly all of the indicators within the contest are actually gone, as are the companies the place they hung outdoors. However there have been actually nifty designs.
The Blue Boy ice cream parlour had “Blue Boy” on the high and “Velvet ice cream” on a spherical base, with Velvet in script. The tall metallic “can” above the bottom featured a copy of the well-known Thomas Gainsborough portray, presumably lit up by a neon body that surrounded it.
The Log Cabin Inn signal was a easy design of a log cabin. The institution was fairly notorious in its day as a result of it was the scene of a homicide in 1942. It was additionally managed by Buddy White, who ran a playing joint in Hogan’s Alley for a few years.
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The Solar was represented by its categorised advert signal, which had sunbursts flaring out of the highest and a curving arrow on the backside pointing to the doorway of the categorised promoting part.
The Solar signal took second place within the contest. The winner was a reasonably pedestrian signal of Winston Churchill smoking a cigar in his derby hat and bow tie.
Its reputation was in all probability as a result of Churchill’s fame through the Second World Struggle, which was raging on the time. And the signal had a singular historical past.
“It begins up on Georgia Avenue on the courthouse Christmas tree,” mentioned neon knowledgeable John Atkin. “They illuminated the Christmas tree with neon ornaments.”
It appears to have used quite a lot of electrical energy. A Solar story on Dec. 18, 1940 mentioned once they turned on the signal it blew fuses within the courthouse, and trials needed to be placed on maintain till the fuses have been changed.
The Churchill signal was alleged to be momentary, however in Jan., 1941 it was moved to Victory Sq., the place it sat atop a recruiting station for the armed forces.
Two neon indicators that made the checklist nonetheless exist: the Vogue Theatre and the Vancouver Block.
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The Vogue is a traditional blade signal that flows down the entrance of the constructing, topped by Diana, the Roman goddess. The Vancouver Block includes a neon clock, which has been a downtown landmark since neon was added to an current clock in 1927.
The Vancouver Archives has images of lots of the neon indicators within the Solar contest, in addition to of later indicators. The Williams Bros. did a sequence of neon pictures in 1948 and 1949 that embody a marvellous black and white montage that includes neon indicators for the Solar, the Province, the Vogue and Capitol theatres, Wosk’s, Jordan’s and Boomer carpets.
After the battle, Atkin mentioned there have been a couple of dozen corporations making neon indicators in Vancouver, when indicators just like the Niagara Lodge’s cascading waterfall have been made.
Extremely, the unique design for the Niagara Lodge neon waterfall simply turned up, and not too long ago was added to the Vancouver Archives web site.
The Pattison Signal Group (which was previously Neon Merchandise) has donated a trove of “flimsy recordsdata” courting from 1945 to 1964. A submit on the Archives’ AuthentiCity weblog describes flimsies as “small sketches of designs with primary manufacturing info.”
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“They’re so cool,” mentioned archivist Heather Gordon. “Enterprise information are typically laborious to return by, particularly information that present design work by companies that construct issues. If we are able to get idea drawings, that’s actually superb.”
Advisable from Editorial
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he Nov. 17, 1927, Vancouver Solar had an astonishing 35 tales on its entrance web page. A Vancouver decide was promising “no mercy for drug sellers,” a citizen had been shot within the leg and hand by a mysterious prowler, and Hollywood star Marie Prevost was divorcing her actor husband Kenneth Harlan after he hosted a 4 a.m. “bathing swimsuit celebration” of their house. Some of the intriguing tales is crammed in between the advertisements on Web page 10: “Use of Neon Fuel Indicators is Legalized.”
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The Metropolis of Vancouver has determined to trash the enduring neon signal from the Balmoral Lodge.
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