Bakersfield's History Glows in Neon

Some say neon signs are relics of the past, replaced by high-tech LED, electronic video signs and cheaper alternatives. But don’t say that to Salomon (Sal) Avila.

Over the past 15 years, the Bakersfield businessman has invested thousands of dollars in neon signs to draw attention to his two Mauricio’s Restaurants – on Rosedale Highway and White Lane.  

Kern County Museum sign

“I’m a big fan of neon,” Avila said, acknowledging that he could have purchased cheaper illuminated signs for his restaurants’ fronts. “But neon is a piece of Americana. It’s bright. It’s beautiful. It’s great to show off your logo. It says something special about your business.”

Avila spent his childhood in Mexico. He said it was only when he moved to the United States as a teenager that neon signs caught his attention. Over the next three decades, the 47-year-old Avila became a fan.

Nancy Carter, whose Center Neon in Bakersfield creates and installs neon and other types of signs, noted that Avila’s are not “simple or cheap,” even by neon standards. Rather, they feature triple glass-tube, ornate designs. While Avila declined to disclose the cost, Carter said similar neon signs constructed today would cost $60,000 to $75,000.

That cost and the evolution of plastic signs after World War II has nudged neon from its pinnacle in the sign world. But nostalgia buffs – whether they are business owners, such as Avila, or preservationists, such as those at the Kern County Museum – just won’t let it die.

“Neon is not being used to the degree it was in its heyday, in the 1930s and ’40s,” said Andrew Bertucci, communications director for the United States Sign Council, an industry trade association.

“But there’s no substitute for it to display a message in colored lights and to form the contours of letters,” he said. “Neon is not dead, by any means. But it is mostly now for a specialized use.”



Tod Stormstedt, the founder of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, agreed.

“People are still using neon today, particularly if they want the retro look,” said Stormstedt, whose museum encourages visitors to take a “walk down Memory Lane” using America’s signs as a road map.

Closer to home, Bakersfield College’s Levan Institute for Lifelong Learning is offering a similar tour down Bakersfield’s “Memory Lane” on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Participants will board a bus at Bakersfield College’s downtown campus and be driven to 10 iconic east Bakersfield and downtown neon signs that date back to the early and mid-1900s.

The tour’s first stop will be a Center Neon, where co-owners Carter and her brother, Dave McNamee, will explain how neon signs are constructed using a variety of gases to create brilliant colors in glass tubes that are heated and shaped into designs. Carter also will be the tour narrator, providing historical and technical information about neon signs.

Kern County Museum sign

The tour will stop midway at Cay Health Foods on 18^th Street, where participants will be served refreshments and shopkeeper John Harrer will discuss the history of his 1920s vintage building. Before its transformation into a health food store in the late 1940s, the building housed a restaurant, bicycle shop and motorcycle dealership. The Cay Health Foods neon sign was erected in the 1950s.

Bakersfield has a rich collection of still-functioning neon signs on storefronts, as well as at the Kern County Museum, which will be the tour’s final stop.

Several neon signs have been donated to the museum after buildings changed hands or businesses closed. Included among the restored signs that now light the sky above the museum are the Far East Café, Tops Market, Bakersfield Inn Annex, Jim Baker Electrifier, Saba’s Men’s Wear, Shafter Rexall Drugs and The Silver Fox.

According to curator Lori Wear, the museum has three signs in storage awaiting restoration: O.B. Nuzum Tire Service, which was removed from 830 California Ave., and will cost $5,800 to restore; the Tejon Theatre, which will cost $4,800 to restore; and the UNOCAL sign, which was removed from the company office building at 30th and F streets, and will cost $7,000 to restore.

Wear acknowledged that donated signs often appear to be in “terrible shape.” But the restoration decision hinges on the sign’s overall integrity and historical significance.

For example, the O.B. Nuzum sign is missing most of its glass. “But a coat of paint and new neon works wonders,” said Wear. “The Bakersfield Inn Annex Entrance sign looked just as bad before restoration. The Far East Cafe sign was missing almost all the neon glass tubing. We are interested in representing various parts of the county with the neon sign collection. So far we have a sign from Wasco and Shafter, in addition to several from Bakersfield.”

Dirk Nuzum, who worked in the tire business with his father, and Dirk’s sister, Karin Blakeley, who now lives in England, are helping raise money to restore the O.B. Nuzum sign. Nuzum said his father was very active in the Kiwanis Club and Northminster Presbyterian Church before his death. “We hope those organizations and tire companies will help.”

“There’s a lot of emotion attached to neon. Neon is an icon that represents the past. There is a lot of interest in nostalgia and in restoring neon,” said Stormstedt at the American Sign Museum.

And Carter understands the attraction: “I grew up in an era when there was a lot of neon. You could see the romantic glow in the sky. It was and is exciting.”

To sign up for the March 15 Bakersfield Neon Tour, click onto the Levan Institute Webpage.

This story written by Dianne Hardisty first appeared in The Bakersfield Californian on Feb. 20, 2011.