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Local neon signs alight again
Kern County Museum event to light up icons that once drew business during bygone era
| Wednesday, Jun 25 2008 11:12 AM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jun 25 2008 11:14 AM
They lit up Bakersfield’s night sky and showed us the way. When we no longer needed them, the Kern County Museum brought them home.
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What: Neon Night
When: 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday. Signs lit at 8 p.m.
Where: Kern County Museum, 3801 Chester Ave.
Admission: $8, $5 members, includes Mexican buffet and beverages. Frozen margaritas $3.
Details: 852-5000
Photos:
Far East Cafe sign built in 1942 and remodeled in 1951.
Entrance to the Bakersfield Inn Annex sign built in 1948.
Tops Market sign built in 1958.
Four of the area’s most beloved signs will light up for Thursday evening.
If history ain’t enough for you, there’ll be $3 margaritas and a Mexican buffet.
The museum will power up the mounted signs at 8 p.m. in the Transportation Courtyard.
Center Neon restored signs from the Bakersfield Inn Annex, Jim Baker Electrifier, Far East Cafe and Tops Market of Wasco, said Carola Enriquez, director of museum services.
The museum kept signs in storage for years, she said. Letters from the Tejon Theater sign are still in storage.
The neon signs represent a period when businesses were learning how to appeal to postwar road-trippers in an auto-dominated society.
“They had to be bigger, brighter, more interesting, because foot traffic is replaced,” Enriquez said.
Bakersfield was a favorite pit stop back when you couldn’t make the trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a day.
Museum staff hope to add signs as they become available, Enriquez said, but while they wait, they’re working on a map of local neon beauties.
One of her long-gone dream signs is The Plunge, an old swimming pool by the Kern County Fairgrounds. It depicted a diving girl in a bathing suit lifted out of “From Here to Eternity.”
“If it became available, we’d love the Trout’s fish, but they want to restore it on site,” Enriquez said.
SIGNS POINT TO AREA'S PAST
Sarah Woodman, the museum’s public program manager, offered a history of the collection.
Entrance to the Bakersfield Inn Annex, 1948
The Bakersfield Inn opened on Union Avenue in Bakersfield in 1929. In 1948, the hotel expanded across Union Avenue, opening a 125-room wing on the east side of the street. The sign showed travelers the entrance to the new annex. In 1949, the famous Bakersfield arch linked the main hotel with its annex.
Jim Baker Electrifier, 1946
When Raymond F. Vinson purchased Jim Baker Electrifier from Jim Baker in 1946, he had this sign built to advertise the store. The sign promoted Jim Baker Electrifier at 818 19th St. in Bakersfield until the spring of 2000.
Far East Cafe, 1942. Remodeled 1951.
The Far East Cafe was a popular Chinese restaurant located on 18th Street in Bakersfield from about 1951 to 2000.
Before the Far East, the Chinese Village Cafe operated in the building beginning about 1942. The top and bottom sections of the sign were originally used in a sign for the Chinese Village Cafe. A piece 42 inches tall was added to the top section when the sign was used for the Far East Cafe.
Tops Market, 1958
Tops Market was a fixture on Seventh Street in Wasco beginning in the late 1950s.
The museum is looking for old photos of the Tops Market and Jim Baker Electrifier signs at their original locations. Contact the museum at 852-5000.