Veteran Sign Painters Lend Their Talent to the Cause

So, we built the storefronts, and we're installing our signs from yesteryear, but something was missing on Main Street. You know, those details that would bring a streetscape to life. One phone call to friends David and Suzie Butler, and they were on it. Now, as I'm writing this, a team of 27 veteran sign painters - most of them longtime friends - from across the U.S. and Canada are here for the week and busy filling in the blank spaces that will make all the difference in your Signs on Main Street Experience.

Project leaders each took on a particular storefront or wall and had their designs ready when they arrived so they could hit the ground running Monday morning. But anticipation was high, and most went straight to the museum from the airport on Saturday! And everyone was on hand to get started first thing Sunday!

For our Facebook fans, here an image of the Dulaney's storefront design.

Watching them work is a truly a sight to behold, and as soon as we have some breathing room, we plan to post more info and images for all to see. Here are just a few images to show the breadth of talent (we're estimating the team represents about 1,000 YEARS experience) these folks bring. And this is just 3 days' worth! Much more to come!

 

 

Again, this is just a sampling of the last few days, with much more to come. Hope to see you when we open in June!

New Home Update

More old friends are arriving at the new site every day

It's been two months since we've begun moving in earnest. Life hasn't exactly been on hold, and given the small crew and rig we've been working with, we've made incredible progress. THANK YOU ALBERTO AND OSCAR! We now have EVERYTHING out of the formal museum space and are moving the signs from the sign garden. More old friends are arriving at the new site every day! The goal right now is to get everything completely out of the Essex Studios space; getting everything installed in the new space is another matter...



Alberto and Oscar bring the Bernie's sign into place

Sean Druley ponders ROHS Hardware

Meanwhile, craftsman Sean Druley is putting the finishing touches on the Main Street storefronts before beginning work on the lobby area.

He has completed the facades, and is now working on cabinets for the storefront windows that will hold smaller displays.


And one by one, signs are being installed and lit.

We're really excited to have a team of veteran sign painters coming the week of March 19th to 'authenticate' the walls and storefronts as only they can do. Here are some mockups of what they have in mind. With their plans for storefront windows and ghost signs on the brick walls, Main Street will really come to life!

We've sent 100+ inscriptions to the vendor for our engraved pavers that will be installed in the walkway leading up to the museum entrance as soon as we're sure of the weather. If you haven't gotten your paver yet, there's still room. Learn more and purchase a paver at our website.

Given the extensive work still to be done and scheduling conflicts, we are now planning a June Grand Opening. Details to follow...

Bringing Artists, Signmakers, and Business Owners Together

Late last year, we began talking with community leaders about a possible grant that would fund bringing together local sign fabricators, artists, and businesses to help design and install signage in three Cincinnati area neighborhoods undergoing various stages of rebirth. Our proposal was one of 127 selected from among 2,200 applicants. We've submitted the full application and are now awaiting a decision, due later this year. This is what the American Sign Museum is all about! Below is the document prepared for a press release. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Creative Intersection of
Artist, Signmaker, and Neighborhood Business

The American Sign Museum is applying for a grant from ArtPlace (http://www.artplaceamerica.org/) to fund the CoSign initiative. CoSign will enhance economic activity in three artistic Greater Cincinnati neighborhood business districts by pairing artists, small businesses, and professional sign fabricators to design and install unique handcrafted signage for local retailers; and in the process, create an infrastructure to train the next generation of local signmakers.

Description of the Work

Over-the-Rhine revitalization at work

CoSign will design and install a critical mass of new business signage in three active business districts in communities experiencing significant redevelopment and reinvestment - Over-the-Rhine and Northside in Cincinnati, and Covington, KY.

The signage will be created by a unique partnership of a visual artist, a small business owner, and a professional sign fabricator, all coordinated through the leadership and expertise of the American Sign Museum.
The year-long project will commence with a two-day public workshop. Day 1 will educate business owners and artists on the economic value of signage and permitting requirements. Day 2 will feature presentations by noted sign designers and demonstrations of fabrication and installation techniques. Following the workshop, a screening process will match small businesses with visual artists and sign professionals. The artists will meet with the business owners to collaborate on designs that meets the business' needs. The artists will then partner with sign companies to fabricate and install the signage. In some cases an existing historic sign may be restored. The cost of each sign will be split between the business owner and the ArtPlace grant funds. In addition to providing program oversight, the American Sign Museum staff, exhibits, and library will serve as a resource for sign history research and design inspiration. The Museum will also provide a venue for seminars, meetings, and fabrication workspace as its location is less than three miles from the three business districts.

CoSign builds on three neighborhoods' embrace of arts-oriented development, local identities, and local businesses. Over-the-Rhine hosts storied and emerging arts institutions, 3CDC has renewed neighborhood commercial corridors, and the ArtPlace-funded SpringBoard artisan entrepreneurship program in is full operation. In 2010, the Northside Business Association voted to make chain stores a conditional use in their business district to retain its unique local character. The City of Covington, Kentucky, offers a robust package of arts district incentives and in 2007 opened their Artisan Enterprise Center. Lead organizations in each neighborhood will be full partners in this proposal.

Anticipated Impact
The impact of this program will be fourfold: (1) Three business districts will strengthen their respective identities and increase their economic activity with the immediate visual impact resulting from new signage for local businesses; (2) As the appreciation for high-quality handcrafted signage increases, local artists will be trained to become the next generation of local signmakers; (3) The American Sign Museum will leverage its history and expertise to benefit its community directly and economically; and (4) After a pilot phase, this program will be replicated in other neighborhoods and other regions.

Project Status
The CoSign proposal was selected as one of 127 finalists from among 2,200 applicants. A full application was submitted to ArtPlace on February 15, 2012. If the grant is awarded, the initial year-long project will take place between the fall of 2012 and fall of 2013.

It's the Little Things...

The greatly expanded new home of the museum has created the opportunity for many more specialized displays of sign-related items. Construction has been proceeding full-speed ahead at our new home since it began back in mid-August,and by mid-December, we should have occupancy. There’s still plenty of work to do in refining the exhibits and displays, but the biggest task will begin in January, when we start to move the contents of our original home over to the new building. 

I’m often asked if we have enough signs to fill the new home. My usual response is, “More than enough." What we still are searching for, however, are the smaller items which will accompany the signs on display.

We’re also greatly expanding the number of storefronts whose windows become our themed display cases. The Camp Washington site will have 14 storefronts spread out along the Signs on Main Street area. The various themed areas—signpainting, goldleaf, lightbulb signs, etc. will also have featured displays with themes like smalts, opal glass letters, etc. 

You can help.

If you know me, you know I am particularly fond of salesman samples. These are the items you may have in your back closets, under your work benches or maybe on some forgotten back wall that once served as a sales room. They can be free-standing or wall-mounted, in a display case or loose in your bottom drawer. Whatever form they might take, we’re looking for such donations.

We recently acquired two such salesman’s samples. One was gift of the museum’s go-to expert on vintage point-of-purchase signs—Dave Greene of Cincinnati.  He usually exhibits at the bi-annual Antique Advertising Show at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds, so he’s wheeling and dealing with the other dealers even before the show opens to the public.

When he saw the woodgrained porcelain enamel sample (see photo), he snatched it up right away, saying, “This one’s for the museum.”  When I walked into the show that Saturday morning, he walked up and presented it to me.  “Thought you’d like this,” he said. Indeed, I do, and it’ll find a prominent place in our porcelain enamel area. 

He wasn’t finished. He next pulled out an original Zippo lighter box. “Here, I found this, too. It’ll look good in the museum as well.”  In the palm of his hand was a Neon Products engraved lighter with the copy, “30^th anniversary.”  Very cool. 

The other new salesman sample acquisition was purchased from Wayne Woodrum of Wayne’s Neon Clocks, who often shares a booth with Dave. It's a pre-WWII salesman sample Glo-Dial clock in its original salesman “suitcase.”  The clock face is porcelain with a uranium glass border tube and two tubes encased in the bezel of the clock—one clear red, the other clear blue.  These internal tubes can be turned on and off with an independent switch. It’s a killer piece and will be a great addition to our exhibit of neon clocks.

We’re always looking for more salesman samples—whether they’re from sign product manufacturers or custom-made samples from sign companies.  Ad specialty items such as lighters, yardsticks, paperweights, match packs, pens, etc. are also wanted.

 

Remember, it's the little things. So before you toss it out, call Tod at the American Sign Museum @ 513-258-4020 or e-mail with a photo: tod@signmuseum.org . You, too, can be a part of your industry’s very own museum.

West Coast Bar-B-Q Heads to Beantown for a Makeover

In a cooperative effort with the Museum of Neon Art (MONA), the pole
sign came to the American Sign Museum, with the remainder going to MONA

This grand sign once heralded Store #5, thought to have been located just blocks from the Peterson Car Museum in Los Angeles. When it came to us, already in disrepair, it suffered further indignities at the hands of passers-by while it waited in the Essex Studios parking lot for a home at our new site. We eventually were able to move it and other equally defaced signs to the new site, but the damage was done.

The United-Maier crew assesses several signs on their way
to safety at the American Sign Museum's new site

Imagine our delight when Andy Puopolo, owner of East Coast Sign Company, Inc. of Stoneham, Massachusetts, asked about restoring a sign for the museum. We suggested Chris' & Pitt's, and he agreed.

That was the easy part. Getting it to Andy was another matter entirely! The height of the sign measured 13' 4" on the trailer, making for anticipated tight squeezes under overpasses and sundry cables. Wishing to visit sign shops along the way added to the adventure, resulting in some long-distance backing up and just a few go-arounds!

Kahnie the Pig looks on as the Chris & Pitts sign heads out 

The weight of the sign made for additional fun in removing it from the trailer, but it's now, waiting patiently at its adopted home to be brought back to life again.

Unloading at East Coast Sign Company

I should aso mention that John Brandmeier, Sales Manager of Matthews Paint, had offered to provide the paint gratis for future museum restorations. Chris' & Pitt's will be the first such project.

The sign needs a total re-paint, in addition to neon repair of the vintage noviol gold glass in the open channel letters and the blue border tubes. Can't wait to see it back to its former self again!  Stay tuned...

In the meantime we have several other signs waiting to be adopted. If you're interested in restoring a sign - or paying to have a sign restored - give me a call (513-258-4020) or send me an email. I'm sure we can find a perfect match for you!

The Devil, As They Say, Is in the Details



Tod talks with workers about painting the ceiling

It seemed simple enough. We had the money, we had the blueprints, we certainly had the motivation.

And so it began. Ceilings were knocked out, the floor was poured. Framing, painting, electrical, HVAC, all in their turn. And each needing more decisions than anyone should have to make in a day.  

And so it continued. Bathroom fixtures, IT needs, gift shop design. But oh, the joy in seeing it come together more each day!

Can you see it?

The building itself is on target for completion by the end of the year. And then the REAL fun begins! Fabricating displays, furnishing the lobby, developing programs for a great museum experience, moving EVERYTHING from EVERYWHERE and consolidating it all into THE NEW AMERICAN SIGN MUSEUM, complete with library/archives, event center, and, of course, signs, signs, signs! 

The Main Street storefronts are taking shape

Did I say we had the money? Well, yes, we DO have the money to rehab the building. Creating the complete package we can all be proud of and sustaining it is something else again. But we're on it, and confident 'investors' will come forward to sponsor areas of the museum, adopt a sign, participate in our purchase a paver / paint a panel program, or any of many other ways to be a part of the museum.

If YOU would like to join in, send me an email or give me a call at 513-258-4020 anytime. Together, we'll find the perfect project for you. The more, the merrier!

Our first storefront, brought panel by panel from the Over the Rhine
area of Cincinnati. Can you see the 'No Guns' sticker?

No detail too small for creating 'the Experience'!

See you at the Grand Opening!

It's Hammer Time!

If you look VERY carefully at this rendering of the new museum site and squint just right, you might spot a hammer-shaped sign in the mix. Can you see it?

The Gross Hardware sign, from Columbus, Indiana, was given to the museum several years ago. Sadly when the business closed, the neon was removed and the hammer primed out. There were no graphics left, which made the sign that rare candidate for repainting.

Dan Kasper, now retired president of Harmon Sign/Planet Neon, and former museum board member, agreed to restore the sign, so it traveled directly from Columbus, Indiana to Toledo, Ohio, where it was lovingly restored to its original glory.

Susan Kuntz, veteran Harmon employee since 1976,
carefully brings the Gross Hardware sign back to life.

We recently traveled to Toledo to retreive the sign.

Scott Markley helps prepare our trailer
to transport is valuable cargo.

And now, not only are the MacDonald's and Howard Johnson signs anchored and the store fronts taking shape, but the hammer sign is in the wings (read: parking lot) waiting to take its place on Main Street.

Thanks to everyone who helped bring this great sign back to life on its way to the museum for all to enjoy at our new site when we open this spring.

What Beats Saving a Sign? Saving the Storefront It Occupied Too!

Rohs True Value Hardware opened it's doors in 1933 under the management of its proprietor, Albert G. Rohs, on Vine Street in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Rohs Hardware in 2008
Photo courtesy of www.buycincy.com



Al Rohs with just
some of his wares
Photo courtesy of
www.buycincy.com

I was first drawn to the neon-illuminated, porcelain enamel letters that fronted the building. So, last spring when I saw a 'Going Out of Business' sign in the window, I approached the current owner — Albert R. Rohs, Albert G's son — about the donating the letters to the American Sign Museum. 


Then I noticed the storefront had been retrofitted with porcelain enamel panels, and I thought to myself, “What a great addition the façade would make to our ‘Signs on Main Street’ exhibit area.

When Rohs closed, a local developer named Rick Kimbler of Northpointe Realty, Cincinnati acquired the building. I asked him about plans for the porcelain panels, and he said they would probably remove and discard them. I told him of my plans, and he thought it an appropriate re-use. He would talk with his general contractor, Bill Baum of Cincinnati-based Urban Sites, about the idea.

Baum followed up, giving us a basic go-ahead and suggesting we meet to discuss coordinating the removal of the porcelain letters and panels. But when I met Baum and architect Mark Gunther of Wichman Gunther Architects later that week, Gunther said, “There’s a good deal of Federal money financing the redevelopment,” said Gunther, “and we have to meet historic preservation criteria. Odds are removing the panels will jeopardize the federal money.” My heart sank. “Let me research it,” Gunther said. We would just have to wait for the verdict.

Then, the local daily—Cincinnati Enquirer—featured the museum’s new home in its Labor Day weekend Sunday edition. Mention of the possible reuse of the Rohs storefront prompted Albert’s daughter, Karen Rohs Laib, to e-mail the reporter about how great it would be if the Rohs storefront went to the museum. I sent copies off to all the parties involved.

A few weeks later, Bill Baum called. “Hey, they’re all yours,” he said. Sean Druley, who is building the displays and exhibits at our new home, friend Toby Costello, and I set out on a Tuesday afternoon, grateful that the rain of the day before and earlier that day had stopped. By 5:00 that afternoon, we had all the panels and letters down and strapped onto the trailer, far ahead of our schedule. Wednesday—our original completion day—it rained from dawn to dusk. It was just one of those meant-to-be projects.



Toby Costello (left) and Sean Druley (right) removing the letters and panels
that will be reassembled along Signs on Main Street at the American Sign Museum 

What do Two Genies, a Pig, and a Bowling Pin Have in Common?

Museum founder Tod Swormstedt's article from Signs of the Times Magazine, October, 2012

We actually have two genies, one at each entrance
of the current and new sites. We plan to install the
current site genie atop the front building at the new
site, where he will beckon travelers on I-75.

The outdoor area of the Museum’s new home is starting to look like it's going to feature the three-dimensional fiberglass “sculptures” that were so popular in the mid 1950s through the late 1960s.  Our 20-ft. tall genie, which has become somewhat of a mascot, now stands over the walkway atop two 12-ft. poles at the museum’s entrance.  Two other additions—a 16-ft. long trailer-mounted pink pig and the most recent acquisition, a 16-ft. tall 3D bowling pin—now sit outside in the parking lot awaiting installation. 

“Kahnie” as the pig was appropriately (and affectionately) named, was donated by Kahn’s, a Cincinnati meatpacking company now under the umbrella of Sara Lee foods.  Kahnie had long been a favorite participant in Cincinnati events, and is most remembered for her appearance in the annual Cincinnati Reds Opening Day parade.  In keeping with current trends, Kahnie was replaced by an inflatable counterpart, whose flexibility promoted more practical transportation and set-up.  Word has it that Kahnie is already adapting to her new home.

Kahnie and genie at night, taken before Pinhead's arrival.

Pinhead is happy to be coming to the
America Sign Museum.

She is being joined by “Pinhead,” a 16-ft. tall fiberglass bowling pin that originally identified Greenbrook Lanes in Greenbrook, NJ.  The acquisition began when Phil Smith, Jr. and his father, Phil, Sr., of Ace Sign Company in Perth Amboy, walked up to me at the USSC Sign World show in Atlantic City last year.  They told me that they had this huge bowling pin that had been leaning up against their shop for at least 15 years and wanted to know if the museum was interested in it.  I responded with an enthusiastic yes and told them I’d be up that way the following May and could they hold onto until then. 

Phil, Jr. later told me the whole story.  “The bowling pin had been a local icon since the late 1950s,” he explained, “but the owner sold the business and opened a new bowling alley in nearby Manville and asked us to move the pin.  He told us we didn’t need to install it: ‘Just move it to my new place and tie it down with ropes and I’ll install it myself later.’”

“It was too long afterwards,” continued Smith, “that we got a call from the guy saying the police had called him, telling him to get the bowling pin out of the middle of the street ASAP or face the consequences.  He had obviously not mounted the big guy properly.  We went over and brought it back to the shop to await further instruction and never head from the guy again.  That was at least 15 years ago.”

Smith went on to tell me that the smiling face was added sometime during its tenure at Greenbrook, and that a tin-sheathed plywood top hat was added to top him off.  The hat had deteriorated over the years. 

The bowling pin’s interesting history was not unlike the shop that rescued it.  Ace Sign Company was co-founded in 1928 by Phil, Jr.’s grandfather, David, and  his partner, “Ace” Friedman, a former boxer.  Ace was the salesman; David was the signpainter.  The shop got a big boost when it began doing work for Leon Hess’s oil company, Hess Oil, which was founded in Perth Amboy.  The shop grew to employ eight signpainters at its height.



ACE Sign Company, the early days.

In the early 1970s, Ace Sign expanded to begin offering backlit plastic signs to its local customer base.  It continued to maintain its separate neon plant as it had since the beginning.  Under Phil, Sr., the shop became a beta site for Gerber Scientific Products first vinyl cutter in the early 1980s; computerization was fully integrated by the late 1980s.  Although Ace Signs days of employing eight signpainters are gone, it still paints some of Hess Oil’s local storage tanks.  The company is currently operated by Phil, Jr. and his brother, David.  Father Phil, Sr. is semi-retired. 

Phil Jr. shares stories of other fiberglass giants

Following a tour of the shop, Phil Sr. poses with Tod and Pinhead.