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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dream-come-true book for lovers of nostalgic neon, September 5, 1999
Len Davidson has done neon and nostalgia lovers a great big favor by compiling Vintage Neon, an eye-popping collection of over 360 classic neon signs. The photos are introduced by Davidson's captions, which in themselves are capsule stories of the signs, their history, discovery, recovery and (usually) preservation. Along the way Davidson recognizes the talents of the mom-and-pop signshop artisans who created this distinctively American folk art form. Reading the book captures something of the excitement of neon treasure-hunters (like myself and many of you reading this!) who never go to a new town without scouting the "blue highways" and old Main Streets for the few remaining intact signs from the 30's though the 50's, particularly those figurative, sculptural pieces with pigs, cocktail glasses, flying horses, wigwams, bowling pins, majorettes, rocket ships, earth movers, cockroaches, dragons, etc. Davidson and his many contributors have felt that treasure-hunters "high" that comes with any new discovery, and you will have it, too, as you turn the pages. This makes Vintage Neon so much more than another pretty coffee-table book of color photos. Davidson is well suited to this job. He is the founder, president and chief preservationist of the Philadelphia Museum of Neon, which finds vintage neon of note, restores and preserves it and then, instead of locking it up in some fussy museum, installs it in public spaces in and around Philly for all to see. He has amassed a great collection which his book now brings to a wider public. The book is made all the more interesting in the telling of Davidson's own journey from MIT Sociology Ph.D., to organizational management consultant, to Roadside America treasure-hunter and neon museum director. This is the sub-text running through the book. It may sound trite to say, but here it is: Davidson's pursuit of the great roadside treasures led him to find his true life's work, and indeed, his fully-realized self. His background in sociology serves him well here in his appreciation of the culture and aspirations of the signmakers of the era, a number of whom he has interviewed for the book. He explains the business and economic pressures that led the signmakers of the day to create these expressive, colorful, and fanciful public sculptures. It makes you stop and think about what has gone wrong with today's homogenized, corporate chainstore business climate that makes signs so boring, so predictable. The book is organized around the photos arranged in categories, like "Legendary Logos," "Good Eats", "Moving Pictures," "It Came from Beneath the Sea", etc., 13 chapters in all. Each has a brief introduction, with the bulk of the text in the photo captions, some penned by Davidson but most of them quoting the contributor who found, photographed, or preserved the sign. The book becomes a collaboration with many voices, like the minutes of a great big nostalgic neon-lovers' annual convention. The photos range from the good to the really great. They ae all color shots, many full-pagers. There are only a few images you have seen before in the other neon books, as those tend to concentrate more on very contemporary stuff, or on the Times Square and Las Vegas spectaculars. Some photos are of signs that are now gone or in private collections that you are unlikely to ever see. Quite a few involve highly detailed porcelain enamel finishes, sculptural steel boxes, and sequential neon animation. I had to find fault with Vintage Neon, it would be the one chapter featuring the mass-produced neon clocks of the era. While interesting to look at, these have been seen before in the Rudy Stern book, and besides, because they are mass-produced, they lack the common thread of folk art with the balance of the material. A small complaint in comparison with all that is truly great about this book. All you neon lovers and students of the disappearing American roadside out there are just going to love this book.
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