El Rancho Grande Neon Sign Undergoes Restoration
29 Jul
One drop makes a ripple. As neon signs go, the Meadow Gold sign was a pretty big drop and we are definitely starting to see the ripples. One of Tulsa’s oldest eating establishments El Rancho Grande, Tulsa’s Tex-Mex Tradition since 1953, has been busy restoring their iconic route 66 neon sign. Neon was removed and repaired and the sign was freshened up with a new coat of paint. Next up for the sign will be the restoration of the flashing arrow. Jon Roberson, aka Dr. Neon, was responsible for the tube work and Terry Seay of Seay Electric Company completed the task of putting the sign back together.
Glad to see this sign is cared for. I’ll have to see it in person but I didn’t mind the worn look before restoration, myself.
I prefer the worn look myself as well if it is original, but in this case the worn look was the result of a poor paint job about 20 years ago. I spoke with the owner about that and he said he didn’t mind the worn look either, but that he would periodically go to the corner of 11th and Utica and turn around to see if he could read the sign and lately it had gotten to the point where the sign was illegible.
after thinking about it a bit more I ought to elaborate. I think the reason that I like the look of the faded paint and worn sign is because so many of these signs have been left to rot and the look has been romanticized by photographers and bloggers. A yearning for the times of the past have been created by the photography of these neglected signs. Had the signs been cared for in the first place and the importance placed upon neon signage that I think it deserves we wouldn’t have images of worn neon signs to stoke the romantic embers of yesteryear. Instead we would be looking at great looking full color neon signs the way they were meant to be. I must change my mind in terms of preservation and say that a crisp clean new neon sign symbolizes an appreciation of a lost art form and is as beautiful if not more so than a worn, faded sign.