Mesa gives historic neon signs a new life
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The Bill Johnson's Big Apple sign is one of six on display in the Neon Garden. Photo: Courtesy of City of Mesa
Neon signs from downtown Mesa's past are getting a new lease on life.
Why it matters: Historic preservation advocates have spent more than a decade saving iconic Main Street signs from the wrecking ball. Now, they'll be showcased.
State of play: The city of Mesa and Mesa Preservation Foundation opened its Neon Garden last week behind The Post building downtown.
Zoom in: The garden features five restored signs from the 1940s-1970s and one replica:
- Bill Johnson's Big Apple: The towering western-themed sign was a focal point in downtown from 1977 to 2018.
- Watson's Flowers: This 30-foot sign from the '50s collapsed during a windstorm in 2014 and was donated to the Mesa Preservation Foundation in 2019.
- Dairy Queen: A porcelain ice cream cone is the centerpiece of this sign, which sat atop the old-school Dairy Queen near the Mesa Mormon Temple until its 2018 closure.
- Smiley Ford: The sign is believed to have been installed around 1960, when the city's first Ford dealership relocated to Main Street and Mesa Drive.
- Frontier Motel: The sign marked one of the nearly 60 motels that dotted Main Street in the '50s.
- Diving Lady replica: The animated "diving lady" sign still standing outside the Starlite Motel was nearly destroyed during a 2010 microburst. The community rallied to raise funds to restore it, and it was relit in 2013. It marked the beginning of the Mesa Preservation Foundation's quest to save neon signs, so the city commissioned a smaller replica version to display in the Neon Garden.
What's next: The Mesa Preservation Foundation has salvaged 15 other signs still in need of restoration, president Vic Linoff told The Arizona Republic.
