#315388
Wed Mar 28 2012 11:33 AM
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Came across this interesting tidbit of information that I thought was interesting trivia.
In 1923 the First Neon signs in America - two "Packard" signs put up by a dealer in Los Angeles. The signs stopped traffic!!!
I was a little busy at the moment to search the internet for pictures or further info on them.
Dave GILL,
Dave's Garage & Memorabilia, Inc.
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Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category
Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
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I researched neon a little more:
Neon signage was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon introduced neon gas signs to the United States by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles. Earle C. Anthony purchased the two signs reading "Packard" for $1,250 apiece. (That's $24,000 for each sign in today's money). Visible even in daylight, people would stop and stare at the first neon signs for hours, dubbed "liquid fire."
Neon signs quickly became extremely popular in the United States and would remain so well into the 1960's.
Earle C. Anthony was more than just a car dealer. He built by hand his first electric automobile at the age of seventeen. Then he and his father formulated the automobile “filling station” and fabricated the Chevron logo that later they sold to Standard Oil. Mister Anthony also started KFI radio station, inspired the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, and started a little business that would grow to be the Greyhound Corporation.
Still haven't found a picture of the original neon signs.
Last edited by Dave's Garage; Wed Mar 28 2012 12:51 PM.
Dave GILL,
Dave's Garage & Memorabilia, Inc.
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Dave GILL,
Dave's Garage & Memorabilia, Inc.
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How cool. Thanks sharing the trivia!!!
see me at Mason Dixon Gas, Spring Carlisle M114-115, and Hershey C4E-35.
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interesting.. 
RANDY
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I know a guy who has an original model T neon. I thought, not knowing neon history, that had to be one of the earliest ones.
Kris Strong
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If the first neon was in 1923, they sure did move fast on the technology and uses.
My neon barber pole (with fairly complicated mechanics to get the neon to spin) was made in 1929.
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Last edited by pumpingethyl; Wed Mar 28 2012 09:05 PM.
Dennis Leith / Always looking for unusual Gilmore Oil Company items and Automobilia Displays
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What a great story!!! Thank's for posting it.
Looking for anything JENNEY OIL OR GAS
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The Packard sign is alive and well in a museum. I used to work in a neon shop, and was commonly asked "How long does neon last?" To which I replied that I don't know, and no one knows because so far neon tubes have outlived the people that made them.
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There's no stopping the Cretins from hopping
You've got to keep it beating for the hopping Cretins
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Came across this interesting tidbit of information that I thought was interesting trivia.
In 1923 the First Neon signs in America - two "Packard" signs put up by a dealer in Los Angeles. The signs stopped traffic!!!
I was a little busy at the moment to search the internet for pictures or further info on them. Hello... • The "dealer" was actually the western wholesale distributor for Packard as well as a member of the board of directors for the company. • The "dealer" was the man who basically invented the service station format (both service and architecture) under the brand of "National SUpply Stations" and sold out to Standard Oil... resulting in Chevron gas stations. The name itself came from the French Chevrons painted on his red-white & blue pumps... thus also the colors for Chevron, Standard and Esso stations. • The "dealer" actually owned the neon franchise for the western USA and established a company to make neon signs working under license to Claude Neon Company. • The original signs purchased and brought over to Los Angeles from France in 1923 were 3 signs, not 2 as internet stories would have you believe. There are many, many false stories about this history running around today–especially on the internet. I have been studying this history since the early 1970s and knew many people who worked for Earle C. Anthony, Inc.
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I researched neon a little more:
Neon signage was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon introduced neon gas signs to the United States by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles. Earle C. Anthony purchased the two signs reading "Packard" for $1,250 apiece. (That's $24,000 for each sign in today's money). Visible even in daylight, people would stop and stare at the first neon signs for hours, dubbed "liquid fire."
Neon signs quickly became extremely popular in the United States and would remain so well into the 1960's.
Earle C. Anthony was more than just a car dealer. He built by hand his first electric automobile at the age of seventeen. Then he and his father formulated the automobile “filling station” and fabricated the Chevron logo that later they sold to Standard Oil. Mister Anthony also started KFI radio station, inspired the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, and started a little business that would grow to be the Greyhound Corporation.
Still haven't found a picture of the original neon signs. Always nice to see the words I wrote about Mr. Anthony popping up on the internet ... just nicer to see attributions.
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• This photo is repeatedly shown far and wide on the internet, but the claims about it are almost always false. Usually it is claimed to be from 1923... but in fact this photo was taken after 1929 since the building being shown here with the Fenestra windows above the sign did not exist in 1923 and was not even completed until 1929. • There is no way to clearly determine that this photo indeed shows the first sign since three were purchased originally and all three were different in size. This is the smallest of the three... and it was just not at the dealership in 1923. And by the time this photo was taken, the first sign had already been moved more than once. • The original first Packard neon was never mounted at the dealership originally–contrary to myths on the internet. Nor was it on a wall. It was actually mounted on top of a building about a mile away from the site where this photo was taken and many years earlier.
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Welcome to Oldgas.com. Glad that you were able to add accurate and updated info to this thread.
Dave GILL,
Dave's Garage & Memorabilia, Inc.
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