Atlanta's history in neon: What became of our vintage signs?

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Atlanta's history in neon: What became of our vintage signs?

Neon signs are landmarks the moment they get switched on. These are the stories behind the Atlanta signs that got turned off and what happened next.

Businesses come and go, but neon signs become landmarks the moment they get switched on. Here are the stories behind 13 iconic Atlanta neon signs that got turned off, and what happened next. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com) [Captions by Pete Corson]

The Coca-Cola Neon Spectacular: You've seen this sign atop the Olympia Building at Five Points since 2003, but its history goes back much further than that. (PETE CORSON / PCORSON@AJC.COM)

1930s: Just a few blocks up the street at Margaret Mitchell Square, a triangular island used to sit where Pryor, Forsyth and Peachtree streets intersected in front of the Candler Building. Coca-Cola used this prominent location for a series of large signs going back to 1932. (AJC file)

In 1938, the sign incorporated an electronic weather display including icons of rain drops, snowflakes, clouds and sun rays. That sign was removed in 1941 when a new building was constructed on the island, and with the war effort on, a new sign using fewer materials replaced it. That lighter sign is seen in this photo from near the end of WWII. (Atlanta History Center)

The large circular "Neon Spectacular" sign was installed in 1948. It measured 48 feet tall and 33 feet wide, and had a 44-foot tall thermometer to the left. Coca-Cola describes it in detail here, including an old video of the sign lit up at night. (AJC file)

That 1948 sign anchored Margaret Mitchell Square for the next 33 years (it's seen here in 1952), and is still fondly remembered by longtime Atlantans as our city's answer to Times Square. (Atlanta Historical Society)

Ten years after this photo was taken in 1955, the sign would get some changes--the thermometer was removed and the temperature was added to the digital clock display at the base. (Charles Jackson / AJC file)

In 1979, it was announced that the sign would be dismantled in order to make way for the new Georgia-Pacific headquarters, which would swallow up the trianglar traffic island as part of the building's plaza. According to a 2002 AJC column by Maria Saporta, Robert W. Woodruff himself ordered the sign removed in order to help negotiations with G-P's move. Saving the sign became a flashpoint for preservationists who had recently watched the Fox Theatre escape demolition. (Bill Mahan / AJC file)

On New Years Eve, 1979, an impromptu crowd took over Margaret Mitchell Square to usher in 1980 and to say goodbye to the Neon Spectacular. The sign would stick around for one more year, then disappear from Atlanta's downtown scene for another 22 years. (Charles Pugh / AJC file)

In 2003, Gov. Sonny Perdue, left, helped Coca-Cola CEO Douglas Daft turn on a recreation of the Neon Spectacular sign at its current Olympia Building location at Five Points. The sign was designed to evoke the original Neon Spectacular, but this new version had two sides -- one facing Woodruff Park and one facing Underground Atlanta. The location is significant in another way -- it's diagonal from the southwest corner of Peachtree and Marietta Streets, where Jacob's Pharmacy first introduced Coca-Cola in 1886. (JOEY IVANSCO / AJC file)

The Atlanta Daily World: Atlanta's oldest African American newspaper has been delivering "news while it's news" since 1928. This sign shone from the paper's Auburn Avenue headquarters until the building suffered extensive damage from the 2008 downtown tornado. (LOUIE FAVORITE / AJC staff)

Publisher emerita M. Alexis Scott says that she last saw the sign crushed in the sidewalk, when she inspected the damage the next day and took this photo. And although she and her staff had considered restoring the sign, it was gone when they returned to the building. (Courtesy of M. Alexis Scott)

"We had a sidewalk superintendent watching the sign overnight," says Scott, "but both were gone when I returned the next day. My guess is, it was a scavenger." The newspaper moved their offices to the Atlanta Airport Office Park later that year. (Courtesy of M. Alexis Scott)

Royal Cigar Co.: Even in its state of disrepair, the "Pipe Corner" sign at Forsyth and Walton streets still commands more attention than most working signs you'll see. And if the sign's face reminds you of a zombie's complexion, that may be because it had a role in "The Walking Dead" pilot from 2010. The Royal Cigar Co. name is no longer in use, but there's a part of that company, which was founded in 1922, that is still an ongoing enterprise -- and that's an afterlife that any zombie would envy. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

The two-story Forsyth-Walton Building, which housed Royal Cigar for most of its retail life, has been in the news recently. The building is slated for demolition by Westplan Investors, who plan to build a four-story building in its place that would in effect, act as a cooling station for the huge data center building next door at 55 Marietta Street. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

Last week, Westplan unveiled what the new building could possibly look like (Westplan stressed that this is not the final design). According to this image presented at that meeting and captured by blogger Wendy Darling, the first two stories would be a faithful recreation of the existing art deco facade. The renderings did not include the famous sign, however. Westplan CEO Ewoud Swaak wouldn't comment further on their plans for the building -- or the pipe sign -- beyond this press release, although a representative did add: "With respect to the neon signs, we have not made a decision what we are going to do with them as we are in the very early stages of our development." (Courtesy of Wendy Darling)

The demolition plans were news to Joyce White. She's the fourth and final owner of the Royal Cigar Co., a business that operated from 1922 to 2005 (this photo is from 1985). White, who in 1974, was the first woman hired at Royal Cigar, has also operated a mail-order tobacco supply company called The Tobacco Supermarket since 1989. So even though the Royal Cigar name hasn't been used in ten years, the business lives on, in a way. (Steve Deal, AJC Collection at GSU Archives AJCP187-038ab)

White recalls that Royal Cigar's first owner was a man named Abraham Schwartz. She remembers tales of him as a very nice man who helped Russian immigrants get settled in Atlanta. Under Schwartz, the Royal Cigar Co. served meals from a counter that took up half the store's space. Schwartz also opened a liquor store next door, which also had a long life in the building. This photo is from 1952. (Tracy O'Neal Collection at the GSU Archives, N03-98_a)

Out of view, the store's basement had its own shadowy history in the 1920s -- it served as a site for cock fights and the occasional boxing match with black fighters, including a 1926 middleweight champion named Tiger Flowers, according to an AJC report in 1991. This photo is from 1953. White says that when she finally moved the business out, plenty of chicken feathers were found underneath boxes in "the pit." (AJC file)

Upstairs, the cigar store established itself as the first place to go for serious pipe smokers, and over the next seven decades, attracted a clientelle that reads like a who's who of Atlanta power movers and personalities -- Govs. John Slaton, Herman Talmadge and George Busbee; Joe Torre; Robert Woodruff (seen here in 1931 smoking a pipe); Eldrin Bell; Mayor Ivan Allen Jr.; Marvin Arrington; Burt Reynolds and wrestler Abdullah the Butcher. (Lane Brothers, GSU Archives LBGlass - 157)

In 1955, Schwartz sold the cigar business to Manny Levy, who sold the liquor store and shut down the restaurant side of the cigar store's operation. He ran the company until 1970, when Bill Kiely took it over. That's Kiely in the center of this photo from the late 1970s; you can see Joyce White in the back behind the counter. When Kiely died in 1987, his widow sold the business to White, who continued to run it in the Forsyth location until she moved it to Buckhead in 1991. (Boyd Lewis / Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center)

As for the sign, White says that it was often repaired and restored over the years, but that it could be difficult staying one step ahead of vandals, who would knock out parts of it. The sign stayed lit until 1990, when a furniture truck smashed it while turning the corner, and simply drove on. After that, White says she threw her hands up in frustration. She moved the business to Buckhead the next year. She says that she had an opportunity to salvage the sign, but the terms were steep: She would have to apply for a permit, patch up the building's facade, and repaint the entire building's front. Besides, she says, she had no idea where she would keep such a thing. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

White had more history to add regarding the two "cigar store Indians" that stood at the door -- a plaster one outside and a wooden one inside. White says of the plaster one that "people would go by and slap it on its neck which over time caused a problem. I ended up donating it to the Atlanta Historical Society." She says that the wooden Indian, seen here in a 1987 AJC article, "was made of pecan wood and sat inside the door. An exact copy was -- and probably is still -- at the Cherokee Club in northwest Atlanta. I ended up selling the wooden Indian to a female attorney in Sandy Springs the week after I moved the store." (LOUIE FAVORITE / AJC file)

After moving to Buckhead, White moved Royal Cigar two more times before closing the brick-and-mortar business in 2005. She's not sure how much longer she'll feel like running her online business, but says that it's been very rewarding. "It's been an adventure, and I would've never dreamed when I was younger that it's what I would have ended up doing." (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

Ebenezer Baptist Church: Daddy King's church installed this sign in 1956 -- the same year that his eldest son began rising to prominence with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1996, the National Park Service secured a 50-year lease on the historic Auburn Avenue church, and the church's congregation began building a new sanctuary across the street, which opened in 1999. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

The NPS got to work restoring the church to its 1968 look, and reopened the building to the public on Jan. 19, 2002, during MLK Day weekend. Here, Buddy Bentley of Greater Atlanta Signs reinstalls the sign a month before the reopening. (NICK ARROYO / AJC file)

As part of the weekend's celebrations, Jethro English, who had been a member of the church for 80 years, relit the restored sign in a symbolic ceremony. It was the first time in 12 years that the sign had glowed. (JENNI GIRTMAN / AJC file)

The "Fly Delta Jets" sign: This sign was installed in 1968 over Delta's Technical Operations Center, and replaced a similar sign built earlier in the 1960s. As David P. Henderson, author of "Sunshine Skies," puts it, "jets were synonymous with comfort and speed and Delta mentioned them in virtually all of their advertising during that time." Henderson adds that the sign dominated the view from Delta's new rotundas that were added to the existing concourses in 1968, and it was visible from the terminal, the parking lots, Virginia Avenue and the main runway. A Delta publication from 1968 calls it possibly the country's largest outdoor sign. (JOHNNY CRAWFORD / AJC file)

There's no clear date as to when the lights were turned off, but according to Delta Flight Museum Archivist Marie Force, if the sign needed repair while the company was in financial distress, the standard practice would have been to turn the entire sign off if any letters went out. Henderson says that according to pilots he knew, the sign was used as an unofficial navigation aid, and that turning it off caused some uproar. The sign was officially relit on Jan. 31, 2007, as seen in this photo, to celebrate the company's fending off a takeover bid by US Air. (Note: Don't confuse this sign with the "Fly Delta Air Lines" sign, which was installed in 1947 on the roof of Delta's Hangar 2, now the Delta Flight Museum.) (RICH ADDICKS / AJC file)

The Majestic Shoe Repair: This sign is familiar to anyone who has taken a leisurely lunch on downtown's Broad Street. But the story of this sign doesn't begin on Broad Street--it starts somewhere in Turkey more than a century ago. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

In 1906, a young Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Turkey named Ezra Tourial arrived in Atlanta and soon opened a shoe repair business in the Majestic Hotel, which occupied the space where the Peachtree 191 building is today. (Wikimedia Commons)

That's Ezra Tourial posing behind the counter sometime in the 1920s. Tourial's name is huge in Atlanta's Jewish community -- he was a community leader who helped many Sephardic Jews set up businesses in town, kind of like that community's John Wesley Dobbs or Alonzo Herndon. Bennie Shemaria, a Jewish immigrant from Italy, was an associate and good friend of Tourial's, and the man who founded Bennie's Shoes. Bennie's son Louie Shemaria says of Tourial, "He was my brother's godfather!" (The Cuba Family Archives at the Breman Museum)

In 1927, the Majestic Hotel was demolished and the shoe repair business, keeping the Majestic name, relocated up the street to 224 Peachtree (across the street from today's Peachtree Center). Also around that time, Tourial sold the business to a man named Sam Epstein. The business would remain within the Epstein family for at least six more decades. Billy Epstein, Sam Epstein's son, recalls that his father was dedicated to hiring quality craftsmen, and that the store was known for dying shoes as well. After WWII, the store created specialty orthopedic shoes for veterans with foot and leg injuries. In 1950, the Majestic Shoe Repair moved a few doors down to 255 Peachtree Street, where it was practically next door to the Rhodes Furniture store, as seen here in 1951. (Lane Brothers, GSU Archives LBCE1-016a)

In either 1964 or '65, the store moved to the Healey Building on Broad Stree. Billy Epstein, who helped his father prepare the move, says that it was the Healey brothers themselves -- William and Oliver -- who suggested that the store move into the building. The business eventually left the Epstein family's hand and under its new owners, continued in business until around 2002 or '03, according to former Healey Chief Building Engineer Bill Finn (now with Westplan Investors). Finn, who met the last owners of the business, says that the sign was refurbished in 1997 by Ultima, the Healey Building's owner. Finn also remembers the sign being lit up in recent years for various filming projects on Broad Street. (Bob Dendy and Hugh Stovall, GSU Archives AJCP158-034aq)

The Biltmore Hotel towers: It's hard to imagine Midtown without these two bright red beacons, but there was a time that these towers, and the grand building they announce, were abandonded and crumbling. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

When William Candler, son of Asa Candler, opened this grand hotel in 1924, the roof had no towers, as seen in this postcard. That changed the next year, when WSB-AM began transmitting from the penthouse suite studios. The radio station used the towers for 30 years before moving to Peachtree Street in 1956. The hotel traded hands several times over the decades and finally closed in 1982. The building was abandoned for 16 years until the Novare Group purchased the property and began renovating the building for office space and events use. (AJC file)

Jim Borders, president and CEO of Novare Group, tells the towers' story this way: "The Biltmore towers originally held the long wave radio signals of WSB AM, strung from one tower to the other in four wires, but very quickly that technology became obsolete. They were never, contrary to popular legend, docking stations for dirigibles prior to WWII. In the 1950s when the Interstate was built, the Biltmore signs were put up, the northern sign facing west and the southern sign facing south." (CATHY SEITH / AJC file)

Jim Borders (seen here in 1999) continues: "When Novare bought the building in 1998, the E on the northern end (later found in the basement) and the L on the southern end (rumored to be in the basement of the Lambda Chi house at Ga Tech prior the Olympics but moved somewhere in the renovation of that house in preparation for that and never recovered) were both missing. The letters, which are copper and over six feet tall, were taken down, the missing letters reproduced, and then all were reinstalled looking to the west in order to give the building a symmetrical appearance." (WILLIAM BERRY / AJC file)

On June 4, 1999, one month after the building reopened for events, its neon signs were turned back on and have lit up Midtown ever since. (LEVETTE BAGWELL / AJC file)

The Bootery: Although a store called "The Bootery" existed on Whitehall (now Peachtree) Street beginning in 1909, it may not be connected to the store that has occupied this Peachtree Street SW space since 1958. Downtown resident Kyle Kessler has studied the history of businesses in his neighborhood, and had this to share about The Bootery: "Reuben Kessler (no relation) was the youngest son of Bennie and Gussie Kessler, immigrants from Russian Poland. In the 1930s he was a salesman at Chandler's Boot Shop located at 172 Peachtree St NW under the management of Edward I. Kessler." (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

Kyle Kessler continues: "Dr. Reuben Kessler (1911 - 1981) and his wife Sarah operated The Bootery starting in the 1940s at 20 Broad St NW. The store sold Sundial Shoes." This photo from 1951 shows the store in that location. (Lane Brothers, GSU Arcives LBCB018-045a)

This undated photo, likely from the 1950s, shows the 81 Whitehall (now Peachtree) Street SW location that The Bootery moved into in 1958, and still occupies. It's unclear if the "Bootery" script signage was moved from Broad Street and reinstalled, or if new signage was built. Kyle Kessler adds: "Later, Dr. Kessler's son Jay operated the store and Dr. Kessler resumed private practice of podiatry at 79 Broad St SW." (Lane Brothers, GSU Arcives LBCB106-041a)

The existing sign, which no longer lights up, used to feature another piece that was attached vertically. (See a photo of the vertical part here.) Kyle Kessler captured the moment on June 15, 2011, when that vertical part was taken down. It had been damaged from a strong storm the night before. According to an employee of The Bootery who didn't want to be identified, efforts to restore the sign were thwarted when the owners couldn't find the materials to fix the storefront wall, and that a request to the city to change the wall material to stucco was turned down. (Courtesy of Kyle Kessler)

The Sweet Auburn Curb Market: Why is that main sign inside the building? Why does it say "Municipal Market"? And why is it on Edgewood Avenue and not Auburn? Here's the story: The market opened in 1924 as "The Municipal Market of Atlanta." By the estimate of current Director Pamela Joiner, it acquired its famous neon sign sometime in the 1940s or early '50s. During those years of segregation, black farmers and merchants were relegated to the outside of the building, and this secondary market became nicknamed the "curb market." In the 1990s the official name became "Sweet Auburn Curb Market," as a nod to the African-American business district one block over. Locals still use the nickname "Curb Market." (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

At some point, a new sign was erected over the Edgewood Avenue entrance that featured two ears of corn (seen here in 1996), until that sign was destroyed by the 2008 tornado. Another sign from this era showed a tomato and was vertically suspended at the building's corner. (MARLENE KARAS / AJC staff)

The original "Municipal Market" sign had been kept in back storage until 2011, when it got refurbished and reinstalled to its current location in the center of the market (see earlier photo). A similar, non-neon version of the "Municipal Market" sign is now posted over the Edgewood Avenue entrance, as part of the restoration to its historic condition. Look closely at the bricks, and you'll see a ghost sign for the word "Municipal." (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

The Blue Bird Truck Stop: You may be familiar with this Memorial Drive building's parking lot if you've recently visited Atlanta's traffic court, or needed the services of Alpha Bonding. Longtime locals will remember these two large red-white-and-blue neon bluebirds that were visible from I-20. A third neon bluebird still hangs over the building's front entrance. Photographer and local history enthusiast David P. Henderson shot this photo not long before the birds came down. (David P. Henderson / Used with permission)

Current building owner Larry Wilensky (not seen in this photo) says he doesn't have any plans for what to do with the signs, and says that the signs' history is largely a blur to him. What's known is that the original truck stop opened in 1939 with the three birds crowning the building, according to an AJC account in 1994. That year, the two larger bluebirds were removed, soon before this AJC photo was taken. At the time, the building's owner, Frank Barlett, told AJC reporter Bo Emerson that he had fielded requests to purchase the signs. "People are interested until they see how big they are," he said. (Rich Addicks / AJC file)

Today, the two large bluebirds still lean undisturbed in the back of the building. (This photo was taken in 2014.) Check out the website RoadsideArchitecture.com for more information and links to several photos of the signs in all their colorful, oversized glory. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

The Clermont Hotel. Its lights have been turned off since 2009, but its heart still beats in the basement. Here's a quick history of the once and future hotel on Ponce that's best known for its colorful underside. (This photo is from 2009.) (BITA HONARVAR / AJC file)

The building first graced Ponce de Leon in 1924 as the Bonaventure Arms Apartments, at a time when the city was pushing out towards Virginia-Highland an Druid Hills. That same year, the new Atlanta Crackers minor league stadium was built where Whole Foods is today; two years after that, the Sears headquarters (now Ponce City Market) would join the neighborhood, right next to the existing Ford Factory. In other words, this area was booming, and was attracting the kind of middle- to upper-class residents who would've chosen to rent at the relatively modern Bonaventure Arms. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

In 1940, the building changed hands and became the Clermont Hotel. A recent application for landmark status notes much of the building's history around this time, and supposes that the tower could have been modeled on Midtown's Biltmore Hotel. The site Atlanta Time Machine has dug up these postcards of what the hotel looked like in those early years. These postcards show the tower and the marquee but don't show the road sign, so it's possible that sign was built later. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

More historical notes from that landmark-status application: The first floor space (think basement) was first used as a restaurant, but settled into its familiar role as a nightclub by the late 1940s. The club changed names many times but eventually became the Clermont Lounge in 1965. Today's Clermont Lounge, by the way, is a tenant of the hotel and thus a separate entity under the same roof. (This photo is from 2002.) (CHARLES JEFFRESS / AJC file)

As for who owned the hotel, for the years 1958-2003, that would be the family of Glenn S. Loudermilk. Several members of the Loudermilk family even lived in the hotel beginning in 1975. In 2003, they sold the hotel to Inman Park Properties, which planned to refurbish the now-decayed property but eventually lost ownership of the building. That action also triggered the infamous health inspection that closed the hotel on Dec. 31, 2009 and forced its remaining residential tenants out. After several years in limbo, the building was purchased in 2013 by a group of developers called the Clermont Hotel Partners, who announced their own vision to turn the building into a boutique hotel. (BRANT SANDERLIN / AJC file)

And the neon lights? The road sign and the marquee signs were going out in places before the power got turned off in 2009, and the switches haven't been flipped back on since. The road sign also got badly crunched on its side sometime between 2009 and 2013, probably by a truck that was backing up, according to Ethan Orley, one of the principal investors behind Clermont Hotel Partners. As for the tower signs, Kathi Martin, the co-owner of the Clermont Lounge, says that they haven't been lit for "at least 35 years." Philip Welker, who along with Orley controls Clermont Hotel Partners, says that the signs will be restored to their original look. So stay tuned, and keep an eye out for an upcoming documentary about the hotel. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com)

The World of Coca-Cola: This large circular sign hung over the entrance at The World of Coca-Cola's original location near the Capitol when the museum opened in 1990. (CHARLOTTE B. TEAGLE / AJC file)

The Fox Theatre marquee. The granddaddy of Atlanta signage doesn't feature much neon -- just some accents -- but you're thinking of it, aren't you? Despite all the theater's ups and downs over the decades, the signage has stayed pretty consistent since its 1929 opening. Any changes to the signage are most noticable in the marquee's message board, which has seen some changes. (HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM)

The marquee and the vertical sign use more than 3,000 bulbs. Until this year, those bulbs were incandescent, but a Grants to Green gift helped the theater replace all those bulbs with LED lights, which has cut energy consumption by 50%, according to Fox Theatre Institute Director Carmie McDonald. (HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM)

If you've lived in Atlanta for more than a week, you probably know the history of the theater backwards and forwards. Conceived as a Shriner's temple and finished as a grand theater, it opened on Christmas Day, 1929, as seen here, with crowds lined up around the block for their first look. (Edgar Orr, Courtesy of Fox Theatre Archives)

Here's a closer look at the marquee as it looked not long after the opening. Note that the message board shows white letters on a black board. (Also note the side board that advertises "WILL ROGERS TALKIE." (Edgar Orr, Courtesy of Fox Theatre Archives)

This image fast forwards to June, 1975, five months after the theater closed its doors -- and emptied its marquee -- after the final showing of the film "The Klansman." The original caption on this photo says "Live Entertainment Might Return," which is an understated way to describe the huge "Save the Fox" campaign that would have been in full swing at the time. (BUD SKINNER / AJC Collection at the GSU Archives, AJCP196-031c)

Even after the theater was saved and refurbished, the message board remained a version of the backlit white board with hand-placed letters, which adorned the marquee for most of its life. This photo is from 1981, only three years after Atlanta Landmarks Inc. retired the mortgage and took full control of the building. (J.C. LEE / AJC Collection at the GSU Archives, AJCP582-036c)

In 1991, the theater installed its first digital message board. It was pretty crude however, and could only display blocky white letters on a black board. By the time this photo was taken in 2004, the Fox's board of directors knew it was time for a change. (LOUIE FAVORITE / AJC file)

That change came in 2006, when the message board got a big upgrade to LED, thus turning the space into a screen that can show full-color images. (Photo courtesy of the Fox Theatre)

The new LED display was such an improvement that it took some people by surprise. "We were caught off guard by how bright it is," General Manager Allan Vella told the AJC in 2006. "It really lights up the street. We might have to adjust that." (JOHN SPINK / jspink@ajc.com)

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Businesses come and go, but neon signs become landmarks the moment they get switched on. Here are the stories behind 13 iconic Atlanta neon signs that got turned off, and what happened next. (PETE CORSON / pcorson@ajc.com) [Captions by Pete Corson]

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