MEET THE GUIDES:

J. ERIC LYNXWILER (Classic Neon Cruise, Private Neon Cruise) is an L.A. native and long-time docent for the Los Angeles Conservancy and Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. As Board President for the Museum of Neon Art, he continues to celebrate LA’s neon heritage and guide the museum’s famed “Neon Cruise” — now in his eighteenth year! Lynxwiler researched the book “Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles” and co-authored “Knott’s Preserved: From Berry Stand to Theme Park, The History Of Knott’s Berry Farm” and “Spectacular Illumination: Los Angeles Neon 1925–1965.”

Cruise Highlights:

CHINATOWN GIFT FAIR CHINAWARE

The unassuming 1940s and 1950s set of neon signs are original to LA’s Chinatown and were added by various shopkeepers over the years, but were removed by a long-running tenant who donated the signs to the Museum of Neon Art. The duo was welcomed into the museum collection, but was only there for a few years until the building’s new owner restored the structure’s architectural and rooftop neon. With trust in the more neon-friendly owner, the museum de-accessioned the Gift Fair Chinaware neon signs and returned them to their original perches over Gin Ling Way in LA’s Chinatown.

CLIFTON’S FACADE

2015 brought neon lighting back to the restored façade of Clifton’s Cafeteria. It mimics the original neon pinstripes from the 1930s while also celebrating what turned out to be a historic discovery in the building’s basement – what could possibly be the world’s oldest operating neon tubes. Hidden behind a false wall and hardwired into the building’s electrical system, the secret neon tubes date to 1935 and have never been turned off in that time. The building’s owner plans to move the vintage tubes to a more public location.

LOS ANGELES THEATRE

Arguably the most grand theatre on the West coast is the namesake of the city, the Los Angeles Theatre. The ornate structure opened on the eve of the Great Depression in 1931 with a filigreed, neon vertical sign and matching, grand marquee. Over the years the marquee was replaced with a more streamlined, window-box-style sign with a prominent clock at it crux. The Broadway Theatre District has gone through its share of ups and downs, but the Los Angeles Theatre is still a grande dame and its neon vertical sign and marquee again shine brightly thanks to the 2004 restoration by the Museum of Neon Art and the City Redevelopment Agency.

HOLLYWOOD AND VINE RESTAURANT

The fancy Hollywood and Vine neon sign once promoted a restaurant within the Equitable Building, but that restaurant is now long gone. The modern neon with working clock and glittering stars once pronounced the word Diner, then Bar and now Lofts as its premier, promotional function changed with time. Don’t ignore the miniature, animated-neon Capitol Records building topping the sign.

FROLIC ROOM

One of the great bars from Hollywood’s Golden Age still haunts the corner of Hollywood near Vine in the 1930 Pantages Theatre building and its iconic neon sign has never burned more brightly. Stylistically, the design is a visual cacophony with multicolored neon tubes as a background for the streamlined lettering and boomerang design of its connected F and R. For those who believe that lettering cannot be art, we point to the Frolic Room’s amazing neon signage every time.